Visitors Guide

Our 10am service begins with an adult worship service in the sanctuary, while children head to Sunday School. Following the morning service, a light lunch is served and time is provided for community fellowship. Everyone then gathers in the sanctuary at 12:15pm for children’s song worship. Following this the children and adults together participate in the afternoon worship service. We welcome you to join us for part or the entire day.

The worship service begins with congregational singing. After the ministers take their place up front a silent prayer is offered for the service. There is a reading from the Old and New Testament followed by a meditation on the passage. The passages read during the service are generally opened to extemporaneously rather than prepared beforehand, excepting special occasions such as a holiday or baptism. When the minister is finished, another minister will offer some comments. A final song is sung and closing prayer offered. Greetings are shared by those visiting from other congregations, announcements are read, and the congregation is then dismissed.

Yes! Sunday School is available in the morning for children ages 3yrs through high school.

As a visitor, you can feel free to come as you are. However, if you are concerned about standing out, then know that we like to put on our “Sunday best”. Men will wear dress pants and shirts and ties. Women will wear dresses or skirts and blouses.

We use the King James version during our worship services. These are also provided in the pews. There is no need to bring your own Bible to church, unless you prefer reading from a different translation.

Today some denominations offer different styles of worship services, such as contemporary, traditional, etc. We have a single service which the whole church attends. It involves traditional a cappella singing, in four-part harmony, from hymnals that include a selection of older (17th & 18th century) European hymns as well as more modern (19th & early 20th century) American hymns. This practice seeks to follow the model of simplicity in worship that is found in the New Testament, unifying the community in our worship of God rather than dividing people into groups based on personal taste or preference.

Separate seating for men and woman has generally been the rule throughout Christian history. Only in more recent times have some churches begun to have mixed gender seating, with families generally sitting together. Because the church is the Family of God, and our spiritual kinship takes priority over our biological kinship, we sit together as brothers and sisters in Christ rather than members of this or that household. This seating arrangement also provides support to those who are unmarried, widows or widowers and might otherwise be alienated not having a spouse or family to sit by them. However, as a visitor you are welcome to sit wherever you feel comfortable – with family, spouses and/or friends.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul instructs Christian men and women to participate in the public assembly of the church differently from each other. When men are “praying or prophesying” they are to uncover their heads, women doing the same are to cover their heads (1 Corinthians 11:2-16). The Apostle gives these instructions with the explanation that in so doing a proper honor is shown for the gender distinctions which God purposefully designed within the created order.

Until the 1960’s the practice of women wearing head coverings in church was the norm. Southern Baptists wore wide brim hats, Roman Catholic’s wore lace mantillas, women of various European and Middle Eastern traditions wore headscarf’s. In the US, public perception of gender roles and distinctions changed radically in the later portion of the 20th century and women’s head coverings fell out of practice in the majority of American churches. However, Christians throughout the global East have continued this practice without interruption.

Wikipedia article on Christian head covering

Throughout the New Testament epistles Christians are instructed to greet one another with a “holy kiss” or “kiss of charity” (Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, I Thessalonians 5:26 & 1 Peter 5:14). To this day, a kiss is the typical way in which many traditional ethnic cultures greet close friends and family members, as was the custom when these letters were written. Yet the holy kiss was intended to express more than one’s personal affection for those close to them. More importantly, it served as a public confirmation that in Jesus Christ a new humanity had begun. One in which those with no former relation were now brought together. Jews and gentiles were made brothers and sisters of the same covenant family and slaves and masters heirs of the same inheritance (Galatians 3:26-29).

In America today, the practice of men kissing men, and women kissing women, can feel awkward and uncomfortable. But it is worth acknowledging that it was not a natural or socially acceptable practice for Christians of mixed ethnicity, or socio-economic status, to kiss in the Greco-Roman world of the New Testament either. Our church testifies to the reality of this new family that God has formed through faith and baptism by members greeting one another with a holy kiss.

Wikipedia article on the kiss of peace.

Absolutely! We would love for you to break bread with us and enjoy the fellowship. Just like the early church in the book of Acts we look forward to regular times of table fellowship as well as worship (Acts 2:42,46). It provides a special opportunity to build stronger relationships and nourish the church body.