First time at a methodist church

Free Methodist is more MUCH more evangelical than United Methodist.

You would see more "catholic" resemblance at your local United Methodist Church. i.e. stained glass, kneelers, chancel choir, liturgy, vestments, paraments, etc.

There are some major differences in terms of worship styles between Free Methodist and United Methodist.

Some UM churches offer more than one service. The more reverential service that you seem to prefer, as do I, would typically be called "traditional" or "liturgical" worship.

Here is a typical order of worship at a United Methodist service:

Prelude and Church Bell
Greeting
The Peace "The Peace of the Lord be with you. And also with you."
Chimes- Acolytes bring in the light
Hymn
Scripture lesson- Psalm
Scripture lesson- Gospel
Pastoral Prayer
Chancel choir
Sermon
Creed- Apostles' or Nicene
Offering Invitation
Doxology- "Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."
Prayer
Sacrament of Holy Eucharist
Lord's Prayer
Hymn
Benediction- Trinitarian blessing with sign of cross made by Reverend.
Postlude

xaira said:

Oh that makes a lot of sense. It sounds like United Methodist would feel more like a spiritual home for me. I believe because I'm in Ontario that would just fall under the United Church umbrella.

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The United Church of Canada is similar in many ways to the United Methodist Church (there are differences in areas such as polity), but it isn't exclusively Methodist. It's also made up of former Presbyterian and Congregational churches (and a few Evangelical United Brethren congregations). It would probably be more "high church" than the Free Methodists though.

xaira said:

I found myself being very emotional. I sat in the pew by myself and just cried and cried while the paster went over passages in the Bible. I'm not sure why I was so overwhelmed. It was quite embarrassing. Taking part in the communion was very uplifting. I wasn't able to do that at the Catholic church. The sermon was about 'converting' which was quite appropriate for me.

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When I am being blessed by the Holy Spirit I will often become overwhelmed like that.

There have been a few times in which I was listening to a friend's sermons on podcast whilst at the gym when I got blessed so much that I started crying and crying. Thank goodness no one else was in my section of the gym those times.

xaira said:

Hi everyone, I just thought I'd share my experience from this morning. I went to the Free Methodist church close to where I live. Everyone seemed friendly. There was a group of young people who played in a band and sang at the front. This I found a bit odd. Is this usual for methodist churches?
The church was very plain. Very different compared with the Catholic church I went to last sunday. While I wasn't crazy about the building itself or the singing and the band, but something really struck me. I found myself being very emotional. I sat in the pew by myself and just cried and cried while the paster went over passages in the Bible. I'm not sure why I was so overwhelmed. It was quite embarrassing. Taking part in the communion was very uplifting. I wasn't able to do that at the Catholic church. The sermon was about 'converting' which was quite appropriate for me.

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It sounds about right. At the churches I've attended the band and singers are first and front when performing. Also, the churches are typically very plain and look pretty much like most baptist or non-denominational churches in my area.

I liked the tone of these posts because the aesthetics has something to do with what initially drew me in to the UMC. I've enjoyed visiting Catholic and Eastern Orthodox services and as even my forum nickname suggests I have quite a bent towards a liturgical service; and I've always felt that when you go to a church it should feel like a Sacred Space. Therefore, I just can't get into these churches that have such a plain and sparse decor...to the point where it looks like you're in an office building or a conference hall with a cross hanging up. I want church to LOOK like church.

If you can find any United Methodist churches I think you will like them. If not maybe even Anglican or Episcopal.

Blessings..

UrbanContemplative said:

...and I've always felt that when you go to a church it should feel like a Sacred Space. Therefore, I just can't get into these churches that have such a plain and sparse decor...to the point where it looks like you're in an office building or a conference hall with a cross hanging up. I want church to LOOK like church.

..

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Oh yes! My current church is painted cement blocks and no windows. My artistic soul cringes every Sunday. I love Gothic churches for their artistry plus they tell stories in their stone architecture.

And the last year, I am really thinking a lot about the concept of sacred space. I love a church that emphasizes it.

Maid Marie said:

Oh yes! My current church is painted cement blocks and no windows. My artistic soul cringes every Sunday. I love Gothic churches for their artistry plus they tell stories in their stone architecture.

And the last year, I am really thinking a lot about the concept of sacred space. I love a church that emphasizes it.

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Me too. And I think we are about to see a resurgence of that in church architectural design. I just listened to an Adam Hamilton sermon online today from their archive and he was even talking about it in their remodeling.

I like the Gothic architecture too. I love to just walk in to a church and be overwhelmed because you see these magnificent stained glass windows and/or Icons on the walls, statues etc. I just love the look of Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Not that I'm an architect LOL but if I were building churches or I was a Pastor about to have one built...I would want to have a sort of fusion between the traditional and the modern. For example, you could have very modern/contemporary looking pews, carpets etc. but both the Narthex and the Sanctuary should ALWAYS have a sacred feeling. Beautiful crosses. Stained glass windows. I want to feel overwhelmed....just from walking in.

