Temporary Location
We are temporarily meeting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.
Address:
1820 E County Road 540A
Lakeland, FL 33813
Worship Service Hours:
Sunday @ 2pm
Fellowship Meal @ 4pm every 2nd Sunday
Dress
Dress at Christ Presbyterian Church is diverse. The officers are required to wear suits and clerical collars, but you will see the rest of our members in casual wear and occasionally blue jeans and a t-shirt. We simply ask for modesty. Out of love for one another we strive not to say, do, or wear anything that is crude, rude, offensive, gaudy, or unchaste. Modesty in manners and conduct is not simply a set of external rules, but the out working of a heart that truly cares about others before itself. Good manners and conduct show that you respect and are considerate of others. They demonstrate that from the heart you put other people’s concerns and needs before your own.
Worship
We seek to maintain the simplicity and purity of worship as set forth by the word and example of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. We avoid any use of symbols or ceremonies in worship that are not ordained by God to be used as means of worshipping Him. Our Worship consists of prayer, the singing of Psalms, reading of God’s Holy Word, teaching, preaching, and the administration of the sacraments.
Since the Apostolic church celebrated the Lord’s Supper almost as often as they met for worship (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:18,20,23), we also administer the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper at each worship service. Because Paul warns us not to allow the ignorant, scandalous, and profane to eat of the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11:27-31), all that would come to the table must first be examined by the session as to their understanding of this holy sacrament, their moral standing, and their membership to a true church of Jesus Christ. If you desire to participate, contact us before visiting.
Children in Worship and Infant-Communion
We are considered what some might call a “family integrated” church. However, this does not mean that we will necessarily look or act like some “family integrated” churches. The basic idea is that we encourage children of all ages to be with their parents during worship, including the sermon. At no time during worship are they asked to leave for “children’s church” or the like. We do ask however that if a child becomes unruly and/or noisy (crying, etc) that they be taken to the foyer where glass doors will help drown out the noise and not disrupt the preacher or those listening in the pews. Speakers are provided in the foyer so that you can still hear the preaching/teaching as you watch through the glass doors.
As for infant-communion, this doctrine is not taught or practiced, in any form or fashion, in this denomination. Any such violation will result in the immediate ejection of that individual, whether an officer or church member. Our position against infant-communion is unalterable as it defends our doctrinal understanding of the Westminster Standards’ teaching on communion. It is not so much the age of a person that is the issue, as it is a question of whether or not an individual satisfies and can demonstrate the requirements of Scripture, namely, that one must profess to be born again, and not be ‘an ignorant or scandalous person,’ and that, upon examination, his/her profession of faith be deemed credible by the Session.
Accessibility
There is only one level to our building and there are no stairs going into it.
Order of Worship
– Call to Worship
– Opening Prayer
– Opening Psalm of Praise
– Reading of the Law (Decalogue)
Preamble: And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
- Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
- Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
- Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
- Thou shalt not kill.
- Thou shalt not commit adultery.
- Thou shalt not steal.
- Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
– Prayer of adoration, confession, intercession, thanksgiving
– Psalm after Prayer
Ministry of the Word
– Old Testament Reading
– New Testament Reading
– Psalm after the Readings
– Sermon
– Prayer after Sermon w/ The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Ministry of the Sacrament
– The Lord’s Supper (weekly)
• Exhortation & Fencing of the Table
• Words of Institution
• Prayer of Consecration
• Distribution
• Prayer of Thanksgiving
– Psalm of Thanksgiving
Sending
– Benediction
