We in churches of Christ take seriously the Lord’s words in John 4:24: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The word of God, and specifically, the New Testament of Jesus Christ (Heb. 8:6-13), is our standard of truth for acceptable worship (John 17:17). God has not left it up to us to do as whatever we please when we approach him; through the inspired apostles of Christ he has directed the church in the manner in which we are to worship him. Our goal is to do as the early church, which “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42).This makes our worship distinctive from what most are accustomed to seeing in other churches.
Because we are committed to following the God-given, apostolic pattern for worship, we praise God in song, “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). Our singing is not accompanied by a piano or band or other forms of instrumental music because we do not find authority for these additions in the New Testament. We learn from God’s word the church is to sing (Eph. 5:19), and we do not add to what God has instructed us to do or go beyond the authority of his word (1 Cor. 4:6; Rev. 22:18-19). While most visitors find our a cappella singing unusual, they also find the four part harmonies beautiful and edifying.
We learn from apostolic example and instruction to the early church that God’s people are to observe the Lord’s supper when they meet every first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-29), and so each Sunday we partake of the unleavened bread and fruit of the vine in remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ. Also, our members give into a collection for the work of God’s kingdom in accordance with the teaching of God’s word (1 Cor. 16:1-2).