Pentacostal Worship

[Melody]

My choice of wording was poor and I apologize for that.

Thank you

I've attended Pentecostal churches in the past and some have been so wild that I've quietly backed out the door. No snake handlers just incredible chaos.

The most recent Pentacostal church was tame by comparison but still pretty rambunctious when compared to the baptist services. I drop in there every now and again just because I feel the need to clap my hands and stamp my feet and "praise the Lord" in the middle of the sermon. The folks at the baptist church would just not understand.

 

[dawny0826]

I drop in there every now and again just because I feel the need to clap my hands and stamp my feet and "praise the Lord" in the middle of the sermon. The folks at the baptist church would just not understand.

LOL! No, they probably wouldn't.

 

[Harvster]

That sounds exactly like them! Did your grandmother also have to keep her head covered? That's the only aspect of the church there that I think might be native rather than having come over from the US with the missionaries (because older Orthodox women do the same - my wife's never even seen her grandmother's hair!). Evidently there still is at least one Penetecostal church in America that has this old fashioned attitude and they've made inroads in northern Romania.

I believe that that must be a tradition within that church as i have never heard of a Pentecostal church that insisted the head be covered but you never know. The only thing i can think of is that Men were forbidden to wear hats in services, women however were allowed. That however was more courtesy than anything else.

What about the weddings? Does that sound familiar to anyone? The thing that got me is that the couple didn't actually do anything. They just sat there and listened, no exchange of rings, no nothing. I mean our weddings are very different from western ones but my first Orthodox wedding (I was Protestant at the time) looked a lot less alien to me than this Pentecostal one did.

Weddings in the Pentecostal church are preformed in the same way as most churches ie. rings, vows etc. Again i will have to say that it is probally a cultral thing or something that church has decided to do. BTW speaking in toungues to my knowledge is never done at a wedding.

 

[James the Persian]

Weddings in the Pentecostal church are preformed in the same way as most churches ie. rings, vows etc. Again i will have to say that it is probally a cultral thing or something that church has decided to do. BTW speaking in toungues to my knowledge is never done at a wedding.

OK. It's certainly not cultural as in part of Romanian culture. That wedding couldn't have been less culturally Romanian if they'd tried. Romanian (Orthodox, which is the vast majority) weddings involve both an exchange of rings and a crowning and, in addition, involve the newly wed couple drinking from a common cup. None of those were present in this Pentecostal wedding. The celebrations were very western, too. In Romania you normally start out with a small party at the bride's house then there's the civil wedding followed by drink and cakes, then the Church wedding followed by drink and cakes, then a reception which lasts all night (the bride and groom are the hosts and can't leave until the last guest does). The Pentecostal one just had your standard couple of hour reception after the wedding that I'd expect here (though here I'd usually expect there to be some alcohol served).

James

 

[Izdaari]

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?

Beats the heck out of me. None of that sounds anything like my church (Assemblies of God). But my experience is limited, since my AG church is the first Pentecostal church I've ever been part of.

 

[Izdaari]

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

As with the previous post, that's nothing like my Assemblies of God church. It seems like your Romanian Pentecostal church is from one of the fundamentalist branches of the movement. I've very thankful mine is not, because if it were, I would've turned around and left during my first service. I have no use for that kind of legalism at all. To me, Christianity is all about Grace, and about God's boundless love for us, not about following rules.

 

[Izdaari]

Now, Australian AG, that's something I know a little about, at least from watching Pastor Brian Houston of Hillsong on the Daystar network. Hillsong seems very much like my AG church, except much larger.

 

[Charity]

I believe a lot of the Pentecostal churches who are predominately black often refer to their preacher as a Bishop. The Deacons and deaconesses are usually part of the church leaders under the Bishop as I recall. ..I have been in Pentecostal churches all over the country and have never seen one that was a snake handling church....Those are few and far between and usually come from some rural area, they definitely are not the majority when it comes to Pentecostal Churches.

Speaking in tongues is not required for one's salvation, but is a sign of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Speaking in tongues is the first evidence that a person has received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

There is usually some order for each service, but basically the service belongs to the Lord, and each service is unique. You may have a service where people just praise the Lord with uplifted hands, and the Presence of the Lord seems to fill the room.
There are times when you can't contain yourself and have to shout and sing, you know the scripture where the Bible says , Make a joyful noise....Well! We do just that.

We do just have some services that there is just such a peace and quiet and that we just sit and wait on the presence of God to fill us to overflowing.