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Typical Service / Church

DiscipleOfIAm

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Since I am unfamiliar with a Reformed church and they do not seem to be any within a 50 mile radius of me, I am curious. What is a typical service / church like? Do you generally sing Hymns and Psalms or choruses and contemporary or what? Is there usually a children's church during services? Sunday School, small groups during the week? Is it a typical church service or more digging deep into Scripture instead of topical preaching?

Thanks!
 
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Since I am unfamiliar with a Reformed church and they do not seem to be any within a 50 mile radius of me, I am curious. What is a typical service / church like? Do you generally sing Hymns and Psalms or choruses and contemporary or what? Is there usually a children's church during services? Sunday School, small groups during the week? Is it a typical church service or more digging deep into Scripture instead of topical preaching?

Thanks!

I would say our music is a bit more contemporary. We sing Psalms and Hymns, most are set to more modern music though.

CC&E
 
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synger

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I think, like with so many things, it depends on the congregation. In the Presbyterian church I grew up in, the service followed the same order of worship week after week, and the music was primarily hymns. The choral music was a mixture of traditional and more modern pieces, but nothing that I, in retrospect, would consider "praise music" as the term seems to be used today. Children came to service with their parents through the first two hymns, and listened to the Bible reading, and had a little "Children's Sermon", then went downstairs to their classrooms for Sunday School while we had the rest of the service. Sermons primarily focused on God and His love for us, and our call to worship him and serve others. Sermons tended to be primarily topical with Biblical support, rather than explanatory of this or that Bible verse.

In the Presbyterian church I was married in, we had three services, and many more types of music. The youth group was very active with praise music, so when the Youth Minister preached, it was more of a "contemporary worship" style, while when the Senior Minister preached it tended to be more traditional. Children had Sunday School during service.

In the Reformed church my sister belongs to, the music is a pretty good mix of traditional and modern, and the focus of the sermons seem to be very solidly about God. Again, they tend to be topical (like on an aspect of God, with Bible exposition) and very scholarly. I'm not sure about the children thing with them, though, since I've only visited there a couple times.

In my current (Lutheran) church, the service is more liturgical, and the sermons more Bible-focused. Children older than 4 or 5 sit with their families through the service. Not Reformed, but fairly traditional. Some Lutheran churches, however, are very praise-music-oriented. So again, it really depends on the congregation, Reformed or no.
 
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arunma

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My church is Reformed Baptist, and the services are almost identical to any other evangelical church. Obviously the sermon is going to be different. But our hymns are both contemporary and old, as is the case in most evangelical churches. On occasion, however, we will recite a creed of some sort. For example, a few months ago we recited the Nicene Creed (which I thought was really cool). That's something you don't find often in evangelical Christianity.
 
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arunma

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That's why I like my evangelical Anglican church - we have the liturgy as well as the theology. Love it!

Yeah, I have to admit that I prefer liturgical worship to evangelical worship. Unfortunately for me, I love my church too much to trade it for the smells and bells.

But it would be cool to have the smells and bells also.
 
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JimfromOhio

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I have been in many Churches of many denominations. Reformed Churches are not that different from others. Some Reformed are more traditional in their worship (i.e. reciting creeds and etc) however with music and other part of the worship services are like any other denominations.
 
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edie19

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Since I am unfamiliar with a Reformed church and they do not seem to be any within a 50 mile radius of me, I am curious. What is a typical service / church like? Do you generally sing Hymns and Psalms or choruses and contemporary or what? Is there usually a children's church during services? Sunday School, small groups during the week? Is it a typical church service or more digging deep into Scripture instead of topical preaching?

Thanks!

Can't speak for anyone else but at my church we:
1. Sing hymns, psalms and spiritual songs. We do some contemporary songs - but no 7-11 stuff. Our music is more "God directed" than "man directed." Our music leader is very careful to be sure that the words are sound doctrinally.

2. We don't have a children's church during our service. Children are in worship at the beginning and end of the service, they go to Sunday School for about 45 minutes in the middle of the service (during the sermon). However, at least once a month we don't have Sunday School and the children stay in the service.

3. We don't currently have formal "small groups." However, after both our Sunday evening service and our Tuesday evening prayer many members often meet at someone's house for discussion and fellowship. (The Sunday evening discussion/fellowship is routinely referred to as "Spurgeon.") Several times a year we will have a Bible study and/or a book review that meets for 4 - 8 weeks.

4. My pastors primarily do expositional preaching. From January 2005 thru May 2006 they went through Galatians. This past summer they went through Proverbs. They will throw in a topical sermon several times a year (generally no more than 5-6 total). For example - 3 weeks ago we had several church attenders (now members) baptized. That Sunday Pastor David spoke on baptism. Another recent topical sermon was prayer. The one thing Pastor David has never (and will never) preach on is giving (we don't pass an offering plate either). He has made reference to Scriptural reasons for giving, but he doesn't ask for money.

4. Not sure what you mean by a typical service - we follow the regulative principle of worship.

edie
 
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edie19

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Well now, you'll have to explain what the 7-11 stuff is?
I would guess that is when they take one word or phrase and just beat it to death, is that right? I just fail to see how that would bring glory to our Lord.

7 words repeated 11 times (or is it 11 words repeated 7 times??)
 
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Jon_

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Continental Reformed churches tend to follow the same pattern:

Hymn or Psalm
Prayer
Hymn or Psalm
Catechism and/or Announcements
Hymn or Psalm
Prayer
Sermon
Prayer
Doxology
Benediction

Presbyterian churches (if they are Reformed) will generally fit into this pattern as well.

