United Pentecostal Church International - Worship

Worship

Worship at the UPCI is often described as lively, with members jumping, dancing, singing, shouting, and clapping, as in all Pentecostal churches. Some people run through the church aisles, dance in the spirit, roll in the floor, which coined the term "holy rollers". They have even been known, mostly in the earlier days of Pentecostalism, to walk across the top of pews or jump over pews in an act of fervent worship. Some Pentecostals disagree with such radical acts of worship. Another form of more organized worship is when one person begins to walk around the church as other worshippers follow in a systematic march while worshipping; this is known as "victory marching". Services are ofttimes punctuated by acts of speaking in tongues (glossalalia), interpretations of tongues, prophetical messages, and laying on of hands for the purposes of healing. These events can happen spontaneously, often at massive altar calls where the entire congregation is encouraged to come and pray together at the front of the church. The pastor is always in charge of the worship activities, although he might relinquish control temporarily to "let the Spirit of God have its way." Excessive control of worship activities is often referred to as "quenching the spirit", a scriptural term taken from I Thessolonians 5:19, which states, "Quench not the Spirit." There has often been controversy over how much worship should be controlled and how much a congregational leader should "let the Spirit move."