Which types of Christian services have you experienced?

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There are hundreds of types of Christian denominations (catholic and protestant) out there.
I am curious as to which types you have personally encountered.
  1. For myself, I am most familiar with the Evangelical Free Church. It is a strong Biblical supportive denomination. They play traditional and contemporary music with instruments. Conservative, yet liberal leaning on some soical issues; sort of. They do oppose same-sex marriage, and most are also against abortion. Not very traditional and there are no “rituals”.
    –Baby dedication, Believers Baptism only.
  2. -Christian Reformed, which is like a protestant Catholic church, except without as many rituals.😉 They are very traditional, and very politically conservative. CR’s love their organ, and they like to “play dress-up.” (They find that dressing very fancy is quite important). They love the Apostle’s and Niecene Creeds. And, they have kids go through something called Catacism. I suppose it’s like conformation, which lutherans do.
    –Infant Baptism
  3. -Evangelical Covenant: I have been to that church for a while now on Sunday evenings for youthgroup. It has it’s roots in Lutheranism, but is no longer considered a lutheran church, this the name. They are not into all the traditions and rituals like lutherans, and the reformers. They seem very much like the Evangelical Free Church, except they recite creeds, and have conformation for children like the Lutheran churches (two traditions they held on to when leaving the lutheran denomination).
    –Infant and Believers Baptism
  4. Baptist: My grandpa attends an independent Baptist church near where I live, so I’ve been there several times. It is very much like a Southern Baptist Church, except they don’t clap thier hands, don’t have a choir, or shout praise Jesus". In fact, they don’t say or sing anything loudly, haha. They seem very depressed when they are singing/worshiping the Lord. --And so do those at the Chrisitan Reformed Church. I thought we were supposed to be happy to be worshiping and praising the Lord? :rolleyes:
    –Believers Baptism only
I have also done lots of research of the several types of denominations out there. I even search the differences in the sub-denominations. Like (Missouri Synod VS ELCA Lutherans) and (Christian Reformed VS Protestant Reformed). The protestant reformed people are worse than CR’s. They act like the TV is the devil, yet they all have the internet (which has pornography!)?
 
Member of the Foursquare Church for 7 years

Raised United Methodist.

Attended more then a single visit:
Catholic Church
Church of Christ, the ones which don’t use musical instruments.
Assemblies of God
Church of God in Christ

Visited:
African Methodist Episcopal
Missionary Baptist
Cavalry Chapel
Southern Baptist
Presbyterian
The list is probably longer but right now I remember those.
 
I heard something that I found quite intriguing, yesterday. We were in small groups at youthgroup (at the Covenant Church) and we were discussing sins, temptation, fruits of the spirit, etc… The leader of my small group mentioned something he’d been told by a pentecostal. Now, we didn’t think that this is the way most pentecostals think, but, none of us really knew.

He was told by a pentecostal that his church believed that once you have been filled with the Holy Spirit (become a Christian) that you no longer sin.
 
I have attended Mass in many different churches in several states and a few countries outside the U.S., including Masses in French and Spanish languages. Despite the belief that Catholic liturgy is the same everywhere, there are enough variations that several of them were quite unique experiences.

Also:

Lutheran liturgy and services,
Episcopalian (including an Easter Sunday service in NYC that was one of the best liturgies I have ever participated in),
Greek and Serbian Orthodox services,
and some Jewish services (Shabbat?),
some “non-denominational” services,
and possibly Presbyterian and Methodist services.

Lutheran and Episcopalian liturgies are very similar to the Catholic liturgy.
 
Here are the types of Christian services I have experienced:

Catholic - 38 years (1958-1996)
Baptist - 13 years (1996-Present)

Also attended:
Evangelical Free
Christian and Missionary Alliance
Wesleyan
Lutheran
Methodist
Episcopal
 
Just curious, since I attend an Evangelical Free Church weekly; what did you think of the one you attended…if you can remember it?
And, if you don’t mind me asking: What finally changed your mind about Catholicism…made you become a Baptist?

