toldailytopic: The ideal church service. How long? How much worship? What type of mes

[Nathon Detroit]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for November 8th, 2009 12:58 AM

toldailytopic: The ideal church service. How long? How much worship? What type of message? etc. If you were in charge, what would your service be like?

Take the topic above and run with it! Slice it, dice it, give us your general thoughts about it. Everyday there will be a new TOL Topic of the Day.
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[Nathon Detroit]

And if you already love your church service..... tell us about it!

 

[Psalmist]

Retirement and healthcare center church services.

I realize that to some this may not be on the cutting edge of praise and worship and giving forth of the word. But it is what we, Mrs Psalmist and me, do best; it is an exciting time to be serving the Lord and the dear Treemont resident's that the Lord has sent us to.

It is in these five areas that we keep in mind -

• Keep a faithful Christian witness
• Remind the resident's of Jesus' love and faithfulness
• Bring a message of help and hope, and heaven
• That Jesus is the message and plan of salvation.
• That each resident is loved and cared for, and will not be forgotten.

We have two church services at a retirement/healthcare center.

2:00 p.m. for assisted living and hospice care.

• We spend time with our healthcare residents before the 2:00 p.m. service is in healthcare.
• The service is 40-45 minutes long.
• They love to sing, and singing is what they do best, so we sing 6-8 old hymns that they remember. They are affectionately called "The Lord's Sweet Singers of Israel"
• The residents are given an opporunity to speak of their love for Jesus if they would like to.
• The message is brief, it is kept inside of 20 minutes, it is more of devotional Jesus centered message, we keep short since they tend to fall asleep, or start getting a little restless.
• And a closing hymn.

The 3:00 p.m. for the independent living.

• The service is about 45 minutes.
• We sing 4-5 hymns.
• Address their prayer concerns, and pray for those concerns.
• They are given the opportunity to (remember) "Testify"
• The message is kept inside of 25 minutes. The message is centered around Jesus, help and hope, and heaven our final home; and we can openly address the subjects of salvation, sin and forgiveness, death and the hereafter.
• We close with a hymn.
• And spend time with them after the service.

Is it worth it? Yes! And the blessings are numerous, yet it would be difficult to recount them all, but we are so thankful the sent us, to care for those that He has placed in our life.​

 

[bybee]

Dear Psalmist

Dear Psalmist

Retirement and healthcare center church services.

I realize that to some this may not be on the cutting edge of praise and worship and giving forth of the word. But it is what we, Mrs Psalmist and me, do best; it is an exciting time to be serving the Lord and the dear Treemont resident's that the Lord has sent us to.

It is in these five areas that we keep in mind -

• Keep a faithful Christian witness
• Remind the resident's of Jesus' love and faithfulness
• Bring a message of help and hope, and heaven
• That Jesus is the message and plan of salvation.
• That each resident is loved and cared for, and will not be forgotten.

We have two church services at a retirement/healthcare center.

2:00 p.m. for assisted living and hospice care.

• We spend time with our healthcare residents before the 2:00 p.m. service is in healthcare.
• The service is 40-45 minutes long.
• They love to sing, and singing is what they do best, so we sing 6-8 old hymns that they remember. They affectionately called "The Lord's Sweet Singers of Israel"
• The residents are given an opporunity to speak of their love for Jesus if would like to.
• The message is brief, it is kept inside of 20 minutes, it is more of devotional Jesus centered message, we keep short since they tend to fall asleep, or start getting a little restless.
• And a closing hymn.

The 3:00 p.m. for the independent living.

• The service is about 45 minutes.
• We sing 4-5 hymns.
• Address their prayer concerns, and pray for those concerns.
• They are given the opportunity to (remember) "Testify"
• The message is kept inside of 25 minutes. The message is centered around Jesus, help and hope, and heaven our final home; and we can openly address the subjects of salvation, sin and forgiveness, death and the hereafter.
• We close with a hymn.
• And spend time with them after the service.

Is it worth it? Yes! And the blessings are numerous, yet it would be difficult to recount them all, but we are so thankful the sent us, to care for those that He has placed in our life.​

I can testify to the importance of Worship Service in extended care facilities. I worked in Geriatrics for the last few years of my nursing career. I was absolutely delighted with the love that came my way from my residents. One little lady who was confined to wheel chair transportation thought I was her mother. She would stretch her arms to me and exclaim "mamma! mamma!" Often her daughter s would be there as we hugged each other. Her love for me was as comforting to me as mine was for her. Due to my husband's illness we are unable to attend church but we worship together on a daily basis. He too, is sometimes not sure who I am but he still enters into prayer with me. Good habits are a lasting blessing. peace, bybee

 

[kmoney]

I'm pretty happy with how my church does it so I'll describe that..

