Who we are:
St John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church, Vancouver is a community of Christians dedicated to the exposition and teaching of the Word of God, to the spreading of the good news of the Gospel at home and abroad, and to the application of God's purpose in our own lives and families.
worship services > Sunday evening service > what to expect
We believe that our highest purpose in life is to glorify God and enjoy God – and on Sundays we practice doing that as a community united in Jesus.
We do that in a variety of ways – we pray together, we sing, we listen to God speak through His Word, and we enjoy friendship with each other. And we try to do all this in the best, wisest, and most encouraging way we can – by bringing together the best of classical Christian worship with contemporary forms of music.
Our worship service has three main distinctive components:
1. Expository preaching
The center of our time together each week is hearing God speak to us. God has promised to speak to us through the reading and explaining of his written Word – the Bible. Each time we gather we read from the Bible and then we listen as one of our leaders explains and expounds the meaning to us. We call this expository preaching. The important thing is not the thoughts and insights of the speaker, but God’s message in the text. And as the preacher proclaims God’s message from the Scriptures, God’s Holy Spirit shows up and drills it into our hearts.
2. Contemporary music
Christianity is about relationship – loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And music helps us to express our love, devotion, and thanksgiving to God, and in the process to deepen our understanding of Him.
Our music is led by a contemporary band, and we use both ancient hymns and newer choruses – we will use whatever song is good, beautiful and true.
3. Liturgical and individual prayer
Our service is loosely structured on the Anglican Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer service. We use ancient prayers to confess our sins, ask for God’s help in worship, and to intercede for our community and the world. These prayers bring the wisdom of the past to help us to pray with one voice in a Biblical and healthy way.
The last Sunday of each month is a service of Holy Communion – based on the Book of Common Prayer service. At St. John’s, Communion is open to all baptized Christians who worship Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
But right along with corporate, liturgical prayer, we also set aside time for people to receive individualized, one-on-one prayer for whatever is going on in their lives. This is a time to bring before God those thanksgivings, burdens, difficulties and joys that are part of all our lives.
