What Should I expect when I go to worship at Covenant Baptist Church?
Coming to a church for the first time can be an intimidating experience. We hope that this page will give you a good idea of what you might expect when you come to worship at Covenant and the warmth of the church will welcome you.
We believe in the words of Jesus "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35).
Preaching
We have two different services (morning at 9:30 AM and evening at 6 PM). We believe that preaching the Bible is a God-given means of grace as the "Word" functions as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). So, our services revolve around experiential and expository preaching from books of the Bible. Most often we will have preaching from an Old Testament book in one of the Sunday services and from a New Testament book in the other. We enjoy spending the Lord's Day together and growing in the light of God's word. If you come to CBC you'll get lots of good bible teaching - 104 different sermons a year!
Environment
We rent our space from Eglinton St. George United Church. We meet for worship at 9:30 AM and 6 PM in the Lower South Studio of the west wing of the church (the right side of the church as you face south). Just come in and walk downstairs! Our facilities are well heated in winter and air-conditioned in the summer.
As you come down the stairs you'll see our Children's Nursery and our Fellowship Room (i.e. all-purpose, second meeting room) is the North Studio. We have our Bible Circle Room in the Wellness Studio just across the hall. If you have children 6 and under in the morning service - please sign up and get a pager. We want your visit to be safe and enjoyable for everyone.
But what about the people? Our church is a very friendly place to visit. Be prepared for people to talk with you and to seek to get to know you. Our church is diverse in all senses of the term and yet we are wonderfully united by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Worship
Covenant is a Reformed Baptist Church we practice something called the "regulative principle" of worship which basically means that we only do in worship what we believe the Bible prescribes. Basically, that means our worship style is very simple and focused on teaching and preaching the Word of God. As one theologian put it:
"We preach the Word, teach the Word, pray the Word, sing the Word, and confess the Word."
When you come into the church just as you get to the end of the hall, you'll see some tables like this one. Grab a bulletin (it's your guide through the service and will often have the words to some of the hymns we'll sing), say hi to folks and find a place to sit. The service will start with some announcements. After the morning service stay for some light refreshments and fellowship! If there are no bulletins, you can scan the QR code or just go to our online bulletin which should be updated every week.
We use the English Standard Version as our standard pulpit bible translation although some members use other translations. We prefer the ESV for its "essentially literal" minimal translation style and its use of modern English.
We currently use the Trinity Hymnal (1990 ed.) as our principal hymnal that you can access online here but we also have compiled a list of contemporary hymns in our Covenant Hymn Supplement which include good orthodox modern hymns as we seek to "sing new songs" to the Lord from authors old and new. We also use a psalter, "The Book of Psalms for Worship" and we will often stick some new hymns in the bulletin so make sure you obtain one as you enter our worship area.
At Covenant, our services are about an hour and a half in length. The majority of that time (just under an hour) is spent engaged in expository preaching. Expository preaching has the goal of focusing on examining the meaning of the biblical text and applying it to the church. It's exposing God's Word to God's people. The point of the biblical text ought to be the point of the passage that's being preached. It typically involves working through Biblical books chapter by chapter and verse by verse. This is designed to ensure that the whole counsel of God is preached and taught. For more information, you can also watch a short video that explains expository preaching.
Childcare:
As we rent our facilities, we use the North Studio and the Wellness Studio for childcare in our services. In our morning service, we provide Nursery care for children 2 and under, and Covenant Bible Circle for children ages 3-6. In our evening service, we provide a nursery for children ages 0-5. We conduct a sign-in sign-out sheet and a pager system for parents.
If you have questions about our childcare policy or facilities, please don't hesitate to contact us.
This is the entrance to our nursery with the sign-up and pagers. All of our childcare workers have had background checks and are there to help you and your children have a great experience of worship with us.