The End of Public Worship

Principles of Public Worship from PCA BCO 47

Some of you may know about a podcast I produce with two other PCA pastors: Polity Matters. We are currently working our way through the final section of the Book of Church Order, so all of our newest episodes are about worship. I thought it would be worthwhile to reflect on these matters here, as they pertain to the aim of this blog as a whole.

What overarching principles guide our worship of God? Shall we worship Him however we design or is there a method we must use? Book of Church Order chapter 47 answers this question with helpful clarity, addressing the principles and elements of public worship.

BCO 47 functions less like a procedural manual and more like a theological preface. Before it tells us how to do worship, it tries to shape our instincts: what worship is, who it’s for, and who rules it. The Directory has to be read as principled guidance, not as a checklist or liturgical script. In other words: it’s not handing you a finished “order of service” to photocopy. It’s trying to form in pastors, sessions, and congregations a spiritually alive, reverent, joyful, covenantal understanding of public worship.

What follows are some reflections on each section of BCO 47: The Principles and Elements of Public Worship.

47-1. The Bible Governs Worship

The chapter begins with the Regulative Principle of Worship: “Since the Holy Scriptures are the only infallible rule of faith and practice, the principles of public worship must be derived from the Bible, and from no other source…”

Not from taste. Not from preference. Not from cultural momentum. Not from whatever “worked” somewhere else. Not from the imaginations of men. Public worship is divinely instituted.

This reinforces what our Standards already teach (WCF 21; WSC 50–51; WLC 108–109).

Interestingly, this is the foruth time that the PCA constitution lays out this principle. It is also defined in Confession of Faith 21, Shorter Catechism 50–51, and Larger Catechism 108–109. Isn’t it striking that the PCA has “quadrupled down” on this principle. It is in every constitutional document we have. That means it is not a minor, optional, hobbyhorse doctrine. It’s embedded in the very fabirc of what it means to be a Presbyterian.

But what counts as “no other source”? The chapter points us toward images and innovations—worshiping God “in any other way not appointed in His Word.” But the principle presses further. It challenges our instinct to baptize preferences as righteousness, or to treat novelty as spiritual vitality, or to treat tradition as binding simply because it is old.

If Scripture governs worship, then worship is not the place where we get to be creative with God. It is the place where we get to be obedient before God.

And that obedience is not a straightjacket.

The regulative principle frees the church from the exhausting burden of always having to invent something new, always having to keep up, always having to compete for attention. It frees pastors and sessions from the pressure to treat worship like a product that has to be improved, refreshed, and rebranded. And it frees God’s people from being drafted into somebody else’s preferences—whether those preferences are trendy and innovative, or old and merely traditional.

“No other source” doesn’t only mean “don’t add.” It also means “you don’t have to.” You don’t have to chase the latest model of church growth. You don’t have to make worship interesting enough to hold people. God has already told us what He wants from His church when she gathers, and He has attached His promises to His own appointed means. Marvel at His mercy.

The RPC also protects the conscience. If Christ rules His worship by His Word, then no Christian should be made to feel that their faithfulness depends on participating in practices God never commanded. The church is not free to bind where Scripture has not bound. And Christians are not meant to live under the constant low-grade guilt that comes from confusing human expectations with divine requirements.

So the regulative principle isn’t the church tightening her grip—it’s the church loosening her grip and letting Christ speak. It’s saying: we will not ask God’s people for what God has not asked; and we will not withhold from God’s people what God has promised to bless.

When the church is governed by the Word, the people of God are sheltered from the tyranny of novelty on the one hand, and the tyranny of mere tradition on the other. We are free to worship God simply, reverently, and confidently—because we are doing what He told us to do.

47-2. Worship Is First Vertical, Not Horizontal

“A service of public worship is not merely a gathering of God’s children with each other, but before all else, a meeting of the triune God with His chosen people…”

This paragraph corrects a very common drift: treating worship as primarily horizontal—a fellowship event, a community gathering, a weekly rally, a spiritual social hour.