The entire service is about 90 minutes. An approximate breakdown is 30 minutes for worship. 10-15 minutes for announcements or special music or a brief talk from a special visitor. Then the rest of the time for the sermon.

I think it keeps things moving enough that people's attention stays up but still long enough that it doesn't feel too rushed. My personal max for a service would probably be about 2 hours (and my church's services used to be around that but throughout the years they have shortened it, probably to make it more "friendly" in this new era of the emergent or post-modern church)

 

[elohiym]

An approximate breakdown is 30 minutes for worship...

Please describe what you mean by worship.

 

[kmoney]

Please describe what you mean by worship.

Praise and worship. Music, singing, etc.

 

[Servo]

Worship= 20 minutes. Message = 30 to 40 minutes. BAM!

All services need to be converted to MP3's for later reference. :up:

 

[Town Heretic]

toldailytopic: The ideal church service. How long? How much worship? What type of message? etc. If you were in charge, what would your service be like?

Let's start with Sunday...Out of doors--either along the banks of a river or overlooking a vista with rolling hills (I have two particular places, both nearby, in mind). The message would be relatively short and devotional in nature with a period of prayer and observation of God's gift in nature just prior. Two hymns, sung acapella, would begin and end the service. After which, people would be encouraged to remain in fellowship and would bring food for a general picnic together.

A mid week study for more serious and interactive consideration of particular passages and books would be offered as well.

 

[Delmar]

Please describe what you mean by worship.

I don't worry too much about the style of worship music, but the focus should be on Him. When the words are too much about me rather about His worthiness to be praised, it seems that the focus is off. This is true of old hymns as well. I for example prefer the song, "Oh Worship the King", to the song "I have decided to follow Jesus". That is not to say that "I have decided to follow Jesus" is not a great song, it just doesn't really meet my definition of praise, as well.

 

[Ps82]

I really enjoy our praise and worship time (Music with reflections made by the worship leader about the LORD in order to direct our focus).

I'd love a service filled with men calling out AMEN. I don't hear enough of that lately. I quietly give my amens ... but I would be so encouraged about life if I could just hear more strong men saying it with enthusiasm.

My pastor uses a teaching style when dealing with the WORD and is good at organizing his points ... but the thing I like about him the most is that he stands up for God's will ... and speaks out bravely against evil ... such as abortion, etc.

Our service is a mixture of traditional aspects and new praise and worship styles. I like this... I find comfort in some of the traditions, but really like the personal lyrics of the new songs.

 

[Son of Jack]

As I want to be a pastor one day, I've given this some thought.

One BIG problem I have with most services I attend these days is that they are primarily passive in nature. Very few congregants are actively a part of the service, something I find unfortunate. Read On Liturgical Theology for a fuller treatment of what I have just forwarded. With that in mind....

Most of the service would involve as many of the congregants as possible. The music would be blended (but this is an overdone and over-discussed topic). The worship leaders would NOT be in front of the congregation. Ideally, there would be a large and elevated stained-glass window in the front of the church, which would feature the Gospel in some form. Thus, as the congregants sing their attention is drawn upward and focused on the central message of the church.

Prayer would be pastoral in parts and congregational in parts. The Scripture for the day would be read at the beginning of the service so that the people would have the opportunity to meditate on the passage for the sermon. Music, whenever possible, would geared to highlight the central theme of the passage for the day.

The service would end in the Lord's Supper, which I prefer to call the Eucharist for linguistic and theological reasons. As the pastor, I would literally break the bread in front of the congregation. I've been told by some that this has a fairly dramatic effect on the partakers. Imagine a quiet sanctuary in which a loud cracking sound is heard just as the words "this is His body broken..." are spoken. The congregation would then come forward to receive the bread and wine.

Finally, each service would end with a fellowship meal.

 

[mmstroud]

Our service is fairly liturgical. It begins with announcements and greeting one another. Then the call to worship, a responsive reading from God's Word, followed by a hymn. This is followed by a corporate confession of sin and the pastor's assurance of pardon to the believer. The offering is taken, followed by the pastoral prayer at the end of which the entire congregation recites the Lord's Prayer. We sing another hymn and then the sermon is preached, followed by a closing hymn. Once a month we have communion after the sermon - on that Sunday we also recite the Apostle's Creed. The only thing I would change is to take communion every week.

