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What to Expect When You Visit Our Worship Service
We know that some people are a little apprehensive about coming to a church service where they have not attended before. Because of that, we want to set your mind at ease by telling you what you can expect when you visit our service. We invite those of you who live in our area or who are visiting in our city to visit our service.
From 9:00 am until 9:45 am each Sunday we have Bible classes for all ages from the very youngest children to the oldest adults. These classes are designed to teach us what God says and how He wants us to live. We invite you to attend these classes. Our worship service begins at 10:00 am and we dismiss at 11:15 am. You are invited to visit any Sunday. We promise that we will not intentionally do anything to embarrass you or to make you feel uncomfortable. Below is an explanation and order of our service each Sunday.
First, one of the elders of the church will begin the service by welcoming everyone and asking anyone who desires to do so, to put his/her prayer requests on a card which can be found on the back of the pew in front of you. He will then offer a prayer to God to begin the worship service. One of the men will lead the congregation in several songs (Ephesians 5:19). You are invited to sing with us. The songbooks can be found underneath the pew in front of you. During the service someone will read a chapter from the Bible. We invite you to follow along in your Bible or in one of the Bibles that you can find in the pew. Also during the service someone will lead a public prayer.
Each Sunday we partake of communion in which we remember the Lord's death (I Corinthians 11:23-29). This will be served to everyone as they sit in the pews. Each person can decide whether or not to partake. Young children do not partake because they do not understand the meaning of this important part of worship. Following the communion we will take up an offering (I Corinthians 16:1-2). If you wish to give that is fine, but we do not expect you to give. Primarily this is a time for the members of the congregation to give to support the work that the church does. If you have a prayer request written on the card, you can drop that card into the basket when it passes in front of you. We would also ask you to fill out and drop into the collection basket a visitor-card giving your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, but again, if you do not wish to do so, that is fine.
Near the end of the service there will be a sermon presented by one of the ministers. That will conclude with a song in which we invite anyone who has a spiritual need to come to the front and speak to the minister while the song is being sung. We will then assist that person with his or her request.
The elder who welcomed you at the beginning will also close the service. He will make a few announcements and have a prayer in which he mentions the written requests from the cards.
With so many things that you could be doing on a Sunday morning, it speaks well of you that you want to worship God. We encourage you to come and worship with us. We trust that your time with us will be a wonderful spiritual experience for you.
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