EVERY CHURCH HAS A WORSHIP culture.

Typically over time worship becomes predictable, familiar and unfortunately comfortable. Our Encounter Services are characterized by a culture of expectancy and a belief that God is always doing something. Simply put; We anticipate God ‘showing up’ and His presence commanding a response in every realm of creation; spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical. We believe that the authentic worship God desires, is a genuine response to Him from the heart of the worshipper.

Worship is a very important part of our church and at the very core of Encounter Life Ministries is a passionate desire to be true worshipers of Our God and King, Jesus Christ. We see worship as a crucial part of carrying out our vision for each person to personally encounter God, as well as readying the soil to prepare for the Word.

what is worship?

John Wimber wrote, ”that worship is the act of freely giving love to God.” Indeed, in Psalm 18:1 we read, ‘I love you, O Lord, my strength.’ Worship is also an expression of awe, submission, and respect toward God (see Ps. 95:1-2; 96:1-3). Our heart’s desire should be to worship God; we have been designed by God for this purpose!
Worship involves not only our thought and intellect, but also our bodies. Throughout Scripture we see such forms of prayer and praise (worship) as singing, playing musical instruments, dancing, kneeling, bowing down, lifting hands, and so on. Therefore we encourage freedom of expression in worship at our Encounter Services. We strive for an atmosphere of openness that allows the Holy Spirit to move and minister through spontaneous worship, prayer, miracles, divine healing, prophecy, as well as in worship-music and the preaching of the Word.

WORSHIP IS A HEART ISSUE.

Relevant Teaching:

We encourage everyone to take time to prepare their hearts for corporate worship. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 tell us, then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. A most significant word in that verse is the word, then. Only then! When?

Only after years of fashioning temple utensils and furnishings, building the temple itself, training and sanctifying priests and musicians, and the Levites and Priests practicing and perfecting their temple activities, was a house for God was finally ready for His presence.

After the resurrection Stephen preached “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: Acts 7:48

The Apostle Paul clarified this writing, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

Expectancy

We encourage everyone to come to corporate worship as a vessel of worship who carries Holy Spirit within himself.
The power of my encounter with God in worship often depends more on what I bring, than what I receive from the service, music, or preaching.

BEHOLD CREATIVE ARTS

Creative Arts Media

Ezekiel 43, 2 Corinthians 3:18, John 17:22-23

Behold: to stop what you are doing and take notice of God, the result of which is always revelation and encounter. The purpose of a creative arts media is to cultivate moments where the glory of God is released in order to provide encounters and revelations through artistic expression.

Our mission is to foster a community through worship, teaching, and outreach.

We are called to release the Kingdom of God through creative expression. These creative expressions carry the presence and power of God in a tangible way to all who behold it.

We envision creative art engaging hearts through all forms of art, such as: painting, drawing, music, songwriting, dance, writing, drama, photography, videography, spoken word, and stage design. We offer classes on hearing God and expressing through art as well as art skills. Workshops are periodically available at church and during outreach events.

On the first Friday of every month, we offer worship through music, prayer, dance, and art at Night Watch, which is open to all to come any time between 10:00pm and 1:00am.

prayer and prophecy

encounters with the holy spirit

We believe the Lord still speaks and the Holy Spirit resides in us and on us. We listen for words of knowledge (see 1 Corinthians; 1 Samuel 10:22); words of wisdom (Luke 12:13-21; Matthew 22:15-22); prophetic words (1 Corinthians 12:10, Revelations 19:10) and we believe in the gifts of the spirit (1 Corinthians 14).

We believe in the power of prayer and that God in His goodness answers our prayers. We want to honor the Holy Spirit in this place and in these people. We want to protect both the individuals hearing from the Holy Spirit as well as those receiving the word, so we offer opportunities to learn and share. We want our church to know how to test, to receive, to hold on to what is good and to avoid any evil. Our desire is for our body to step out in faith, listen, pray and believe that God is truly in this place. Periodically we offer classes on the prophetic.