Pentacostal Worship (ritual, gospel, beliefs, attend, America)

[Katzpur]

While I was in New York City this past weekend, I attended a church service in Harlem. It was called the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ. The tour guide described it as essentially a Pentacostal church. I have some questions for Dawny or anyone else who might be able to give me some information.

The tour guide said that it was a "temple," because they had a bishop instead of a pastor. What did she mean by this?

There were three women who stood throughout the service near the front of the chapel, off to one side. They appeared to be dressed as nurses, but on their hats, it said "Deaconess." What exactly would their role have been in the Church?

[CK7]

Hi, I'm from a branch of Pentecostal belief. (The Assemblies of God) I can't say I'm an expert on that particular branch, but I know most Pentecostal Churches believe basically the same way. If I understood your question write, you were asking about the position of deacon, or deaconess. I know that in most Churches the position of deacon is usually given to men, but is also taken on by women in some Church. In the Branch of Pentecost I'm in (my dad's a pastor)deacons are basically the assistants to the pastor, or bishop. However we do not separate a Church and a Temple like some. We believe that where ever God's people gather is more than qualified. I know that was a lot of words for a little info, I hope it helps you.

[James the Persian]

I have a some different questions about Pentecostal churches but I can't see that they require a seperate thread so I hope it's OK to ask them here.

I'm only familiar with the Pentecostal church in northern Romania. I'm afraid that I have no idea which branch they are a part of, though I do know that they were evangelised by some Americans. Their church in my wife's home town is simply called Pentecostal with no other name that I'm aware of.

They appear to be an extremely strict group of people. The women wear headscarfs at all times and never wear short dresses. This is, however, also normal amongst older Orthodox Romanians so it may be more of a cultural thing. They also, however, do not drink coffee, smoke or drink alcohol. They never use any form of contraception and as a result tend to have very large families. There also seems to be a great emphasis on different roles for men and women in that almost all the women in the group seem to be stay at home housewives. I know of hardly any that actually have jobs. Is this usual for Pentecostals or unusual?

I was a guest at a Pentecostal wedding in the area. Whilst it was very odd to me, being outside and seemingly consisting of nothing more than the couple sitting side by side and listening to a number of different preachers, it didn't actually have any of the worship in the Spirit sort of occurrences that seem to be the characterising feature of Pentecostal worship. Is this just because it was a wedding or is it a peculiarity of that particular community? I've never actually been to a normal church service to see what that was like.

I'm just curious as to how representative my experience of Pentecostals in Romania is of the movement overall. Thanks in advance for your answers.

James

[Melody]

James,
My sister attends a Pentecostal church (Assembly of God) and there are no such conservative restrictions on them. Based on her explanation, Pentecostals believe in speaking in tongues, faith healing, excorcism and some even in snake handling although this varies with the church. Some Pentecostal churches will go so far as to say that if you do not speak in tongues then you really haven't been saved since that is the evidence of being "baptised in the fire."

Assembly of God is probably one of the largest and more well known (and they don't do snakes as far as I know). Here's a link if you want to know more about their beliefs.

[dawny0826]

As a Pentecostal...let me tell you...our church is incredibly informal.

We have a Pastor, two Youth Pastors and deacons are both male and female and we rarely have more than two working at a time because we have such a small congregation. Deacons usher, if necessary and pass the offering plates.

If you were to peek in on one of our Sunday services...you'd probably be surprised at how much we look like other Protestant Christians. We wear our Sunday best...no formalities throughout the service...free worship. Our services are structured to the extent where we do certain things in order every Sunday...praise and worship and prayer come first...and then announcements and offerings...then the offering prayer...and then the sermon...and as with many Protestant churches...there is normally an invitational at the end of the service...where we're invited to the alter for prayer...for the laying on of hands for healing, spiritually or physical and are prayed for and counseled if one accepts Christ as their Saviour.

In many ways, our services can be compared to a Baptist service, only we do tend to be a bit more expressive with our worship...some members choose to speak in tongues...some choose to praise openly throughout the service and some of course...choose only to pray quietly and take it all in.

