What To
Expect When Visiting The Village Church
When you visit us at
The Village Church we want you to feel
comfortable and welcome.
We know that a new and unfamiliar place can often be intimidating, so let us tell you what you
can expect when you
honor us with a visit.
Background
A
brief description of our Church of Christ background may help you
understand us better.
We are
a part of the Restoration Movement.
Our goal is to restore
the New Testament Church – to determine from the Bible what
the function of the church was in the beginning, and to be like that. Here is a good
place to spend some time learning about the Restoration Movement if you
would
like to know more about it. This is another
helpful site which discusses the churches of Christ and the Restoration
Movement.
We want
to be a Bible-centered church and we try to be. Yet, we know that
our
conclusions are not flawless. Above all, we realize that the Grace of
God
covers all of his church. Every
denomination, group, brand and flavor of God’s church has their own
strengths
and weaknesses. While we strive to be the church whom God wants us to
be, we
ask God continually to be patient with us as we learn and grow each
day.
Now,
let’s talk about our worship service…
The Setting
We meet at
The Singing
We
like to use songbooks to help us sing and praise God
together. Someone
will usually be in the front, facing the church, to tell everyone which
song we
will be singing next. That person also helps us stay together as we
sing. You will find a song book either underneath the chair in front of
you or on a nearby seat.
One of
the unique things about The Village Church--and something which you may
find
different than what you are used to--is the way that we sing. Our
singing is
called a capella. That is a
Latin term (the Italian spelling has p’s) which means, “in
the style
of the chapel/church.” In other words, we worship without using
instruments.
The harmonies that would be played by an instrument are instead sung by
us, the
worshippers! We think you will find the singing both refreshing and
sincere.
The Prayers
During
the worship service there will be a time when one of the men will share
some
thoughts with everyone. These thoughts will come from God’s written
word, the
Bible. If you have a bible, you are welcome to bring it along with you
to the
The Invitation
At the
end of the sermon, the preacher will often openly invite anyone to come
to the
front if they would like to be baptized, to have someone pray for them,
to share
a problem, an answered prayer, or anything else that is on their heart.
Sometimes
people just need some hugs and encouragement too. This is a good time
to let
everyone know how you are doing and to receive some encouraging words
from
people who genuinely care about you.
Sometimes
someone will go up to the front to tell everyone that they want to make
the
The Lord's Supper (Communion)
Each
Sunday (evening) we also share in the Lord’s Supper. You are welcome to
share
in this with us. What we do is pass around trays of bread and grape
juice. We do this because Jesus once did
something
similar with his disciples, and then the first Christians did it each
week after
Jesus had risen from the dead.
Of
course we do it a little differently than the first Christians did it,
but we
do it for the same reason, and that is the important part. We all take
a little
piece of bread and a little cup of grape juice because those represent
Jesus’
body and blood (just as he said they did). His body hung on a cross
where he
died so that we could be forgiven of our sins. His blood (symbolically)
covers
over us and makes us clean and new. When we share the bread and juice
with each
other, we remember how much Jesus loves us and we celebrate the fact
that he
has risen from the dead! We believe that the Spirit of Jesus is there
with us as
we share in communion and worship. This is the reason that we come
together to
worship God our Father!
The Offering
What
kind of people can you expect to find at the
We’re
a diverse group, coming from varied backgrounds, and at different
stages of
knowledge and spiritual growth.
We
don’t know everything. We don’t do everything right. We haven’t arrived
– we
are still on the journey. We were not brought together by any illusion
of
perfection or righteousness. We were brought together by our
recognition that
we are sinners in need of the cleansing blood of Jesus!
That
is the reason we can worship together, stick together, and with God’s
help
accomplish some things that make a difference. At the heart of our
church
family is the desire to be a people who love God and listen to what he
says to
us. We are always studying the Bible to deepen our relationship with
God and
with one another, and we are always praying for people just like you
who will
be visiting the