Worship at University City Church of Christ

We hope that you are thinking about visiting us.  If you have been a part of a church of Christ worship service, most of what you see will be familiar and comfortable for you.  If your visit will be the first time you have visited a church of Christ, we are especially happy to welcome you. We want to tell you about what you can expect in our assemblies.

We assemble to worship in an auditorium. There are no special sections or reserved seating.

Our worship includes the following activities:

• Prayer
• Singing
• Communion
• Offering
• Preaching

If you visit, you will be our guest. We hope you will meet some of the people and benefit from worshiping with us. You may be asked to fill out one of our attendance cards found on the back of each pew.  We ask our members to do this as well.  If you are comfortable doing this, we will use the information to respond appropriately to your visit.

Do you have any questions? Ask any of the members of the congregation and they will help you or introduce you to someone who can.

Prayer

There will be several prayers during a worship service. These will be spoken from the heart by men of the congregation. While a prayer is spoken before the congregation, we usually stand or sit quietly with heads bowed.  You may hear members of the congregation assent to thoughts in prayers or at the close of the prayer by voicing “Amen.”

Singing

One of the unique practices among churches of Christ is that we sing acapella, that is, without instruments. This is based on the practice of the early church which, as we understand, sang without instrumental accompaniment. The universal musical term acapella actually means “as sung in the church”.

We also believe this is consistent with the teaching of the Bible that we are to speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  It is what comes from our hearts and what we say to God and one another that matters.  We do not require that you interpret this matter the same as we, but we ask you to understand our reason.  We believe that you will find our singing to be inspirational and spiritually uplifting.

Communion

In most churches of Christ, we have communion — the Lord’s Supper, each Sunday.  If you are a baptized believer, you are invited to join us in this traditional act of the Christian faith.

During this time there will be a prayer for the bread, and plates of unleavened bread (that is, bread baked with no yeast) will be passed among the congregation.  Each participant breaks off a small piece of bread, reminding us of the body of Christ, and passes the plate on.

Immediately following this, there will be a prayer for the cup, reminding us of the blood of Christ.  Trays of individual small cups filled with grape juice are passed among the people.

Each participant takes a cup, drinks from it and returns it to the tray to be passed on to the next person.

During this time the bread and cup are distributed, the congregation sits quietly and meditatively, or perhaps a song appropriate to this time will be sung while the trays are passed.

Contribution

Weekly, we set aside a time for members to contribute to support the work of the church. If you are visiting with us, please feel comfortable just passing the collection plate to the next person without making a gift.

Preaching

Usually part of each worship period will be devoted to preaching from the Bible. We strive to make these sermons interesting and relevant to the lives of the audience. At the end of the sermon, the preacher will usually offer a time for individuals to come to the front of the auditorium to express any need they have for the special attention of the church. There may be no response, or some may ask for prayers for special circumstances in their lives. Often this is a time when people let it be known that they wish to be identified as members of this congregation. Also, this is a time when people may confess their faith and be baptized into Christ to become a part of his body … to become a Christian.

So now you know what to expect. What are you waiting for? Come visit!