No formalities in that regard...we're free to worship as we feel driven...without nasty looks and eye rolls.

I'm thinking your tour guide had Pentecostals confused with Presbyterians. I could be wrong, of course...but our Pentecostal church isn't as he described.

Hope this helps.

[dawny0826]

Pentecostals do not believe that one HAS to speak in tongues. And few churches handle snakes.

We do believe in faith healing because we embrace the NT of the Bible full gospel and Christ told us that we would not only do HIS works but GREATER works.

Weeks can go by and you may not witness a single person speaking in tongues. Pentecostals don't even believe that you HAVE to speak in tongues or praise loudly.

We simply worship in an environment where we're able to worship without the limitations that I've always felt exist in other Christian denominations.

Most of our services...I can totally compare to the services my Grandmother listens to her in her Baptist church and the services that my mother listens to in her Lutheran church. The only difference, inmo, is that a freedom exists where one can express their love for Christ freely without feeling like others are judging them.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by dawny0826

As a Pentecostal...let me tell you...our church is incredibly informal.

We have a Pastor, two Youth Pastors and deacons are both male and female and we rarely have more than two working at a time because we have such a small congregation. Deacons usher, if necessary and pass the offering plates.

If you were to peek in on one of our Sunday services...you'd probably be surprised at how much we look like other Protestant Christians. We wear our Sunday best...no formalities throughout the service...free worship. Our services are structured to the extent where we do certain things in order every Sunday...praise and worship and prayer come first...and then announcements and offerings...then the offering prayer...and then the sermon...and as with many Protestant churches...there is normally an invitational at the end of the service...where we're invited to the alter for prayer...for the laying on of hands for healing, spiritually or physical and are prayed for and counseled if one accepts Christ as their Saviour.

In many ways, our services can be compared to a Baptist service, only we do tend to be a bit more expressive with our worship...some members choose to speak in tongues...some choose to praise openly throughout the service and some of course...choose only to pray quietly and take it all in.

No formalities in that regard...we're free to worship as we feel driven...without nasty looks and eye rolls.

I'm thinking your tour guide had Pentecostals confused with Presbyterians. I could be wrong, of course...but our Pentecostal church isn't as he described.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Dawny. I was really hoping you'd respond. There is no way the church service I attended could be described as Presbyterian, but I suppose there is probably some differences between various Pentacostal denominations. I asked our tour guide what denomination it was and she said that it would come closer to being Pentacostal than anything else. She used the acronym "COGIC" and said it stood for Church of God in Christ. Also, I got the definite impression that it was the church our tour guide attends herself. It was almost exclusively a Black church, which may account for some of the differences. The tour only permitted us to stay for the praise and worship portion of the service, but it was very much as you have described it. I'd have to say that it was just about as different from an LDS worship service as you could find. We tend to be very subdued and reverent in our worship. This service included lots of very loud singing, swaying back and forth, hands raised in the air, etc. A couple of people even had tambourines. I'll say one thing for them: They were clearly very happy to be in church. I admired their enthusiasm and energy and I felt very, very welcome.

[joeboonda]

I attended a pentecostal holiness church for a brief time because I enjoyed the worship and music, but I did not agree with all their doctrine so I am not pentecostal. I am Christian and accept my pentecostal and charismatic brothers and sisters as Christian brothers and sisters because we do agree on the essentials of the faith of Christ although we differ about some nonessentials. I won't go into a debate about all that though, its just my beliefs from my studies of scripture, etc.

[dawny0826]

The only "doctrine" that we follow is the Word of God.

[joeboonda]

I know that, I know you are wonderful good Christians and believe in the Bible as your sole authority, as do I. We differ on some very very minor things, so minor I would not want to even have one tiny bit of argument over. Someday in a Christian only place, I might, might, discuss it some, but I love my pentecostal brothers and sisters, and I can easily agree to disagree on some very very very very very minor points.