Why we worship God as we do...
The Bible instructs us to praise and worship God in many different ways -- in our songs, with our voices, with our hands. The songs that we sing are to prepare our hearts for worship and the teaching of His Word. Some may be contemporary praise and worship, others familiar hymns. In each case, it is an outward expression of love, devotion, and worship to the God who saved us.
"I will praise You with my whole heart." Psalm 138:1
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs..." Colossians 3:16
Why we raise our hands...
The raising of hands in the universal sign of surrender. We lift our hands as an expression of our total surrender to God, and a sign of our worship and adoration of Him.
"Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord." Psalm 134:2
Why we clap and shout...
The clapping of our hands and the shouting of our voices are expressions of our joy. Joy in our salvation. Joy in knowing a God that loves us beyond measure and cares about our every need. God made us all with emotion. If we can shout and clap when a man with a bat hits a ball over a wall, we can shout all the more praising the God that sent His Son to die for us, forgive us of our sins, and prepare a place for us in Heaven with Him.
"O clap your hands all ye people and shout unto Him with a voice of triumph." Psalm 47:1
Why we lay hands on people...
The laying on of hands is often used as a means of transferring the anointing and blessings of God from one person to another. Whether to heal the sick as in Mark 16:18, "They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." or to receive the Power of the Holy Spirit as in Acts 8:17, "They laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost." The laying on of hands is used by God to touch people physically and spiritually with His power, love, anointing, and blessing. On occasion, you may see people fall to the ground or stagger after hands are laid on them. These people are coming in contact with the power of God in a manifestation commonly known as "falling under the power of God."
Why we speak and sing in tongues...
Speaking and singing in tongues is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit given by God to an individual to express praise, worship, and prayer back to God in a language understood by Him, but not by the individual.
"For he that prayeth in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God..." I Corinthians 14:2
"For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth,... I will pray with my spirit, and I will pray with my understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also." I Corinthians 14:14-15
Why the congregation prays all at one time for specific needs...
The Scripture commands that Christians pray in one accord for individual, local, national, and global needs.
"And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God in one accord and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hath made Heaven and Earth..." Acts 4:24
What are spiritual gifts and what does it mean to "move in the Spirit?"
The nine gifts of the Spirit are found in I Corinthians 12:4-10. These gifts may occur at any time in our services. Moving in the Spirit simply means to do what the Spirit says, when and as He says it.
"Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit...For to one is given...the word of knowledge...to another the word of wisdom...To another faith...to anther the gifts of healing...to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues"