Ministries
Worship and Music Ministry
One of our highest priorities and values at The River is worship. Jesus commanded us to pray for God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Nearly every time the Bible gives us a glimpse of heaven, the overwhelming passion and activity of heaven is characterized by worshiping the holy, holy, holy God who was and is and is to come (Revelation 4:8). At The River, we make every effort to welcome Jesus through our worship.
One of the primary tools we use to worship God corporately is music. Scripture provides continually reminds us of the importance of music in both the New Testament and Old Testament:
- "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy" (Psalm 33:3, NIV).
- "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:19-20).
We want to honor God for who He is and what He does. Jesus said that true worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. We want to dedicate our lives to discovering how to do that. We want to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
If you are involved in many of our meetings, you will likely hear many fresh songs that are being birthed out of what God is doing within the ministry of The River. We also use the best of the older songs of the faith to express our love to God. We desire Spirit-led worship in a style that is dynamic, culture-current, life-changing, and brings people into intimacy with God.
Our worship ministry is headed up by our worship pastor, John Gabriel Arends. You can visit his website at johnarendsmusic.com.
