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Dividing the churches into “wards,” each community has a home church where they attend services. Members can attend services at other wards, but only in the home ward are members allowed to serve, teach, and work.
The church services opened in a typical manner with a hymn and an opening prayer. Then the bishop stood up to talk about church business. Because there was not anything pertinent at that time, there was another hymn sung. The singing is done while sitting down, though.
The next activity was the sacramental bread and water. Two young men, called missionaries, “broke” the bread into small serving baskets, spoke a prayer over the bread, and then deacons in the church delivered it to each row of seating. The attendance had grown somewhat over the past 15 or 20 minutes into the service. Each member, including children, partook of the bread. The young men then uncovered serving trays with water in tiny cups. A prayer was again spoken over the water, thanking Christ for His sacrifice. The trays were passed again through the church. These activities took about 10 minutes to accomplish, while more “brothers” and “sisters” arrived, some with small …show more content…
(grinning)
Interviewer: How strict are you in keeping all of the laws of the Mormon faith?
Patti: Pretty strict, but I could definitely improve! (laugh)
Interviewer: What is the strongest belief that holds you to the Mormon faith?
Patti: Eternal marriage, blessings in the temple (Note: Eternal marriage is the belief that when a couple is “sealed” at the time of their marriage, they are sealed for eternity. A person can only be sealed to one other, though they are allowed to remarry. It is believed that these first husbands will be there in the next life still as their permanent husband).
Interviewer: What are the important holidays and traditions of this religion?
Patti: Christmas because it is a time for everyone to remember Christ and what He did for us. We celebrate with everyone even though Christ was not born in December.
Interviewer: How has religion shaped your life?
Patti: It is everything to me – the direction and strength it gives me and I feel having a strong faith has made me a better person.
Interviewer: What are the challenges, if any, to practicing this particular religion?
Patti: I guess that hatred that many have towards us. We don’t hurt people by our practices. I wish we could just live …show more content…
“The mission of the United Church of God is to proclaim to the world the little-understood gospel taught by Jesus Christ—the good news of the coming Kingdom of God—and to prepare a people for that Kingdom. This message not only offers great hope for all of humanity, but encompasses the purpose of human existence—why we are here and where our world is headed” (About the United Church of God, 1995-2011).
Though this church was incorporated in 1995, we believe our religion to be the original religion from the New Testament. At the beginning a council of elders, or senior ministers, approved a statement of beliefs that are the foundation of the religion and believed to be critical to reverence and obedience of God. The Church used biblical verses as the outline for these beliefs, and states each verse to back them up.
Contrasting and
The church services opened in a typical manner with a hymn and an opening prayer. Then the bishop stood up to talk about church business. Because there was not anything pertinent at that time, there was another hymn sung. The singing is done while sitting down, though.
The next activity was the sacramental bread and water. Two young men, called missionaries, “broke” the bread into small serving baskets, spoke a prayer over the bread, and then deacons in the church delivered it to each row of seating. The attendance had grown somewhat over the past 15 or 20 minutes into the service. Each member, including children, partook of the bread. The young men then uncovered serving trays with water in tiny cups. A prayer was again spoken over the water, thanking Christ for His sacrifice. The trays were passed again through the church. These activities took about 10 minutes to accomplish, while more “brothers” and “sisters” arrived, some with small …show more content…
(grinning)
Interviewer: How strict are you in keeping all of the laws of the Mormon faith?
Patti: Pretty strict, but I could definitely improve! (laugh)
Interviewer: What is the strongest belief that holds you to the Mormon faith?
Patti: Eternal marriage, blessings in the temple (Note: Eternal marriage is the belief that when a couple is “sealed” at the time of their marriage, they are sealed for eternity. A person can only be sealed to one other, though they are allowed to remarry. It is believed that these first husbands will be there in the next life still as their permanent husband).
Interviewer: What are the important holidays and traditions of this religion?
Patti: Christmas because it is a time for everyone to remember Christ and what He did for us. We celebrate with everyone even though Christ was not born in December.
Interviewer: How has religion shaped your life?
Patti: It is everything to me – the direction and strength it gives me and I feel having a strong faith has made me a better person.
Interviewer: What are the challenges, if any, to practicing this particular religion?
Patti: I guess that hatred that many have towards us. We don’t hurt people by our practices. I wish we could just live …show more content…
“The mission of the United Church of God is to proclaim to the world the little-understood gospel taught by Jesus Christ—the good news of the coming Kingdom of God—and to prepare a people for that Kingdom. This message not only offers great hope for all of humanity, but encompasses the purpose of human existence—why we are here and where our world is headed” (About the United Church of God, 1995-2011).
Though this church was incorporated in 1995, we believe our religion to be the original religion from the New Testament. At the beginning a council of elders, or senior ministers, approved a statement of beliefs that are the foundation of the religion and believed to be critical to reverence and obedience of God. The Church used biblical verses as the outline for these beliefs, and states each verse to back them up.
Contrasting and