In Christianity, a church service is a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be taught the "Word of God" (the Christian Bible) and encouraged in their faith. Technically, the "church" in "church service" refers to the gathering of the faithful rather than to the building in which it takes place.
Styles of service vary greatly, from the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions of liturgical worship to the evangelical Protestant style, that often combines worship with teaching for the believers, which may also have an evangelistic component appealing to the non-Christians and/or skeptics in the congregation. Quakers and some other groups have no formal outline to their services, but allow the worship to develop as the participants present feel moved.
Read more about Church Service: From Jewish To Christian Services, Church Services Today
Famous quotes containing the words church and/or service:
“A church is disaffected when it is persecuted, quiet when it is tolerated, and actively loyal when it is favoured and cherished.”
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
“The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some skill to do useful service, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community,—these are the most vital things education must try to produce.”
—Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)