Friend,
Thank you so much for visiting our site and for considering worshipping with us! Exploring a new church is hard. We get it: we've all been there. I hope this email gives you a sense of what to expect when you visit.
Sunday worship is an appropriate doorway into our community, because we believe it is the hub of the Christian life. This foundational spiritual discipline re-orients us to who God is and who we are. If we get those things wrong, everything else is in life is going to be out of whack!
Many people begin joining us through our livestream, which is great. We are wary, however, of people staying there for too long. Gathered worship isn't something we watch like a show, but something we do together. In our worship, there's a ton to say, sing, touch, and taste, because the whole community is offering our whole selves to God. In other words, our liturgy is the "work of the people," not just the work of the leaders. You can find out more about why we worship the way we do at our Liturgy page.
During the service, you’ll find we’re hard to define in terms of worship style. Imagine if 3 churches – one rooted in the Scriptures, one fed by the Sacraments, and one passionate about the Spirit – were thrown into a blender: that’s us! Some might be intimidated by not knowing what to do or say the first week, but we have everything on the screen for you to follow along. Most people find that by the third time, the rhythm of the liturgy becomes quite freeing and feels like a feast of gospel truth with multiple courses. All this reflects our Anglican “accent,” a global family of churches that seeks to integrate the best of Christianity through the ages.
You'll probably notice lots more things in our service: the variety of musical traditions we draw from, the joy of kids dancing around and making noise, pictures of Rwandan friends on the screen (representing the Rwandan church that sent us here!), healing prayer ministers laying hands on those who come for prayer, and more. It's a rich community with a lot of layers and a lot happening.
But by the time service is over, we primarily hope that you will have freshly received the good news ("gospel") of what God has done for you and been equipped to release that good news outside the church doors. That gospel is our only hope for our healing: and the only reason we're here.
Enjoy exploring the site, and if you have any questions at all, just click on that connect button on the top right to reach a real person. We're excited to meet you!
In Christ and with you,
Pastor Ken, for the whole IAC community
