CHRISTIAN PRACTICES
Types of Worship:
● Liturgical worship - A service that follows a strict structure
○ Set responses
○ Readings from the bible
● Non-liturgical worship - A service that doesn’t follow a strict structure
○ No order of rituals
○ Prayers and hymns constantly changing
● Private worship - When a believer praises/honours God in their own way
○ Spent alone or with close friends
○ Can involve prayer or meditation
Significance of Prayer:
P
● rayer is about communicating with God
● People pray in many different positions
○ Kneeling
○ Standing
○ Hands pressed together
● In Christianity prayer may be a call to God and he will answer but not in the
way that might be expected
et Prayers:
S
These prayers allow Christians to learn and repeat prayers that have a significant
meaning. They allow it to become collective, so when recited with others their
single voices become a communal voice. Eg. The Lord's Prayer
xtemporaneous Prayers:
E
These are non-formulaic and spontaneous, which some Christians view to be
more spiritually honest. Some Christians believe prayers in this way are influenced
by the Holy Spirit and reject prayers like the Lord’s Prayer as they believe that by
repeating set prayers, the real meaning is lost
I nformal prayer:
Tends to be private and involves communicating with God, meditation and
personal reflection. Quakers value the idea of being in God’s presence and sit in
silence and stillness in services. They believe this allows them the opportunity to
reflect, which helps them become closer to God.
, Role and Meaning of Sacraments:
acrament - A religious ceremony or ritual regarded as imparting divine grace,
S
such as a baptism
he special ritual is associated with Jesus, during which individuals receive a
T
blessing from God. Christians believe that these blessings bring them closer to
God and help them develop spiritually
Holy Communion (Eucharist):
● E ucharist is a sacrament commemorating Jesus’s Last Supper before his
crucifixion, where he shared bread and wine with his disciples.
● Christians today continue this tradition, as they believe it brings them
closer to God as it is an act of thanksgiving for the life and death of Jesus.
It’s a celebration of his sacrifice
ifferent Christians celebrate the Holy Communion differently due to their
D
different beliefs:
● Transubstantiation
○ When Roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine actually
become the body and blood of Christ
● Consubstantiation
○ The Protestant belief that the body and blood of Jesus are somehow
present ‘within’ the bread and wine
● Other Christians believe that Christ is metaphorically there and celebrate
with wine and bread as an act of remembrance (a memorialism)
aptisms:
B
Baptisms are the sacrament that cleanses original sin
Infant Baptisms:
● Some Christians believe baptism makes a Christian a member of God’s
family. In many denominations babies are baptised, and this is known as
infant baptism
● For Orthodox Christians, infant baptism involves total immersion
● other denominations make the sign of the cross on the baby’s head using
oil and use holy water on the forehead
● There are other elements to a baptism service
○ promises made by godparents on behalf to the child to reject evil
○ a candle is given to the child’s guardian to symbolise receiving
Jesus’s light
Types of Worship:
● Liturgical worship - A service that follows a strict structure
○ Set responses
○ Readings from the bible
● Non-liturgical worship - A service that doesn’t follow a strict structure
○ No order of rituals
○ Prayers and hymns constantly changing
● Private worship - When a believer praises/honours God in their own way
○ Spent alone or with close friends
○ Can involve prayer or meditation
Significance of Prayer:
P
● rayer is about communicating with God
● People pray in many different positions
○ Kneeling
○ Standing
○ Hands pressed together
● In Christianity prayer may be a call to God and he will answer but not in the
way that might be expected
et Prayers:
S
These prayers allow Christians to learn and repeat prayers that have a significant
meaning. They allow it to become collective, so when recited with others their
single voices become a communal voice. Eg. The Lord's Prayer
xtemporaneous Prayers:
E
These are non-formulaic and spontaneous, which some Christians view to be
more spiritually honest. Some Christians believe prayers in this way are influenced
by the Holy Spirit and reject prayers like the Lord’s Prayer as they believe that by
repeating set prayers, the real meaning is lost
I nformal prayer:
Tends to be private and involves communicating with God, meditation and
personal reflection. Quakers value the idea of being in God’s presence and sit in
silence and stillness in services. They believe this allows them the opportunity to
reflect, which helps them become closer to God.
, Role and Meaning of Sacraments:
acrament - A religious ceremony or ritual regarded as imparting divine grace,
S
such as a baptism
he special ritual is associated with Jesus, during which individuals receive a
T
blessing from God. Christians believe that these blessings bring them closer to
God and help them develop spiritually
Holy Communion (Eucharist):
● E ucharist is a sacrament commemorating Jesus’s Last Supper before his
crucifixion, where he shared bread and wine with his disciples.
● Christians today continue this tradition, as they believe it brings them
closer to God as it is an act of thanksgiving for the life and death of Jesus.
It’s a celebration of his sacrifice
ifferent Christians celebrate the Holy Communion differently due to their
D
different beliefs:
● Transubstantiation
○ When Roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine actually
become the body and blood of Christ
● Consubstantiation
○ The Protestant belief that the body and blood of Jesus are somehow
present ‘within’ the bread and wine
● Other Christians believe that Christ is metaphorically there and celebrate
with wine and bread as an act of remembrance (a memorialism)
aptisms:
B
Baptisms are the sacrament that cleanses original sin
Infant Baptisms:
● Some Christians believe baptism makes a Christian a member of God’s
family. In many denominations babies are baptised, and this is known as
infant baptism
● For Orthodox Christians, infant baptism involves total immersion
● other denominations make the sign of the cross on the baby’s head using
oil and use holy water on the forehead
● There are other elements to a baptism service
○ promises made by godparents on behalf to the child to reject evil
○ a candle is given to the child’s guardian to symbolise receiving
Jesus’s light
