CityChurch consists of people in many phases of life, with a variety of views and experiences. Everyone at CityChurch is gathered from various walks of life, and each of us is on a spiritual quest to know and experience the good, the true, and the beautiful. You do not have to live a certain way, believe a certain way, or talk a certain way to fit in – some of us are fervently committed, some of us are cautiously curious, and others of us are somewhat skeptical. There is no dress code here… come as you are… wear whatever you want.
What We Do
We meet each Sunday at 6:00pm. Wherever you are in your spiritual life, we hope that you feel welcomed and at home in our church. Perhaps you have never been to church (or have only been a handful of times) and fear that you will not know what to do, how to act, or what to say. Be assured: this church is for people just like you. It is our commitment to walk you through each and every step of the worship service so that you will not feel like an outsider.
People will greet you warmly at the door. You will be given a worship bulletin and be seated in our meeting space. The service includes singing, prayer, teaching, and the sacrament of communion. You should always feel the freedom to participate actively in our worship or to simply listen and observe at your discretion. The meeting usually lasts a little over an hour, but people always show up early and hang around afterward. Be sure to come early so you can get your coffee fix before everything gets started.
Our doors “officially” open by 5:30pm, so please feel free to come early and grab a cup of coffee, check out the information and book table, catch up with friends or spend some time quietly preparing for the worship service. Our service ends around 7:15, but feel free to stay afterwards as some of our services are followed by a short outdoor reception or a Q&A period with the pastors.
What Is Worship?
Our word for “worship” is derived from the Old English word worth-ship. Worship is a posture of the heart. It is an attitude of loyalty and trust toward the authority structures of your life. Ultimately, worship defines you, makes your life meaningful, and gives you security. Thus, we all worship something or someone. Typically, whatever we worship is our “non-negotiable.” It is that one thing, should we lose it or part with it, which would bring both devastation and hopelessness.
True worship occurs when we set our affections on God. Our affections are not merely emotions, but our motives – the things that drive us and that we truly treasure. If we do not worship God, we worship other finite things. We set our hearts on relationships, careers, money, accomplishments, approval, comfort, power control – deriving our meaning and sense of self-worth from them. When we worship God, we pull our affections off those things and set them on God.
How Do I Know I’ve Worshiped?
Ask yourself, “Has my mind grasped the truth? Has the truth touched my emotions? Has the truth led to a changed life?” If all three are not organically connected, worship may be an intellectual event, an emotional experience, or a volitional pressure – but none of these alone is worship
The Service as a Whole
CityChurch’s Sunday service is designed to tell a story… to present the gospel in a narrative form, as it flows throughout the service. Each week the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is retold a different way, and those who follow Jesus in faith and repentance meet the risen Lord in the sacrament of communion. As a church community we observe the Christian year with its seasons of Advent, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter. We do this to help each other remember the redemptive rhythm of God’s presence in our lives. In any given day we metaphorically travel through these seasons as we grapple with grief, doubt, and temptation, and also celebrate joy and hope.
The Communication of the Gospel
Central to each worship service (and to everything we do at CityChurch) is the communication of the Gospel. The gospel is the good news that God has intervened in world history through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in order to forgive and defeat human sin, vanquish evil in every form, and replace death with life through the power of Jesus’ resurrection. Because the Gospel is God’s revelation of Himself and His redemptive mission in Jesus Christ, it provides the true way to view ourselves, our friends, our communities, and this world.
How Often Does CityChurch Have Communion?
We participate in the sacrament of communion during our weekly Sunday service, so that experiencing the presence of Christ through communion becomes every service’s focal point. Like the early church centuries ago, we believe that in this way we will be constantly reminded of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and renewed in God’s love and grace in our lives.
How Do I Get There?
Sundays at 6:00pm, we meet at First Lutheran Church of Fort Lauderdale. The church is located in the heart of Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village neighborhood at 441 NE 3rd Avenue.
- Click here for map
Where Do I Park?
The church has an adjacent parking lot on the south side of the building. However, this tends to fill up quickly, so there is also plenty of free parking available on the street on each side of Third Avenue.