Soli Deo Gloria

Jon
 
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Continental Reformed churches tend to follow the same pattern:

Hymn or Psalm
Prayer
Hymn or Psalm
Catechism and/or Announcements
Hymn or Psalm
Prayer
Sermon
Prayer
Doxology
Benediction

Presbyterian churches (if they are Reformed) will generally fit into this pattern as well.

Soli Deo Gloria

Jon

Here is our worship service format:

Song of Gathering
Call To Worship
Silent Preparation
Song of Adoration
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
Assurance and Comfort in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Song of Thanksgiving
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Supplication
Sermon (announcements usually precede the Sermon)
Prayer of Faith
Song of Response and Preparation
Celebration of the Lord's Supper
Song of Response
Benediction

We celebrate the Lord's Supper each Sunday.

CC&E
 
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DiscipleOfIAm

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Are these mostly Reformed Baptist churches or Presbyterian churches? It does not seem a Baptist church would have parts of a service where they recited anything or had a standard prayer everyone said. Sounds more Lutheran, Episcopal or Catholic to me.

Not to offend anyone, just doesn't sound Baptist.

Thanks for the responses though. I enjoyed peeking into another church :)

God Bless!
 
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Are these mostly Reformed Baptist churches or Presbyterian churches? It does not seem a Baptist church would have parts of a service where they recited anything or had a standard prayer everyone said. Sounds more Lutheran, Episcopal or Catholic to me.

Not to offend anyone, just doesn't sound Baptist.

Thanks for the responses though. I enjoyed peeking into another church :)

God Bless!

My church is PCA. We often have responsive readings or we all recite a psalm or portion of Scripture together.

CC&E
 
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edie19

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Are these mostly Reformed Baptist churches or Presbyterian churches? It does not seem a Baptist church would have parts of a service where they recited anything or had a standard prayer everyone said. Sounds more Lutheran, Episcopal or Catholic to me.

Not to offend anyone, just doesn't sound Baptist.

Thanks for the responses though. I enjoyed peeking into another church :)

God Bless!

We're Baptist and we definitely have a liturgical service.

Confession of belief (congregational)
Greeting
Prayer
Scripture reading
Hymns, Psalms or spiritual song x 2 (congregational)
Prayer
Sermon
Hymns, Psalms or spiritual song x 2 (congregational)
Lord's Table w accompanying prayer
Doxology (sung) (congregational)
Benediction

We occassionally have a congregational Psalm reading before the Lord's Table.
 
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Bernergirl

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Well, at the church that I am currently at (Presbyterian) it is less liturgical and more open. We meet in a high school auditorium, start with hymns, occasionally adding a sprinkling of something someone on the worship team wrote, accompanied by the worship team's instruments (which includes all from guitars to violins to bongos to didgeridoos!) and singing and the voice of the congregation. Then we have someone come up and read off the weekly announcements, and right after that is the offering. We greet each other and the pastor then comes up and delivers the sermon, we have some prayer, and then we close with more hymns. During closing hymns, people can leave to the prayer room if they desire, to pray with others and confess their sins if they feel convicted to do so in that setting. There is Sunday school for the kids and childcare for the teeny tots during all of this. (One day the kids actually came up on the stage and taught us... with some guiding questions from the pastor. ;) )

At a local Presbyterian church that I went to last Sunday, it was a lot more liturgical and they seemed a lot more patriotic to the Reformed tradition. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing... it just made me wonder a bit. I don't remember the exact order of worship, but it was basically along the lines of what other people have listed:

Greeting
Hymn
Prayer
Confession
Offering
Readings from OT, Gospels, and Epistles
Sermon
Hymn
Benediction

And then there is a fellowship time after the service.

God bless,

Lissa
 
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DiscipleOfIAm

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So, let me delve a bit more, or maybe I should start a new thread?

What exactly do Presbyterians believe? Reformed or regular, either one. Do you allow women pastors, eternal security of the believer, calvinist, infant baptism, baptism by immersion only, etc?

I am not familiar with Presbyterian churches at all. Sounds close to a Baptist service though. There is a Reformed Presbyterian and a Presbyterian Church USA in my area.

I'm trying to find more info as best I can about typical services, beliefs, doctrines, practices, etc.

Thanks and God Bless!
 
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erin74

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Yeah, I have to admit that I prefer liturgical worship to evangelical worship. Unfortunately for me, I love my church too much to trade it for the smells and bells.

But it would be cool to have the smells and bells also.
actually... we don't have smells and bells as such. My dh is the minister, and he doesn't even robe for the more traditional services (although many evangelical anglican churches do have a robed traditional service). However we do have creeds, confessions, etc. I like it. It keeps us to foundational truths.

Our service is generally quite contemporary evangelical I imagine. We have contemporary songs and some hymns, and a prayer book style service, although not necessarily with the books, and not word for word - just the bones of it.
 
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Bernergirl

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If I am correctly informed, all Presbyterians are of Reformed theology, but not all of Reformed theology are Presbyterians. (Someone please correct me if I am mistaken.)

As far as I know, there are some Presbyterian churches that allow women pastors (I think it depends on the branch, like PCUSA vs PCA or some such) but not all. I personally don't think it is Biblical, but that's another debate for another time.

I am in a credobaptist Presbyterian church, but from the posts of horrified shock I recieved when I posted such in SR, I take it that not all/many Presbyterian churches are. (BTW, in case you haven't noticed, I am speaking only for the Presbyterian slice of the Reformed pie... ;) ) I was baptized by immersion and that doesn't seem to be anything that gains much debate around here. If I was speaking for the majority, I think most would say that baptism by immersion makes the most sense, but baptisms via other methods are still honored as baptisms.

I am a babe in Christ m'self, so I am just learning about this all as much as you are. I hope my relaying the little I do know has benefitted you.

God bless you!

Lissa
 
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