what is a "typical" service like?

[i.<3.cheesysmiles]

I am reading a book called. "The Church is Flat". It was a Kindle freebie. It talks about the Emergent Church Movement in America. I had never heard of that movement before. I am only about 25% through, and it described 8 different churches and what their typical services were like, and I was just surprised at how different they are!

I grew up Catholic, so every mass, regardless of what Church it was held in, was the same.

After going to our church for over 2 years, DH and I have never been there on time, and we live 5 minutes away We always get there during the worship music so I am unsure what goes on before. Then, there is a prayer. Then, the pastor does a sermon. Our old pastor would use power point, so all Scripture is on the screen or on a handout of the powerpoint. He would focus on one passage, and connect them to others. We learned the history of the Bible, and then he was able to connect the Word to our everyday lives. IT was amazing how many times I was brought to tears by his sermons! I miss him!

After the sermon, there is one last worship song and a final prayer and announcements. We do communion once a month. We still have an interim pastor, and I do not know how he does it, but our old pastor would use that once a month sermon to really talk about what communion meant. I loved it. We served ourselves. If we accept Jesus, we are welcome to come and take bread and wine, but if we could not fully accept Him, then he asked us to sit and pray.

I was just curious to learn what a typical worship service is like at the church you go to. It really intrigues me to hear about the different types of services out there.

[KC's wifey]

Sounds like an interesting book. I would like to know what it says about the Emergent Church. Wish I had a Kindle!

Our church service sounds similar to yours. Starts out with worship music. We do contemporary music, although some songs are old hymns that have been put to a more contemporary tempo. The lyrics are always up on power point. There are announcements usually before the second to last song. Then the Pastor comes up, welcomes new comers and then there is a minute or two for people to say hello to the people around them. Then he prays and starts the sermon. One of the things Calvary Chapel churches focus on is verse by verse teaching of the Bible. They will do topical teaching, if the pastor feels a particular topic is needed for the congregation, but for the most part it is taught verse by verse through the entirety of the Bible. So every week you know exactly where the Pastor left off last week, and where he will start back up again. Of course he will still pull other verses that apply or connect or give context to the passage in the message. We do have power point, but it is not used extensively. If there is a specific scripture he really wants focused on, he will put it up.

When the sermon is done, he prays and then its done. We do communion once a month during Wednesday service. I'm not sure why that is. They also have everyone serve themselves and ask that those who have not accepted Christ not take it.

Ours is a very diverse church, in many ways. Lots of different ethnicities, social statuses, ages, etc. So its really a "come as you are" church. People dress in anything from Biker gear to Sunday best, and no one bats an eye.

[OnTheMove]

The church we started in (www.seacoast.org) is very similar to Polly's - we have contemporary worship, the campus pastor greets everyone and says the announcements, we have a few minutes to greet one another, then we have a sermon that's about 40 minutes. Each sermon series has an overarching theme that extends for several weeks. After the sermon we have a time of reflection where you can pray, come and take communion (self-serve), pin you sin to the cross, or light a candle for someone. While this is going on there is additional worship songs (usually two slow, and then one fast to close). We end with the benediction. They are a member of a group of churches called the ARC (www.arcchurches.com), and most of those churches "do" church the same way. We visited two churches since we have been in our new city, one was an ARC church and was very similar to Seacoast. The second was not and scrambled things a bit, they did reflection and communion in the beginning, then worship songs, then announcements, and ended with the sermon. It was a little disorienting. My husband grew up Catholic and it is strange for him to go to different churches and have the structure be so different at each one. That sounds like a really interesting book!

ETA: I think you can still download Kindle books even if you don't have a Kindle - they just download to your computer instead

[Sakura]

Our services sound similar to you ladies' churches. We have worship through singing first, maybe 4-5 songs, all led by a band (dh plays bass guitar), both contemporary songs and hymns. Prayer/offering time. Preaching/teaching. Communion, if it is the first Sunday of the month (although I'd like it every week). Around 2 more songs. Announcements. Once a month there is a church wide fellowship potluck (pot providence? ).

I'm curious what it says about the Emerging/Emergent movement as well. I think they have some valid points (and others that may not be so great).

[JJorn]

Our church format is also similar to what has been mentioned. Here is usually how it go (but they do change things up depending on, well, lots of things).

Worship Songs
Announcements
Offering with Prayer and song (sometimes we also sing the prayer)
Message (pastor prayers at the beginning of message)
Closing Song
Final words by Pastor
"You are Loved" is said at the end of the service

Communion is offered about every 6 weeks and can happen any time after the second worship song and the final words by the pastor.

We are a big church with multiple locations - the one that we currently attend was the first one. Some times we have the message on video or streamed in live from one of the other locations. We have also attended a few of the other locations. Our church has also planted something like 40 (? - I think more) other churches all over the US and in several other countries. We have also attended some of those and the format is really the same although the pastor is different and they are self governed.

