Liturgy in IFB - LOT of questions !

[Rebelwife]

Btw, according to a priest, grape juice could be better than some wines... :lol:

BrownieMomma, yes, I see your point. I think I'm going to try anyway. If they speak to me, I will not give my names or phone number, it's all. Maybe speaking to stranger at church is more "american" ? There's one baptist church who come from american missionnaries, and the other seems to be from here. I'm going to try. I'm curious !

Yes, let's just say I'm not sneaking into the Sacristy on Sundays to drink the leftover wine. :ew:

[BrownieMomma]

Btw, according to a priest, grape juice could be better than some wines... :lol:

BrownieMomma, yes, I see your point. I think I'm going to try anyway. If they speak to me, I will not give my names or phone number, it's all. Maybe speaking to stranger at church is more "american" ? There's one baptist church who come from american missionnaries, and the other seems to be from here. I'm going to try. I'm curious !

That could well be an American thing, or even a Southern American thing.

Let us know how it goes! I'm also curious about what your experience will be.

[Palimpsest]

Marianne: Is there any chance that this is the church you are considering > “La Chapelle†Église Protestante Baptiste?

It looks more "mainstream" Baptist than IFB. It's not family integrated at least.

Do report back on your experience. Apparently the Evangelical movement is gaining in popularity in France.

Thanks in advance.

[Marianne]

Yes, it's this. I'm going to try it in the month :)

The Evangelical movement is very popular among people of colors in poor area, and with the people of "outre mer" (Guyanne, Reunion, Guadeloupe, etc...)

i will tell you all about my experience :)

[FoxyMoxie]

Some churches avoid alcohol at Communion for non-crazy reasons. The Methodist church doesn't use wine because when the church was started, part of its ministry was amongst alcoholics. The Methodists I know say that they would not want people to be excluded from Communion if they couldn't have alcohol, so prefer not to have wine. It's part of Communion being open to all. Certainly most Anglican churches will offer non-alcoholic wine alongside the regular stuff, and gluten-free bread or wafers (which is not permitted by the Roman Catholic church).

Crown Him With Many Crowns is a very standard hymn across many denominations - I sang it at my friend's (Anglican) high mass wedding. And yes Marianne, it was a proper high mass with priest, deacon and subdeacon in chasuble, dalmatic and tunicle! No Latin though ;) I've also sung The Old Rugged Cross at my grandad's Catholic funeral. Abide With Me is probably the most popular hymn for Anglican funerals in England. How Great Thou Art is also popular in Mainline churches, and And Can It Be is a Wesley hymn (written to a pub tune of the time, so like a popular folk tune) so popular in the Methodist church but also most other Mainline churches. When I was in a high Anglican church that used the New English Hymnal, it included some Wesley hymns but the congregation wasn't that familiar with them and preferred more Catholic-type hymns. I love Wesley hymns though, they're so rousing.

Marianne, if you like And Can It Be, look on Youtube for Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah (also known as Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer) to the tune of Cwm Rhondda. It's a Welsh hymn and is sung at Welsh rugby matches, but is also popular across the UK - Wales uses Jehovah, England uses Redeemer.

[Marianne]

it was a proper high mass with priest, deacon and subdeacon in chasuble, dalmatic and tunicle! No Latin though

There was dalmatic and tunicle for the deacon and subdeacon ? I can I can forgive the lack of Latin :mrgreen: I tried to understand the liturgy in the Anglican Church recently. What I understood was: "oh, do what you want" xD Still watching Songs of Praises, btw.

I love history of lituryg, and history of music, so I'm looking to read something about this hymns.

I knew "Guide me O thou Great Jehovah" thanks to rugby. So beautifull. Do you know why the difference Jehovah/redeemer ?

[smittykins]

A hymn that was often used at the end of a service(after the altar call) was Blest Be the Tie That Binds.