I also really want to attend a Brethren in Christ, Methodist, Assemblies of God, and Nazarene Church. Sure, I would like to attend all types of Churches: including Catholic, Orthodox, and even Mormon, but those are the ones at the top of my list.
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!

I have been to a few different churches:

-World Wide Church of God
-United Methodist
-Baptist
-Lutheran
-Church of Christ
-Roman Catholic
-Maronite Catholic
-Ruthenian Catholic
-Orthodox

It’s probably a given, but I prefer Orthodox all the way. 😉

In Christ,
Andrew
 
Attended for a period of time:

a couple different Southern Baptist churches
a number of United Methodist
Nazarene
Wesleyan
Evangelical Free
two different Christian Missionary Alliance churches
and finally Catholic! 😃

Visited once or twice:
Assembly of God
Presbyterian
Episcopal
American Baptist
Jewish Sabbath
the tail end of Muslim prayer
 
Christ_Imitator said:
I heard something that I found quite intriguing, yesterday. We were in small groups at youthgroup (at the Covenant Church) and we were discussing sins, temptation, fruits of the spirit, etc… The leader of my small group mentioned something he’d been told by a pentecostal. Now, we didn’t think that this is the way most pentecostals think, but, none of us really knew.

He was told by a pentecostal that his church believed that once you have been filled with the Holy Spirit (become a Christian) that you no longer sin.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a simple explaination of a church in the Holiness Movement. That the Holy Spirit alone, as opposed to the Methodist thought, gave belivers the power to resist temptation so they could not consciously sin.
 
  1. Catholic now
  2. Previously mostly Lutheran with a smattering of independent Bible Churches mixed in
  3. Taize was a great experience
  4. In future would like to visit Catholic monasteries here in the US
 
I grew up LCMS. I went to RCIA for a few months and planned to convert to Roman Catholicism, but I couldn’t get through RCIA and returned to the LCMS. However, I did attend quite a few Catholic masses. I have attended both Southern Baptist and ELCA services as well. I took a class in college on ‘comparative Christianity’ and I attended a ‘Foursquare Denomination’ service. That was pretty scary. I talked to the ‘pastor’ who had no formal theological training and, with his guitar still hanging off of him, explained to me that he had a couple interviews with the church and they determined he ‘had the spirit’ (whatever that means) so he got to be a pastor. I’m pretty sure he was like 21 or 22 years old. But whatever.

Anyway, I’ve been the most comfortable within the LCMS and Roman Catholic liturgies.
 
Nominefili said:
I grew up LCMS. I went to RCIA for a few months and planned to convert to Roman Catholicism, but I couldn’t get through RCIA and returned to the LCMS. However, I did attend quite a few Catholic masses. I have attended both Southern Baptist and ELCA services as well. I took a class in college on ‘comparative Christianity’ and I attended a ‘Foursquare Denomination’ service. That was pretty scary. I talked to the ‘pastor’ who had no formal theological training and, with his guitar still hanging off of him, explained to me that he had a couple interviews with the church and they determined he ‘had the spirit’ (whatever that means) so he got to be a pastor. I’m pretty sure he was like 21 or 22 years old. But whatever.
.
Click to expand...
Really run a google search and checkout the website. A Foursquare Pastor is not chosen by the church council. He is appointed by the district supervisor and is then approved by the local council and yes there are formal educational requirements.
 
Catholic - English and Tridentine/IoCtK
Greek Orthodox
Lutheran - LCMS, WELS, ELCA, LFC
Presbyterian - PCA, OPC, PCUSA, Covenant
United Methodist
Episcopelian, Anglican
Baptist - Reformed, Southern, general independent, Evangelical Free
Pentecostal - Assembly of God, general independent, fundamentalist

Too many, in other words. But I appreciate the perspective.
 
