Christian Practices info booklet – RS
2.1 Worship
2.2 Prayer
2.3 Sacraments: Baptism
2.4 & 5 Sacraments: Eucharist
2.6 Pilgrimage
2.7 Celebrating Festivals
2.8 & 9 Role of the Church: Food Banks & Street
Pastors
2.10 Mission and Evangelism
2.11 Church Growth
2.12 The importance of the worldwide church
(reconciliation)
2.13 Christian persecution
2.14 The Church’s response to World Poverty
Bible Passages
, 2.1 Worship
Worship – acts of religious praise, honour or devotion.
Expressing adoration of a deity.
Worship involves things like prayer, meditation, Bible readings,
singing hymns, preaching, sharing food, pilgrimage etc…
Christians worship because it allows Christians:
To praise and thank God for His blessings
To ask for forgiveness of sins/seek God’s help for
themselves
Deepen their relationship with God
Gain comfort and strength to live a more truly Christian
life.
Types of Worship
Liturgical Worship
These services follow the same set pattern each time.
A priest leads the congregation in formal prayers, that
have set responses.
o Bible passages are read out (normally from the
gospels) and there may be a sermon based on these.
o The priest could perform symbolic actions which have
a specific meaning.
There will often be music, hymns sung by the
congregation/choir, or chanting by the priest.
An example is the celebration of the Eucharist for Catholic,
Orthodox and Anglican Churches.
This would appeal to people that just want to confirm and
maintain their relationship with God, because you do not need
to have a particular problem or reason to thank God to worship
like this.
, This might not appeal to people who have personal problems
they hope God could answer or aid with, because it is a more
collective effort and the answers and prayers are set.
Non-liturgical Worship
There does not have to be a set order/ritual.
Nonconformist churches (e.g. Methodist, Baptist and United
Reformed Churches) may choose an order to suit a theme.
They place an emphasis on the word of God in the Bible.
o Instead of Holy Communion regularly, the service is
usually focused on Bible readings and a sermon based
on the readings.
The structure of the service might remain the same each
week, but the preacher could change the order, number of
hymns, and/or types of prayer.
This would appeal to people that are Methodists, Baptists,
United Reformed Churches, or just Nonconformist churches.
This would not appeal to people that do not like a structure to
their worshiping, or would like a more set one.
Informal/Charismatic Worship
This could depend on people’s spontaneous prayers or
sharing of thoughts.
Quaker worship is silent, and people speak when they feel
God’s spirit moving them to offer thoughts, prayers or a
reading from the Bible.
Community/house churches meet to eat together and
share their faith (this recreates what they believe to be
the worship of the Early Church).
Some informal worship (e.g. Pentecostal church) is
‘charismatic’ (which means ‘led by the Spirit’) and could
involve dancing, clapping, calling out and speaking in
tongues.
This would appeal to those that like being unrestrained with
their worship, and being in a place where they can feed off
each other's enthusiasm and readiness to praise God.
2.1 Worship
2.2 Prayer
2.3 Sacraments: Baptism
2.4 & 5 Sacraments: Eucharist
2.6 Pilgrimage
2.7 Celebrating Festivals
2.8 & 9 Role of the Church: Food Banks & Street
Pastors
2.10 Mission and Evangelism
2.11 Church Growth
2.12 The importance of the worldwide church
(reconciliation)
2.13 Christian persecution
2.14 The Church’s response to World Poverty
Bible Passages
, 2.1 Worship
Worship – acts of religious praise, honour or devotion.
Expressing adoration of a deity.
Worship involves things like prayer, meditation, Bible readings,
singing hymns, preaching, sharing food, pilgrimage etc…
Christians worship because it allows Christians:
To praise and thank God for His blessings
To ask for forgiveness of sins/seek God’s help for
themselves
Deepen their relationship with God
Gain comfort and strength to live a more truly Christian
life.
Types of Worship
Liturgical Worship
These services follow the same set pattern each time.
A priest leads the congregation in formal prayers, that
have set responses.
o Bible passages are read out (normally from the
gospels) and there may be a sermon based on these.
o The priest could perform symbolic actions which have
a specific meaning.
There will often be music, hymns sung by the
congregation/choir, or chanting by the priest.
An example is the celebration of the Eucharist for Catholic,
Orthodox and Anglican Churches.
This would appeal to people that just want to confirm and
maintain their relationship with God, because you do not need
to have a particular problem or reason to thank God to worship
like this.
, This might not appeal to people who have personal problems
they hope God could answer or aid with, because it is a more
collective effort and the answers and prayers are set.
Non-liturgical Worship
There does not have to be a set order/ritual.
Nonconformist churches (e.g. Methodist, Baptist and United
Reformed Churches) may choose an order to suit a theme.
They place an emphasis on the word of God in the Bible.
o Instead of Holy Communion regularly, the service is
usually focused on Bible readings and a sermon based
on the readings.
The structure of the service might remain the same each
week, but the preacher could change the order, number of
hymns, and/or types of prayer.
This would appeal to people that are Methodists, Baptists,
United Reformed Churches, or just Nonconformist churches.
This would not appeal to people that do not like a structure to
their worshiping, or would like a more set one.
Informal/Charismatic Worship
This could depend on people’s spontaneous prayers or
sharing of thoughts.
Quaker worship is silent, and people speak when they feel
God’s spirit moving them to offer thoughts, prayers or a
reading from the Bible.
Community/house churches meet to eat together and
share their faith (this recreates what they believe to be
the worship of the Early Church).
Some informal worship (e.g. Pentecostal church) is
‘charismatic’ (which means ‘led by the Spirit’) and could
involve dancing, clapping, calling out and speaking in
tongues.
This would appeal to those that like being unrestrained with
their worship, and being in a place where they can feed off
each other's enthusiasm and readiness to praise God.