At the church I attended as a teen/young adult(not strictly IFB, but definitely "fundegelical"), Blest Be The Tie That Binds was sung after Communion, once a month, and we all held hands during it.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

This thread is making me realize how little I know about other denominations as a cradle Catholic! Can someone explain what an altar call is? Do you go to the front to get a blessing or just to pray in front of the altar or what? And there are multiple services each week? Are they all the same type of activity?

[smittykins]

AIUI, the pastor invites anyone who wants to make a commitment to Christ to come up to the altar, where they kneel and pray with the pastor or deacons. In my church, our pastor did something similar, but they stayed in their seats, and he asked the congregation to close their eyes and bow their heads so whoever wanted to receive Christ as their savior could raise their hands without being seen.

[FoxyMoxie]

it was a proper high mass with priest, deacon and subdeacon in chasuble, dalmatic and tunicle! No Latin though

There was dalmatic and tunicle for the deacon and subdeacon ? I can I can forgive the lack of Latin :mrgreen: I tried to understand the liturgy in the Anglican Church recently. What I understood was: "oh, do what you want" xD Still watching Songs of Praises, btw.

I love history of lituryg, and history of music, so I'm looking to read something about this hymns.

I knew "Guide me O thou Great Jehovah" thanks to rugby. So beautifull. Do you know why the difference Jehovah/redeemer ?

I am not sure why the difference between Jehovah and Redeemer sorry.

Yes, there was dalmatic and tunicle for the deacon and subdeacon. The deacon was actually the bride's dad, who is a priest and who married her and her husband. Obviously this is different to in the RCC! The Church of England does not have permanent deacons anymore so you just get priests acting as deacon and subdeacon.

Anglican liturgy varies between different parts of the Anglican Communion, which does make it confusing. In the Church of England, you have the Book of Common Prayer (1662 version so thees and thous) and Common Worship (what most churches use). Common Worship is in modern language and is a modified BoCP. For Communion services (Anglican churches vary in how often they have them, I attend churches that have them weekly or more often) you have the service with a choice of different Eucharistic prayers. The churches I attend usually use Prayer B which is the closest to the Catholic one. Common Worship is generally very similar to Novus Ordo Catholic services though, just slightly different phrasing and some things are in different places. We use 'and also with you' instead of 'and with your spirit' for example. I am very comfortable attending an RC mass however, it's very familiar to me! I like lots of incense and candles and I bow at the sacrament. I just go forward for a blessing from the priest instead of receiving the Eucharist.

[BrownieMomma]

This thread is making me realize how little I know about other denominations as a cradle Catholic! Can someone explain what an altar call is? Do you go to the front to get a blessing or just to pray in front of the altar or what? And there are multiple services each week? Are they all the same type of activity?

In a Southern Baptist Church, the altar call is at the end of the service. The pastor moves from behind the lectern, usually down a few steps, and stands in front of it to receive anyone who comes down.

Music plays and people sing. People go down to tell the pastor they want to get saved, sometimes they pray with the pastor right then and there to invite Jesus into their heart, sometimes it has happened somewhere else at some other time and they are telling the pastor. Getting saved will be followed by immersion baptism at another church service. You will have to stand in front of the church and be announced as being saved or received Jesus or some other similar phrasing.

Sometimes people go down to kneel at the steps and pray.

If you are moving to a new church, you also go down at this time to present yourself. The pastor usually says you are coming from a church or town, and you want to join this church by "promise of a letter" which means the new church will request a letter from the old church saying you are a legit member. You would also stand in front of the church, as they are then voting to accept you. The pastor will say all in favor raise your hand and a bunch will raise their hand and then you're a member of this church, once the paperwork is done.

An SBC pastor does not bless anyone.

Generally, Sunday morning is the main service, even if there are different services at different times. Usually there is another service on Sunday night, less formal but the same general order of service.

Wednesday night is the most casual, sometimes this is called a Bible study, sometimes it is a regular service with music and preaching, usually business meetings are held on Wed night, once a quarter typically.

