Our Worship

@ 10:00 am Sunday

Our worship service is on Sundays at 10:00 am at 500 N Clinton St, Iowa City.

Our Father in heaven designed us to worship, and our time together on Sunday morning is our church community’s outlet of our desire to worship.

We are created to worship the Creator: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God’s only Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our King, is the rightful recipient of our praise.

The Holy Spirit, who dwells in God’s people, connects us to God through our worship.

What does our worship look like?
We believe worship can incorporate ancient elements without being constrained by them and that worship can be innovative without abandoning truth. We blend elements of ancient practice (services structured to include weekly communion; the recitation of creeds and confessions) with new elements (new hymn tunes, contemporary choruses, and interactive services).

Why is worship structured the way it is?
Our service is designed to be participatory, placing us in dialogue with Christ. We believe the sections of the service work together to tell the Gospel story.

Why do we sing songs and hymns the way we do?
We sing old hymns to remind us that we are a people of God with a rich and ancient tradition. Those old hymns may be set to new music to remind us that the church is living and active. We sing new songs to remind us that our faith is not tied to any particular era of time. And we sing songs from a variety of cultural traditions to remind us that the church exists around the world and is made up of people from every tongue and tribe and nation (Revelation 9:7).

What should you wear?
There is no dress code. Some people dress up and some dress down. We believe the most important thing is to bring a reverent heart of worship that desires to connect with the Almighty God who drew near to us through Jesus Christ and fills us with the Holy Spirit.

Will you be warmly welcomed?
Absolutely!

Adults

One Ancient Hope desires to help spiritually form our adults in worship and discipleship. Our Adult Ed hour equips and encourages people in the truth’s of God’s Word, not just to know more information, but to know God better and work together to seek out how to serve God, our city, and one another.

Our worship is designed for followers, seekers and skeptics. Since we believe that there is “not one square inch of creation over which the Lord does not declare – mine!” we address just about everything. Some recent classes have been: a study of Hebrews chapters 1-7, "How to Read scripture", and "The Great Passion:A study of St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach."

Kids

One Ancient Hope desires to help spiritually form children in worship and discipleship.

Worship: All children stay with us during our initial time of liturgy and singing. During the song before the sermon, we open our nursery until the hymn of response, after the sermon. Children ages 4 and up are encouraged to stay with us during our morning worship, and our pastor gives the children a short lesson before the sermon that ties into the main sermon.

Nursery

One Ancient Hope desires to care well for the little ones of our church.

Our nursery is for children ages 3 and under. It is located in a safe and clean environment. There are always at least two adults staffing the nursery regardless of the number of children. Parents and children are given tags to ensure that children are put back into the proper loving arms at the end of their stay.

Worship: All children stay with us during our initial time of worship. We open our nursery during the song before the sermon and parents can pick children up during the song of response after the sermon. Children ages 4 and up are encouraged to stay with us during our morning worship.

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