  1. Independent Baptist
  2. Baptist Bible Fellowship
  3. Free Will Baptist
  4. Orthodox Presbyterian (OPC)
  5. Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
  6. Christian Reformed
  7. Episcopalian (only one visit)
  8. Missouri Synod Lutheran
  9. Wisconsin Synod Lutheran
After leaving my Baptist roots, this was the order my steps took before I became Catholic in 1995. Within the Church there are different “services”. I have assisted at the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Latin Rite and one Byzantine Rite wedding. Since that time I have been to my brother’s wedding at an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)church.
 
In no particular order:

Baptist (Southern and Free Will)
Assemblies of God
Church of God
Church of Christ (Traditional and International)
Independent Pentecostal (many various Churches and in home settings)
Four Square
Presbyterian
Messianic Jewish Fellowship
Wesleyan
United Methodist
Lutheran
Roman Rite Catholic
Orthodox (Antiochian, Greek, and Russian)

I’m sure others I just can’t think of any more
 
I’ve attended at one time or another in the last 30 years besides the various Unprogrammed Meetings I’ve belonged to.

Methodist
Episcopal
Church of Christ
Nazarene
RLDS/Community of Christ
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Catholic
Orthodox
Free-Will Baptist
Assembly of God
Holiness
Free Metholicst
Evangelical Free Church
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Church of Christ, Scientist
7th Day Adventist
Unity
Religious Science
Calvary Chapel
Missionary Baptist
Mennonite
Mennonite Brethren
Brethren in Christ
Friend’s Church
Society of Friends, Conservative

And probably a few I don’t remember.
 
<<Not very traditional and there are no “rituals”.
–Baby dedication, Believers Baptism only.>>

Baby dedication is a non-Biblical pop-evangelical ritual.

Evangelical free churches indeed have rituals of their own devising. Just because it’s not written in a book, or even Sunday bulletin, does not mean there is no ritual.

Indeed, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to have any kind of Christian worship without some sort of agreed upon pattern or order, even if it’s only by custom. And what do we call such a recognized, accepted, agreed upon pattern for worship?
Liturgy and Ritual!***

So the question is not if you’re going to have liturgy and ritual.

The REAL question is: are you going to have ritual that’s someone’s bright new idea for that day? Or a liturgy that has been shaped by the Holy Spirit and passed down from the time of the Apostles and which Jesus instructed them to follow?
 
I was raised Presbyterian (I don’t know what flavor), so it goes without saying that I experienced plenty of that. And in the 5 or so years I’ve been attending the local Latin Rite Catholic church (~3.5 since being confirmed), I’ve been to plenty of English and Spanish masses. Other than that I’ve also attended Orthodox (OCA) and Eastern Rite (Ukrainian) Catholic Divine Liturgies. The Ukrainian church I attended seemed pretty Latinized, though…I was the only one who DIDN’T say the filioque in the (English) reading of the Creed! 😊
 
Raised RC
Fell away to nothingness for a time
Did the Baptist thing
Did the Congregationalist thing
Did the non-denominational thing
Did the Anglican thing
Finally managed to get back home to the good ol’ RC church.

I think on the whole, I’m better for having experienced the non-Catholic Christian faiths. It helped me to really appreciate where I came from, and what I was coming home to. I have tremendous respect for those of other faiths, though I don’t necessarily agree with their theology. But they did serve to bring me back into the fold, when I felt at complete odds with the Catholic church, and that’s a good thing!! 👍
 
My grandmother would take me to her Baptist church every now and then as a kid.

I’ve been to Catholic mass many times with my wife.

Other denomiations’ services that I’ve been to, most only once or a handful of times:
  • unprogrammed Quaker
  • Greek Orthodox (for Easter mass… in Greek. I didn’t understand a single word. :o )
  • Anglican
  • United Church of Canada
  • Christian-leaning UU
 
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