I help my nephew out on first Sunday. He's a very young pastor .He serves communion on first Sunday's
Last edited by Pentecali; 05-03-2016 at 02:06 AM.
Our fellowship has its roots in the Plymouth Brethren, though we are not denominational. The Lord's Table is an important part of every "assembly." It's not ritual to most, but perhaps to some. We have a brief exhortation of less than 5 minutes that leads us into partaking.
Here is a short piece from a PB website:
Our service is pretty unique in that anyone can share during "open sharing." As I've shared before, we have no pastor or any paid staff (see red above about "ecclesiastical arrangement"). Messages are brought by one of the elders or teachers. I'm not an elder, but I do teach every so often.The history of the Plymouth Brethren dates back to the early nineteenth century in England where there was growing dissatisfaction within the Anglican Church. As a result of this feeling, a number of independent gatherings sprang up spontaneously in which men and women met together in a fellowship based upon the teachings of the New Testament and centred on the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion). This brotherly fellowship or “Brethren” rejected an ecclesiastical arrangement and focused instead on the individual’s direct relationship with God and the emphasis this placed on personal responsibility. They met in simple meeting rooms for the Lord’s Supper and to join in prayer and preach the gospel.
Here's what our service looks like:
10:00-10:20 worship (singing)
10:20-10:50 Open sharing. Anyone comes up front and shares what the Lord's been doing or a prayer request.
10:45-11:00 The Lord's Table
11:00-11:30 Message
11:30-12:30 or so, we have snacks and fellowship in the fellowship room.
Ezekiel 33 (05-03-2016), Pentecali (05-03-2016), Quest (05-03-2016)
It must be grape juice only. I am not a sipper.
We are NOTHING like the Amish. They are very legalistic and we are VERY grace-oriented. You don't have to "join" our church at all. Just come and be part of the church family. We're very contemporary, actually. The only stickler some people might have is that we do believe in male leadership of the church. No women elders or preachers. Men take the lead, though obviously as servants, not as domineering overlords.
With no paid staff, everyone is involved. I like that. We have a wonderful family camp every summer. This year will be the 42nd consecutive family camp. Always a lot of fun and usually a baptism or two or three. Can't wait!