A joke that still circulates today is that the Presbyterian version of “Amen!” during worship is a low-hummed “Mmmmm” paired with a head nod. That’s the median emotional expression one may find in a typical PCA pew or chair. It’s not that this is a bad thing or that there’s one right volume of expression. It is just that this is a quieter and less disruptive expression than our earlier Reformation days.

When James Hannay stood to read from a newly newly introduced Scottish Book of Common Prayer at St. Giles Cathedral in 1637, he was met by something more. There were dignitaries present as efforts were made to bring the Church of England style of worship to the more Presbyterian Scots. When Hannay opened with a collect as part of the service it is said that Jenny Geddes called out “Deil colic the wame o’ ye, fause thief; daur ye say Mass in my lug?” (“The Devil give colic to your belly, false thief! Do you dare say the Mass in my ear?”) and threw a stool at the minister. Today inside the 900-year-old cathedral in Edinburgh there’s a plaque commemorating the supposed spot where Jenny Geddes threw the stool. The plaque reads in part that on that day she “struck the first blow in the great struggle for freedom of conscience.” It highlights this moment for striking out on behalf of local independence in worship while also holding to the elements that marked common practice.

Although the typical PCA church expresses its worship more quietly today, we continue to uphold the Reformation-era balance between shared biblical principles and local freedom. Over the centuries Presbyterian churches have used directories for worship instead of prayer books or fixed liturgies. We make clear our understanding of the biblical elements found in worship while providing local freedom to work out the circumstances and specifics. At AMR, we delight in the fact that churches across North America and throughout the world continue to respond to God’s work of redemption through Lord’s Day worship. In PCA churches, this worship holds together the elements of Reformed worship and a focus on the means of grace while maintaining freedom for local Sessions to work out the details. We are a growing visible church whose members and leaders have thought deeply about the nature of worship and expressed their convictions in a variety of ways. AMR continues in this tradition, clearly stating in our vision that we desire Christ-saturated worship.

“Because Christ’s mission finds its culmination as Christ the Great High Priest leads his people in worship of the triune God,

• We commit to congregational worship that conforms to his instructions, confident that we encounter Christ through the ordinary means of grace: Word, sacrament, and prayer. We believe that these means should be appropriately adapted to the particularities of each local, embodied gathering, through the gifts of Christ’s people and under the authority of Christ’s officers.
• We oppose the use of elements of worship not regulated by his Word or any enforcement of unbiblical restrictions that bind where Scripture gives freedom.”

(From AMR’s Theological Vision)

Commitment to the Means of Grace

As highlighted in AMR’s theological vision for the church, we regularly and joyfully respond to the ongoing work of the Triune God through worship. We do so according to the pattern God has established for worship, as expressed in the Westminster Larger Catechism:

WLC Q.154: What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation?

A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to his church the benefits of his mediation, are all his ordinances; especially the Word, Sacraments, and prayer: all which are made effectual to the elect for their salvation.

As we conclude this series exploring AMR’s vision for the church, its Christ-centered emphasis leads us to a succinct understanding of worship: Christ-saturated worship employs the ordinances he has given to his church—the Word, sacraments, and prayer.

Appropriate Adaptation to Each Local Church

Not every minister in the PCA preaches on the same text each Sunday. We have no shared lectionary for our sermon series. There is not one way of structuring the process of participation in the Lord’s Supper. There is not a set list distributed by the clerk’s office of prayer topics (though occasionally the church may encourage a day or season of prayer). There is freedom afforded to Sessions when they practice the means of grace in worship. AMR affirms that circumstances and particularities should be decided by the leaders in place of local congregations.

For example, after the Minister begins administration of the Lord’s Supper smaller churches could exercise the freedom to bring people forward and sit them down to be served. For larger churches, however, this may not be a practical pattern of distribution, given the number of communicants and the number of services scheduled. They may instead distribute the elements by tray. This is what we mean by “appropriately adapted to the particularities of each local, embodied gathering.” Each Session must make decisions regarding the circumstances of their worship. This applies to additional items like the songs that are sung corporately, the topics for prayer, the way to receive an offering, and more.

Church Members Use Their Gifts in Worship

Pastors and elders are responsible for overseeing and planning the church’s worship services. Under their oversight, they may also draw upon the gifts of church members in various parts of the service. Within the PCA, churches differ in how they understand and apply this participation, resulting in a variety of practices across congregations.

In this discussion, our focus is the corporate worship of the church on the Lord’s Day, particularly its use of the ordinary means of grace: the Word, sacraments, and prayer. Although all of life is to be lived as worship before God, here we have in view the gathered expression of worship in which brothers and sisters in Christ assemble as the visible church.

Balance of Elements and Circumstances

Now a word of caution. Some within the PCA desire churches throughout the denomination to look and sound alike in worship. The matters at issue are not the ordinary elements of worship, such as preaching God’s Word, praying together, and baptizing new believers and their children. We heartily agree on these things. Rather, some desire to prescribe much more, specifying who may say what and precisely how the broader elements of worship must be carried out. These desires appear to arise from interpretations or applications of Scripture that have little direct exegetical support and a weak historical basis. Some may have in mind an exalted or perfected vision of what worship should look like. The irony is that this level of specificity, though not rooted in Scripture itself, has historical precedent: it represents a step back toward the kind of top-down service order that motivated Jenny Geddes to throw her stool in 1637. We stand with her against binding rules that lack a scriptural foundation, while defending the freedom of Sessions to make these determinations in their local contexts. This freedom allows Sessions to make wise decisions about the circumstances of worship while keeping the focus on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Joel St. Clair (MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary) is the Senior Pastor of Mosaic Community Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. He coaches youth soccer, serves as a guest lecturer at Reformed Theological Seminary, and has contributed to Heal Us, Emmanuel. He lives in Silver Spring with his wife and four children.