It's funny because when you think of the designs of the turn of the century; they had their 'megachurches' too. Take Charles Spurgeon's church for example....he had tons of people in his congregation too... but the place didn't look like an office building!!!!!!!!

Speaking plainly that was another thing that drew me to the United Methodist Church. Whenever I'm driving around various towns and I see their churches...the two that always seem to LOOK like churches are the Catholic Churches and the Methodist churches.

UrbanContemplative said:

Me too. And I think we are about to see a resurgence of that in church architectural design. I just listened to an Adam Hamilton sermon online today from their archive and he was even talking about it in their remodeling.

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I resurgence in churches that look like churches or churches that look like an office building?

It'a very usual (at least based of the UM churches I've been too.) I like the relaxed contemporary style. I have a cousin that's catholic. I went to his catholic wedding and it was so much more formal and very traditional, so I can relate to the big differences between each church. We'll have guest musicians, Christian bands, the kids choir, and even guest speakers. It almost reminds me of a conference because they really incorporate the audience into the service.

xaira said:

Hi everyone, I just thought I'd share my experience from this morning. I went to the Free Methodist church close to where I live. Everyone seemed friendly. There was a group of young people who played in a band and sang at the front. This I found a bit odd. Is this usual for methodist churches?</p>
The church was very plain. Very different compared with the Catholic church I went to last sunday. While I wasn't crazy about the building itself or the singing and the band, but something really struck me. I found myself being very emotional. I sat in the pew by myself and just cried and cried while the paster went over passages in the Bible. I'm not sure why I was so overwhelmed. It was quite embarrassing. Taking part in the communion was very uplifting. I wasn't able to do that at the Catholic church. The sermon was about 'converting' which was quite appropriate for me.

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I know more about United Methodist churches than I do Free Methodist churches. But as for the question of what is &quot;usual&quot;? I can answer in three words: Yes and No.

Yes, it is usual to find the building more plain than you would find a Catholic church. But not always. I once pastored a United Methodist church in which the relationship with the Catholic church in town had been so good that when the Catholic church closed, they literally willed their friezes for the stations of the cross to the United Methodist church. I know of another United Methodist church that has statuary, figures of the Holy Family, greeting people as they enter the church building. While these are unusual examples, I don't think that they are exclusive to just these two particular United Methodist churches. What is very usual is to find large stained glass windows depicting scenes from the life of Christ or other biblical stories. In Free Methodist churches it is more likely that those stained glass windows are simply pretty colorful designs, not an actual image; and quite a few United Methodist churches also follow this plainer pattern.

As for the band. What is and is not usual might even very within the church itself. In smaller country churches it is perhaps more usual to have an electronic organ or piano (often both) providing the musical accompaniment for the singing of hymns. And in larger city churches it is more common to have a grand pipe organ used. But the movement toward the use of bands is quite large, and you will find them appearing in churches of all sizes, both Free and United Methodist. I pastored one United Methodist church where we had four services. On Saturday night we had a coffee house styled service in which we sang to music videos. In the first service on Sunday morning we had a "contemporary" service with a worship band. And in the later service on Sunday morning we had a "traditional" service with pipe organ and robed choir. Then in the final service on Sunday evening we sang gospel choruses accompanied by a piano. And this was not a big city church, but a congregation of just 150 in a small midwestern county seat town of 5000. Within two blocks of my church was another United Methodist church, a Free Methodist church, and an AME church (African Methodist Episcopal). The Free Methodist had a "traditional" service in terms of music choices, but had installed large screen TVs throughout the sanctuary for video displays. The AME church used piano, guitar, and tamborine throughout the service. The other United Methodist church had just organ music. While two and three miles away two other United Methodist churches (yes we had a lot of Methodists in the county) piano and organist who played together, and the other had a drummer and guitarist who played along with their organist.

There were a total of 15 Methodist churches of one stripe or another in that county, and piano or organ music with "traditional" hymns or southern gospel choruses were the most common forms. While one county away in a larger community of 20,000 there were another 5 Methodist churches and three of them had worship bands. So, you tell me, what is usual?

Oh, and at the Catholic church down the street 5 blocks away, they sang everything accompanied by just a solo guitar or a capella.

Yes all of the things said about the Methodist church are true. The church I'm a member of (have been a member since 2000) has two services a more contemporary service at 8:45 which is the one I go to to get my needs mets I like the more contemporary service with the new worship music that is on cd's like WOW and from groups like Jars of Clay . Then I go to my church's trodisanal service to help others get their needs met I sing the choir and we do wear robes but not e every Sunday just on communion Sunday and at special times during the church calendar year like for Easter and Lent the philosophy of the church is that all are welcome and loved by God.