Grace Church Reflection Paper

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I grew up attending the services at the Preach Unto Them Jesus non-denominational Christian church located off of 16th and May in Oklahoma City. I also attended the P.U.T.J Christian Academy and graduated from the school in 2010. Since this is the only place of worship I grew up attending I had a wide variety of denominations to choose from for my assignment. I chose to attend Grace United Methodist Church which is part of the mainline protestant denomination but it’s roots come from Evangelicalism. The style of worship, preaching, and the type of congregation in attendance was a complete change from my past church experiences. We 'll begin by discussing the style and central messages conveyed in the sermons of Reverend Ed Light and Rev. …show more content…
Ed Light also mentioned the leadership role God rewarded to Debra in a high archial male dominated society. The Grace church seemed very open to giving leadership roles to its women members. In fact my second sermon came from Rev, Ginger Howla female leader from the church. She gracefully focused her sermon around the question, “Do you trust in God?” Pointing out that even though trust and faith are derived from the same latin word their modern definitions differ in meaning. She urges her congregation to understand that faith means to believe in something beyond refute. While having trust is the action of exercising that faith. She gives the example of a child unable to swim hopping into her fathers arms in a deep swimming pool. The daughter is entrusting her life into her father the same way Christians should with God. By using metaphors and simplifying the scripture she really makes a connection to her listeners. Next she reverts back to the classic story of David and Goliath. She reminds her congregation that Saul was written to be “head and shoulders” over every other israelite. He was clearly the one that should’ve fought Goliath but opted out of the fight with David as his replacement. David had a small scrawny boyish figure yet had a strong trust in God. He seemed fearless in his acceptance of taking Saul’s place and this is because he had faith the lord would assist him in battle. He defeats Goliath with his slingshot and set the tone for what we see today …show more content…
They used a variety of instruments to accompany their hymns as the church sang along harmoniously by reading lyrics screened from a projector. The music wasn’t quite as exciting or uptempo as I would like them to be but after all this wasn’t a pentecostal church. Overall, the music was enjoyable because it was performed live but lacks a wow factor based on the melodies and lyrical content. The overall vibe of the church seemed very traditional compared to my experiences at my non-denominational church. The members weren’t as diverse either with the majority of members being caucasian and elderly. The only sacraments the Grace United Methodist church participate in are baptism and communion. They hold each tradition in the highest esteem and believe those who undergo baptism are born again and cleansed of past sins in the eyes of

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