[klavierspieler]

This thread is making me realize how little I know about other denominations as a cradle Catholic! Can someone explain what an altar call is? Do you go to the front to get a blessing or just to pray in front of the altar or what? And there are multiple services each week? Are they all the same type of activity?

Well first, in IFB at least "altar call" is just the name. There isn't an actual altar. We were in two different churches while I was growing up and visited others during revivals and such, and I only remember one that actually had what could be even sort of described as an "altar." The others either had nothing at all or maybe just a small table with a flower arrangement in front of the pulpit. Most IFB churches refer to the whole front of the church (so the steps up to the platform where the podium was and the floor space between the platform and the first row of chairs/pews) as the "altar."

There's no blessing, individual or collective. I think that would be too Catholic, lol. Basically after the sermon is over the pastor will invite anyone who's been convicted by sermon, wants to rededicate themselves to God, or wants to be saved to come up front and kneel and pray while the pianist plays (and sometimes the congregation sings, depending on the church). Usually this is something you do alone, just slip out of your seat, go up front, find an open spot and kneel and pray, stand up and head back to your seat when you're done. If you'd raised your hand before that you needed to be saved, the pastor signal someone from the church come pray with you and maybe take you a classroom somewhere to lead you in the sinner's prayer, but otherwise it's something you do alone.

Yes to multiple services a week, usually Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. If there's something special going on it might be more. In the church we spent the most time in (and that my parents still attend), mission's conference meant services Sunday morning, Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night. Fall and spring revivals meant two services on Sunday and then services every single night for a week solid. And yeah, it was usually pretty similar. Singing, take an offering, more singing, preaching, altar call. Really the only thing that varied was the amount of music. Sunday morning was always the most amount of music, Sunday night slightly less, and then anything during the week was only a couple of songs at most.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Thanks! You know, I got interested in this stuff because I went to college in the Bible Belt and found myself surrounded by people who grew up in these kinds of churches. But I was too busy asking them about the really gory details to find out about the more mundane everyday stuff.

So how many people would ask to get saved at a typical service? Someone said it goes on for a while, but I imagine if you're going to church three or four times a week you run out of people to save pretty fast.

[BrownieMomma]

Thanks! You know, I got interested in this stuff because I went to college in the Bible Belt and found myself surrounded by people who grew up in these kinds of churches. But I was too busy asking them about the really gory details to find out about the more mundane everyday stuff.

So how many people would ask to get saved at a typical service? Someone said it goes on for a while, but I imagine if you're going to church three or four times a week you run out of people to save pretty fast.

Yeah, pretty much only visitors and children of current members get saved. At every SBC church I ever went to, there could be long dry spells where the only people down front are praying at the steps.

[browncoatslytherin]

In the church we spent the most time in (and that my parents still attend), mission's conference meant services Sunday morning, Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night. Fall and spring revivals meant two services on Sunday and then services every single night for a week solid.

missions conferences were some of my favourite times. some of the missionaries were really, really interesting, spoke well, had stories that had you hanging on the edge of your seat.

of course, if they were boring, i'd just excuse myself on the pretense of a bathroom break and just wander around the atrium area looking at their setups. they would set up information boards about their areas that they were missionaries to. the best ones were picture-heavy and included do-dads and miscellany from their countries. so i was usually pretty entertained.

[klavierspieler]

I liked missions conference because every missionary that came had their own promotional video that was anywhere from 10-20 min long, and during missions conference when you had an average of two missionaries speaking each night that really cut into the sermon time. :D Videos of exotic locations were far more interesting to sit through than yet another sermon. Fall and spring revivals were the worst for me because they were so sermon heavy, and the sermons were always the hellfire and damnation type. It would give me anxiety attacks.

And like BrownieMama said, NachoesFlandersStyle, we could have long dry spells with no one getting saved, and then have a visitor get saved, then another dry spell, etc. Sometimes several a night during revival though. Although every once in a blue moon we would have a teary church member announce that they'd been convicted that they were never saved, just play acting the part, and they wanted to get saved for real. I saw that happen maybe once every other year while growing up.