Presbyterian Church in Ireland - Church and Worship

Church and Worship

Apart from the seats for worshippers, the inside of a Presbyterian church is dominated by four items of furniture.

  • The Pulpit is the place from which sermons are preached. It generally occupies the central place in the church, reflecting the central place of the proclamation of the Word of God in the worship of the Church. .
  • The Bible Stand holds the bible in a prominent place in the church. The bible is the source of all authority in the life of the church.
  • The Communion Table, often placed directly in front of the pulpit. The associated chairs are occupied by the minister and elders during the service of Holy Communion.
  • The Baptismal Font is used during baptisms, which is regarded as a sign of the covenant between God and the Church, welcoming the child into the community of the Church. Children are regarded as sharing the promise of salvation with adults in the church and have as much right to be baptised as adults. ('Infant Baptism' does not guarantee admission to Full Membership. Full Membership is only accepted on Profession of a personal Faith.)

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Famous quotes containing the words church and, church and/or worship:

    “It’s better to sit in the bar and think of church than to sit in church and to think of the bar.”
    —Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.

    “If I should go out of church whenever I hear a false statement I could never stay there five minutes. But why come out? The street is as false as the church, and when I get to my house, or to my manners, or to my speech, I have not got away from the lie.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “It is not enough for us to prostrate ourselves under the tree which is Creation, and to contemplate its tremendous branches filled with stars. We have a duty to perform, to work upon the human soul, to defend the mystery against the miracle, to worship the incomprehensible while rejecting the absurd; to accept, in the inexplicable, only what is necessary; to dispel the superstitions that surround religion—to rid God of His Maggots.”
    —Victor Hugo (1802–1885)