By Erin Amman

I have always been captivated by corporate worship. I like gatherings. I like music and singing. I love prayer. And I really love God. And God shows up when we gather with praise and song and His word. He is present and blessed and glorified when we humble ourselves and come to Him. Whether we come with heavy hearts or with abounding thanksgiving, our worship is an offering, and when our hearts are in it, a beautiful offering.

I moved a lot growing up as a military child and have experienced a variety of worship services. The seven-plus churches ranged from small-base chapels to thousand-member Anglican churches. Some had pews, some didn’t. Some had organs, others merely had my dad on guitar. I knew everyone in one congregation and was just a number at another. Growing up, I was struck that the congregations’ responses to God were similar. There was always reverence, there was always humility, always adoration. God was God and the physical building didn’t change that. God was changing people and their hands were in the air or they knelt down in prayer. Witnessing worship from church to church helped me to grow into my own very clear understanding that God was big and worthy and unchanging. Worshiping with others grew my faith.

It also grew my love for the corporate gathering. I love experiencing a small glimpse of people’s relationship with the Father. I know how God was working and changing me during the week. However, when I experience people in the body, whom I love and pray for and walk through life with, worshiping our Father, I’m undone! I’m in awe. Worshiping together gives us a tangible reminder that He is so present and so active in and around us.

I feel so privileged to experience corporate worship at New Life as a worship leader. My heart races as the team prays for the body as you rise and come to Him. The movement of His presence among us on Sundays is so powerful and I am continually captivated by the work that He does each time we gather. So keep coming! Come with heavy hearts or with abounding thanksgiving and give praise alongside your brothers and sisters as we seek change and transformation together by His grace.