Of course we do gather with each other. But the paragraph insists: before all else, worship is God meeting with His people.

That distinction matters because it changes what people think they’re doing on Sunday. It is a temptation for Christians to think worship is mainly about what we are doing there—what we are offering, how we are expressing ourselves, what we are experiencing. But BCO 47-2 reminds us that worship is first about God: who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing as He keeps covenant with His people.

This parallels a frequent misunderstanding about the sacraments—especially in a very Baptist-shaped region like the southeast. The sacraments are not rituals we do toward God; they are signs and seals of what God has done toward us in Christ.

In a similar way, worship is not fundamentally our attempt to climb up to God. It begins with God coming down—God calling, God meeting, God speaking, God giving.

That’s why so many thoughtful orders of worship have a “dialogical” shape: God speaks, the people respond. God calls, the people answer. God reveals, the people confess. God assures, the people praise. God instructs, the people submit. That back-and-forth is not mere liturgical aesthetics—it’s a visible way of saying, “We are here because God has moved toward us.”

47-3. The End of Worship Is the Glory of God—and Worship Forms Us for the Week

“The end of public worship is the glory of God…”

This paragraph doesn’t hedge. It doesn’t say, “One goal of worship among many,” or “A helpful benefit of worship.” It says the end—the chief purpose—is God’s glory.

BCO 47-3 does acknowledge other real aims: the building of Christ’s Church, the perfecting of the saints, and the addition of those being saved. So yes—edification and evangelism are in view. But the paragraph carefully subordinates them: all to the glory of God.

That’s a needed correction in both directions.

It corrects “seeker-driven” instincts that subtly turn worship into an outreach product first, a Godward offering second.

And it corrects a narrow inwardness that forgets worship is one of the Lord’s primary instruments for building His people into mature saints who learn to live to His glory in the world.

“Through public worship on the Lord’s day Christians should learn to serve God all the days of the week…”

Worship is formative. Public worship trains Christians how to be God’s people for the rest of their lives—in the other six days. It is not an escape from ordinary life but preparation for it. Worship is not the moment when we briefly leave “real life” behind; worship is where real life is re-oriented around the Lord.

47-4. Worship Is Christian Only Through Christ

“Public worship is Christian when the worshippers recognize that Christ is the Mediator by whom alone they can come unto God…”

This paragraph makes worship explicitly Christological. And it does so in three ways:

1. Christ is the Mediator by whom alone we come to God.
   That means worship is never “in our own name.” We do not draw near on our merits, our mood, our week, or our track record. We draw near through Christ.

2. Christ is the Head of the Church who rules over public worship.
   Christ governs worship. Not the pastor’s personality. Not the congregation’s preferences. Not the cultural moment. Not even our best instincts. Christ rules His worship by His Word.

3. Worship is an expression of faith in Christ and love for Him.
   Worship is not mere compliance. It is devotion. It is the Church saying with her whole life: “Whom have I in heaven but You?”

We’re not just “making our elders happy” by showing up. We’re drawing near to our Lord. Public worship is the primary way we seek after Him as His gathered people. (Hebrews 10:19-22, Ephesians 2:18)

If Christ is not the Mediator of our worship, then whatever we are doing may be religious—but it is not Christian worship.

47-5. Spirit and Truth: Against Externalism and Hypocrisy

“Public worship must be performed in spirit and in truth. Externalism and hypocrisy stand condemned…”

You can have the right elements, the right order, even the right theology on paper—and still have worship that God condemns.

Forms only have value when they serve spiritual reality: inner reverence, sincere devotion, renewed hearts. BCO 47 refuses the false choice: either “forms are bad” or “forms are everything.” It says: forms are servants.

It rejects two ditches at once:

• Externalism: going through motions while the heart is far away (Isa. 29:13).

• Emotionalism: sincerity without truth—warm feelings detached from God’s revelation (John 4:24).

“Only those whose hearts have been renewed by the Holy Spirit are capable of such reverence and devotion.”

