WELCOME to WORSHIP!

Why do we usually worship together on Sunday?
Sunday is the day of celebration and worship for Christians. This was the day when the women discovered that the tomb where Jesus had been buried was empty, and Jesus was risen. For Christians, every Sunday is like a celebration of the good news of Easter.

Some things you could do during a worship service
Before the Call to Worship, you could...
• if your church uses hymnbooks, look in the worship bulletin and find the songs that will be sung; find these in the hymn- book and mark them with pieces of paper
• if there are scripture readings listed in the worship bulletin, find them in the Bible, and mark them with paper too
• underline all the places where everyone speaks together (this might be typed in bold or marked with the word “People”
• put a star (*) beside all the songs or hymns, when people usu- ally stand up
• think of the things you want to pray about this morning
During the sermon, you could...
• draw a picture of the story you are hearing
• write a poem about something that you hear
• look around the room and notice all the things that help you
focus on God
• draw a circle around the parts of the worship service that you
don't understand, and would like to ask someone about

Welcome to Worship!
Once a week the whole church family gathers to worship together.
Worship is a way of being with God.
Sometimes we pray, sometimes we listen, sometimes we sing.

Our Response
Christians all over the world gather every week to worship together. Some churches have an Order of Service bulletin which tells people what will happen during the worship service. Here are some things that might be in a worship bulletin. Which of these are parts of worship in your church? We show that we want to live God’s way
Gathering and Praise
We gather and get ready to worship
Call to worship: we are invited to worship God Hymn or song: we sing about how good and
great God is Prayers: we pray to God
• the Prayer of Approach or Opening Prayer reminds us that God is with us
• the Prayer of Confession helps us say we are sorry for things we have said or done that hurt others

Announcements: we find out what is happening in our church and in the world

Offering: we bring gifts of money to help the church do God’s work

Statement of Faith, "WE BELIEVE": in some churches we say together the Responsive Reading or statement of faith, which are words that describe what we believe

Prayers of the people: we speak and listen to God as we pray about our concerns for the world, each other, and ourselves. We may end by singing or saying -
The Prayer that Jesus taught (sometimes called The Lord’s Prayer)
• the Assurance of Pardon reminds us that

Hymn or song: we sing a song about living in God’s way God forgives

The Word
We listen for God’s message

Scripture: we listen to readings from the Bible Sermon: we listen as the Pastor or worship leader helps us to understand what the scripture reading means for us in our lives.

Hymn or song: we sing a song which usually has the same idea as the scripture and sermon

Benediction and Commissioning: the word benediction means “good words” and it is a blessing that the worship leader says to us as we get ready to leave

Choral Amen: the word Amen means “Yes” or “so be it”; sometimes the choir sings this last song, and sometimes everyone sings it together

The Ordinance's (Lord's Supper or Baptism):
Ordinances are special actions that we do together as a church family. In Baptism we welcome someone into the church family and promise to help her or him grow as a Christian. "The Lord's Supper" (also called communion) is a special time when we share bread and wine (or grape juice) together and remember Jesus.