 

[Psalmist]

I really enjoy our praise and worship time (Music with reflections made by the worship leader about the LORD in order to direct our focus).

I'd love a service filled with men calling out AMEN. I don't hear enough of that lately. I quietly give my amens ... but I would be so encouraged about life if I could just hear more strong men saying it with enthusiasm.

My pastor uses a teaching style when dealing with the WORD and is good at organizing his points ... but the thing I like about him the most is that he stands up for God's will ... and speaks out bravely against evil ... such as abortion, etc.

Our service is a mixture of traditional aspects and new praise and worship styles. I like this... I find comfort in some of the traditions, but really like the personal lyrics of the new songs.

In some churches, saying "AMEN!" is like saying sick’em to a Bull Dog.

I noticed to that some of the more prominent congregations clap (applaude) the pastor instead of an "Amen brother!" To me that clapping is like TV's Oscar night.​

 

[Lighthouse]

When we get to Heaven it will be for eternity. That works for me.

 

[csuguy]

I've never cared for how church services are done. I like the music portion - supposing they have a good music - they should have music anywhere from twenty minutes to an forty minutes.

Its the message part that I don't like. First off, the messages are usually recycled and generic - rarely anything new - usually very boring. Second off, because of how its setup - its ackward to ask questions for clarification, let alone debate a given issue. Third, pews are extremely uncomfortable - this doesn't keep me awake, it irritates me and makes me want to leave. I think that after the music portion of the service, everyone should go off to a bible study class. Everyone then gets to choose to something of interest to them and they will ultimately learn a lot more. A short general message - like 10min - is ok before this break up, but it should be mostly general church announcements and such.

Finally, services are typically start some time between 9am and 11am. If you want to be involved in the service, like with choir, you have to be there even earlier. I like to sleep in, I am not a morning person. Even if I do get up and get there, I'm tired and I'm not going to pay much attention - not to mention hungry cause I'll probably have not had time to get something to eat. Services need to start later in the day! Have night services! Then everyone is up, awake, and has had time to eat or do whatever. Then they can devote themselves to worship when they are actually alert!

 

[Karl der Grosse]

Our Sunday service works great.

2:30pm pastor starts by greeting, asks others to say hello to their neighbors (takes no time, we only have approx 70 members)
2:35pm prayer requests
2:40-45pm altar call for healing, prayer, ect.
2:50pm announcements
3:00pm preaching
4:15pm- wrap-up, second altar call (usually a mass prayer, dismisses from there)
4:30-45pm Dismissal, refreshments in the back, mingle time

Love it

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

Ideal church service? One that adheres to the RPW, which definitely excludes the typical, happy-clappy type services in vogue nowadays.

Too many think that worship is a when we come together to be fed, to fellowship, or entertained. Yes, God will meet our needs as we worship, but to seek a church simply for the criterion of what we will get out of it misses the Biblical truths. Our focus in worship must be upon what God has done for us and how we are to respond to His gracious workings.

Such typical service would be:

0. Sunday School (60-90 minutes)
1. A reading from Scripture (OT and NT)
2. Singing: Exclusive Psalmody with very limited use of musical instruments
3. Doxology and public prayer
4. Sermon - expository (40-50 minutes)
5. The Offering
6. A recital of some portion of our Confession
7. A closing prayer
8. Baptism and Lord's Supper (monthly)
9. Fellowship activities, e.g., a meal

Note from the above: no altar calls! :squint:

AMR

 

[Karl der Grosse]

Why no altar calls friend? Is it wrong to be prayed over?

I also forgot to include the music in our church. Typically hymns, psalms, and some of that "old time religion" melodies.

 

[kmoney]

Let's start with Sunday...Out of doors--either along the banks of a river or overlooking a vista with rolling hills (I have two particular places, both nearby, in mind). The message would be relatively short and devotional in nature with a period of prayer and observation of God's gift in nature just prior. Two hymns, sung acapella, would begin and end the service. After which, people would be encouraged to remain in fellowship and would bring food for a general picnic together.

A mid week study for more serious and interactive consideration of particular passages and books would be offered as well.

The part about hymns in your description reminds me of a church service I went to recently. It was a Mennonite church and the only music they had were a few hymns. It wasn't completely without music though. They did have a piano for a couple of the songs.

The Mennonite service was completely different from what I am used to but I enjoyed it. I liked the simplicity of it. It was very basic and very communal (though the small size is more conducive to that than larger churches that I'm used to).