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The Church
A building where a group of people meet. They have meetings every week- usually Sundays because this is the consecrated day of the Lord. Thousands, hundreds of thousand,s and sometimes even millions of units of currency goes into ensuring this building is state of the art.
The Service
It’s the meeting that lasts about 2- 3 hours on a Sunday morning. General order is Praise & Worship, Offering, the Sermon then the ‘grace’. If you do not attend these regularly you are a sinner.
The Congregation
They are the people who make the whole system ‘work’. They are there every week in what has now been termed their “Sunday Best”. Once the Service begins everything changes. What they did the night before doesn’t matter, neither does what the plan to do. Sunday is the day they make up to God for the abandonment of the past and upcoming week.
The Pastor
He has the foremost seat in the Church. He likes his man- given titles and would usually get offended if he is not addressed by these. His word is law- it doesn’t need to be verified and it must not be challenged; that’s blasphemy, because if he said it, it means God said it.
The Congregation either don’t see it or just wouldn’t admit it but they fear him more than they fear God. He has his special seat in the foremost row of pews, and you dare not sit in it. When he enters the Church he is followed closely by some members of the Congregation- one to hold the Bible, one to carry the briefcase and others just to show their respect for the man of God.
The Choir
A group of singers. They are needed it appears, to help the Congregation worship their God. It is probably the most popular clique in the Church, and selection is a big deal involving one audition after the other and ‘trial periods’. Nothing else really matters, as long as you can sing and you are an ‘accredited’ Christian, you’re in!
The Ushers
They are there to ensure the Service runs smoothly. They lead you to where you would sit and ensure you do not sit in the seat reserved for someone more important than yourself.
The Collection/ Offering
I have been attending Church for all the 23 years of my life and I dare say there isn’t a Service without this, no not one! It is usually prefaced by a speech about the rewards of taking part. The rewards are God’s blessings; what you sow you shall reap, give and it shall be given, etc. Some churches do it more than once per Service; there is one towards the building, one for the ‘general upkeep of the Church’ and one for the guest Pastor (if any).
The Sermon
Why wasn’t this my first? It’s the most important. It’s what they go to hear; “the Message of Christ- Pastor’s Edition”. Tremendous effort goes into it. The choir is prepped so that they sing songs that serve as the perfect entree for it.
Most of the time it’s about what God can do for the Congregation (admittedly this seems to be changing). The louder the Pastor’s voice when delivering it, the more the screams and ‘Amens’ that emanate from the Congregation.
The Testimony Time
It takes place during some Services. It is the time where the floor is open for people to come and testify about what the Lord has done for them. They wanted something, prayed and fasted for three days and BOOM God did it. These stories unsurprisingly, are usually materialistic “God gave me a car, I bought a new house”
The Revival, Convention, Vigil, Holy Ghost Night, Power Crusade, etc
It takes place every now and then. Guest speakers and choristers are flown in from around the globe. People would generally have to pay a fee to attend because hey, ‘he who serves at the altar must eat from the altar’. The event is heavily publicized and we’re told that the power of the Lord will surely be there. There will be miracles, signs and wonders so we must invite everybody we know.
The Bible
It is the Word of God and must be accorded reverence as such.
Christianity
What you get when you put all of the above together.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This guy’s view seem the non-pious type. He describes a bit from third person’s singular point of view. Then at the end, he states “put everything together” = Christianity. This is the conclusion. Oh well, I do not accept most of the premises he based them on. I expected from his point of view he was going to adopt a non neo-classic sort of name for what is now deemed Christianity which shouldn’t be
‘A sense of religion’ is what you get by putting all this together while christianity is what you get by having a one on one with God via studying your bible and applying that to your life so you can be Christlike.
@ Tobystic, you are very right! It is a ‘non- pious view. I am far from pious and do not hold myself out as being so.
However I do not think there’s anything in there that can be described as inaccurate. Though different churches would have each “issue” to varying extents and not all churches would have all “issues”, this is the vibe that can be gotten from churches in general.
@ LD I think what you have described is to an extent what Christianity SHOULD be [I agree that it should be about a one on one with God] but whether that’s what it indeed is in this 21st century is a more debatable issue.