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Visiting different churches - Evangelical part 1

A few Wednesday's ago I happened to be free at lunchtime so went along to the lunchtime mass at my local Evangelical church.

So what do I mean when I say Evangelical? If you've been into a church and the sermon is the most important part of the service you are probably at an Evangelical service.  


In an Anglo-Catholic service the focus is in the Eucharist, that is where Jesus and God lay, for Evangelicals it is the sermon as it's within scripture you find God. The Bible is his word, it has fundamental truth within it.   This doesn't mean it's all 100% historically accurate, though highly conservative evangelicals (such as those found in America) would argue it was.  Because of this the main focus of reverence in the service is on the reading of scripture and the sermon which follows.  


Receiving communion is still important but not the focus, and is celebrated using any form of bread and wine that just quickly get blessed, if it is celebrated at all.

The service as a whole followed the general structure of the BCP but the wording was changed to be more modern, which I quite liked, and obviously the aforementioned changes were there as well.

I found the service interesting but strangely disconcerting.  It was a bit of a culture shock to say the least!  This speaks to the vast range of worship within the church and I think I only had this reaction because I was expecting it to be closer to the BCP, as midweek services tend to be BCP services,  rather than a modernised style of service.

I am really interested in going along to their Sunday services as they don't necessarily provide the bread and wine each time and I'd like to see how the service works without that central element.

They also have specific family and young adult masses that I shall be attending, both of which have very high congregation numbers. I'd like to see what they offer and find ways to incorporate it in a more traditional church setting to achieve the best of both worlds. 

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