3.1 - worship

• liturgical worship

  • set prayers and rituals, everything follows same format
  • roman catholics and orthadox christians
  • feels more formal and serious
  • could get boring after time, discourage people from going to church
• non-liturgical worship

  • public worship in a church without set prayers or rituals
  • leader of worship free to choose hymns, prayers, main focus of service
  • could include music as a form of worship
  • used in pentecostal-type churches
  • something new to learn everytime, feels more inviting, flexible, etc
  • can be distracting as theres a lot going on, less formal, may feel disorganised
• informal worship

  • type of worship many christian families do at home
  • saying grace before meals, family prayers, celebrating festivals
  • most christian families
  • brings family together in worship. good introduction to religion for children
  • not as serious and people may not go to church
• private worship

  • opportunity to worship god at certain times on their own
  • pray in private, read bible alone
  • gives opportunity to talk to god, think about faith
  • most christians do this when they wish to talk to god alone
  • no distractions, can be done anywhere at any time, feels more personal
  • no sense of christian community, easy to forget to do
• importance of having different types of worship

  • public worship - sense of community, belonging
  • liturgical - helps embed worship into life (same time every week)
  • non-liturgical - reflects mood, comes from own feelings
  • family - bring family together
  • private - communicate with god alone, express emotions alone
  • informal - can worship anywhere in any way
  • set prayers - order and purpose, god is never forgotten