That doesn’t mean unbelievers can’t be present. They can be. But it does mean the true heart-posture of worship is a work of grace. Worship isn’t first a performance we generate. It is a response the Spirit produces as He unites us to Christ and renews our hearts.

This is also where the pastor’s prep work becomes significant: not merely arranging services, but shepherding souls to worship in spirit and truth.

47-6. Liberty Under Scripture: Simplicity, Dignity, Reverence, Order

“The Lord Jesus Christ has prescribed no fixed forms for public worship… [yet] there is true liberty only where the rules of God’s Word are observed…”

Liberty in worship is real. But it is not the liberty to do whatever we imagine. It is liberty under Scripture. “True liberty” exists only where God’s rules are honored and the Spirit of the Lord is present.

The paragraph anchors us with two phrases:

• “Decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40) is not a call to minimalism or lifelessness. It is a call to purposeful structure—structure that builds up (1 Cor. 14:26).

• Simplicity is “evidence of sincerity,” and beauty and dignity manifest holiness.

That combination is rare today. Some churches chase “beauty” while losing simplicity. Others chase “simplicity” while losing dignity. BCO 47-6 calls us to a worship that is unpretentious and holy, plain and reverent, accessible and weighty.

47-7. Public Worship Is Covenant Worship—and Children Belong

“Public worship differs from private worship in that… God is served by His saints unitedly as His covenant people… For this reason the covenant children should be present so far as possible…”

Public worship is not a collection of private worshipers doing their own thing in the same room. It is the covenant body worshiping as one.

That’s why the chapter says covenant children should be present as far as possible: because children do not orbit outside the covenant community. They belong to the worshiping assembly, learning the language of Zion, being shaped by the ordinary means God uses to build His people.

The paragraph then widens to the community ethic of worship: no favoritism, no spiritual one-upmanship, no self-exalting postures—each esteeming others better than himself (Phil. 2:3–4). In other words, the gathered Church should look like the humility of Christ, not the social hierarchies of the world.

Public worship is where the covenant body learns how to be the covenant body.

47-8. Awe and Thanksgiving: Against Casualness and Gloom

“It behooves God’s people… to come… with a deep sense of awe… but also to enter… with thanksgiving… and praise…”

This paragraph is short, but it hits a perennial problem. Worship should carry both fearful awe and joyful praise.

We must resist casual worship and gloomy worship. We shouldn’t be flippant before God’s holiness. And we also shouldn’t act as though the great salvation wrought through the Son and applied by the Spirit is a reason to frown our way through the Lord’s Supper.

Reverence does not mean joyless. Joy does not mean casual. BCO 47-8 calls us to the kind of worship where gladness and trembling belong together.

47-9. The Proper Elements of Worship

“The Bible teaches that the following are proper elements of worship service…”

Then comes the list: reading Scripture, singing, prayer, preaching, offerings, confessing the faith, sacraments, and (on special occasions) oaths.

This is where the Directory becomes very concrete: worship is not an empty concept; it is made of particular God-given actions. It is built from Word, prayer, praise, sacraments—real means by which God serves His people and His people respond to Him.

We are reminded: worship isn’t infinitely elastic. Not everything that feels meaningful is an element of worship. The church doesn’t get to invent worship. The church receives worship from God’s Word, and then orders it wisely.

A Closing Word

BCO 47 doesn’t read like a committee trying to win an argument. It reads like the church trying to protect something precious.

It protects worship from becoming entertainment.
It protects worship from becoming self-expression.
It protects worship from becoming mere tradition.
It protects worship from becoming a platform for personalities.
It protects worship from becoming shallow, casual, or chaotic.
And it protects worship from becoming joyless, heavy, or grim.

Most of all, it protects this: that in public worship, the triune God meets with His chosen people through Christ, by the Spirit, according to the Word, for His glory—and for our good.

If that’s what worship is, then every Sunday is bigger than we think. And the simplest, most ordinary service—Word read, Word preached, prayers offered, praises sung, sacraments received—may be doing far more than we can see in the moment.