[caligirl07]

Ours is pretty much like the rest...
Opening worship (very modern with a band)
Very brief announcements (usually they play on the larger screen before and after the service and on screens in the lobby)
Offering
Message
Closing worship

We also do communion about once a month, our pastor goes between teaching verse by verse and topical.

[Cosmosmom]

Mine goes like this but can vary....and summer is definitely different. Summer services are lighter and often lead by lay people. Still always music and joys and concerns and lighting the chalice though.

Music for gathering
Lighting the Chalice....with words spoken by the whole congregration or a reponsive reading
Opening Words
Announcements
Singing
Joys and Concerns (my personal favorite...anyone can go up to the front and light a candle for any joys or concerns they have....those are spoken and we also light one for those unspoken)
Offering
Readings
Sermon (maybe 15-20 minutes)
More singing or responsive reading
Closing by extinguishing the chalice and speaking these words together “We extinguish this chalice but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we carry in our hearts until we are together again.”

[DucksLikeRain]

Welcome/announcements
Opening Hymn
Invocation (opening prayer)
New "business" (changes in teachers, group presidencies, etc)
Sacrament Hymn
Blessing and Passing of the Sacrament (done pretty much every Sunday)
Usually two youth speakers (12-18yo) for like five minutes each. Sometimes topical, sometimes a specific verse
Adult speaker (from the congregation) for 20ish minutes. Again it switches between topic or verse driven
Intermediate Hymn
Adult Speaker
{First Sunday of every month all the speakers are replaced with Testimony Meeting where the floor is essentially open for anyone in the congregation to come up and share their testimony as moved-general testimony, on a certain aspect of the Gospel, a testimony building experience they have had, etc. My girls love getting up most months and sharing something they learned in scripture study and why it is important to their lives}
Closing Hymn
Benediction (closing prayer)

[decembersky]

Prayer
Announcements
Worship music
Communion
Offering collection
Bible Sermon
Prayer
One more song
Fellowship lunch every other Sunday after the sermon

Does the book talk about how Christianity has strayed from the original Apostolic teachings, the Christianity of the Bible? If so, that would be a good book to read!

[Chayah]

The church we started in (www.seacoast.org) is very similar to Polly's - we have contemporary worship, the campus pastor greets everyone and says the announcements, we have a few minutes to greet one another, then we have a sermon that's about 40 minutes. Each sermon series has an overarching theme that extends for several weeks. After the sermon we have a time of reflection where you can pray, come and take communion (self-serve), pin you sin to the cross, or light a candle for someone. While this is going on there is additional worship songs (usually two slow, and then one fast to close). We end with the benediction. They are a member of a group of churches called the ARC (www.arcchurches.com), and most of those churches "do" church the same way. We visited two churches since we have been in our new city, one was an ARC church and was very similar to Seacoast. The second was not and scrambled things a bit, they did reflection and communion in the beginning, then worship songs, then announcements, and ended with the sermon. It was a little disorienting. My husband grew up Catholic and it is strange for him to go to different churches and have the structure be so different at each one. That sounds like a really interesting book!

ETA: I think you can still download Kindle books even if you don't have a Kindle - they just download to your computer instead

Are you here, in Charleston?!?! Which campus do you go to? I go to Legacy Church in West Ashley. We love it there. We are contemporary & inter-denominational, too.
Praise & worship
Announcements
Prayer & offering
Sermon
Invitation & worship

Service is usually around 2 hours. We have no Sunday school or anything of the like.

[OnTheMove]

Are you here, in Charleston?!?! Which campus do you go to? I go to Legacy Church in West Ashley. We love it there. We are contemporary & inter-denominational, too.
Praise & worship
Announcements
Prayer & offering
Sermon
Invitation & worship

Service is usually around 2 hours. We have no Sunday school or anything of the like.

We used to live in Charleston and we miss it! We lived in Mount Pleasant, so we were at the Long Point campus. Small world

[Chayah]

We used to live in Charleston and we miss it! We lived in Mount Pleasant, so we were at the Long Point campus. Small world

Cool. I know some people on staff, so we probably know some of the same people

[pants]

ours is pretty traditional
we worship through songs, hymns, and spiritual songs first
then announcements and tithe
special music is played through tithe
then choir song
then we sing one more hymn
special music
bible preaching
closing invitation
hymn and prayer

we observe the Lords supper once a quarter
church business meetings once a quarter after the evening service
wednesday night prayer meeting is more casual service with a short message and the prayer groups.



john macarthur did an excellent documentary on the emergent church titled"does the truth matter anymore" if you can get your hands on it its excellent. Basically the emergent church is seeker friendly movement intertwined in It. They forsake bible truths for more watered down version. Replace bible preaching for entertainment and comedy hour. Things like that.