Worship and the Sacraments
How Christians worship, from formal liturgy to spontaneous praise, and the sacraments that mark a life of faith. Learn the practices and, just as importantly, why denominations disagree about them.
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Many ways to worship 🙏
**Worship** is showing devotion and reverence to God. Christians worship in very different ways: some in grand, formal services that have barely changed in centuries, others in spontaneous gatherings full of music and movement. This module covers the main **forms of worship** and the **sacraments**, and, just as importantly, why **denominations disagree** about how to do both. Understanding that disagreement is where the marks are.
Forms of worship 📖
Christians worship in four broad ways:
Which form of worship? ⛪
At a Pentecostal service, people pray aloud spontaneously, sing with raised hands and sometimes speak in tongues, with no set order. Which form of worship is this?
- Informal worship
- Liturgical worship
- Individual worship
- Private prayer at home
Set words or free? 📜
Two of the most common forms of Sunday worship sit at opposite ends of a scale.
Match each form of worship to its description 🔗
- Liturgical worship
- Non-liturgical worship
- Informal worship
- Individual worship
- A formal service with set words, such as the Book of Common Prayer
- A Bible- and sermon-centred service with no fixed liturgy
- Spontaneous, expressive worship, as in Pentecostal churches
- Private worship alone, such as prayer at home
Features of liturgical worship ✅
Select the TWO features of liturgical worship.
- It follows set words and a fixed structure
- It often uses a prayer book such as the Book of Common Prayer
- Prayers are made up spontaneously on the day
- There is no set structure at all
An outward sign of inward grace 💧
A **sacrament** is often defined as **an outward sign of an inward grace**, a visible action through which Christians believe God's grace is given. The two that nearly all Christians share are **baptism**, welcoming a person into the Church and washing away sin, and the **Eucharist** (also called Holy Communion or Mass), sharing bread and wine in memory of the Last Supper. Denominations disagree about how many sacraments there are and what happens in them.
How many sacraments? 🍞
Christians disagree on how many sacraments there are, and even whether to have any.
Complete the practice 🧱
Worship that follows a set structure and fixed words is _____, while spontaneous, expressive worship is _____. A sacrament is an outward sign of an inward _____. Welcoming a person into the Church by washing away sin is _____, and sharing bread and wine in memory of the Last Supper is the _____.
What happens at the Eucharist? 🍷
Catholics and many Protestants understand the bread and wine of the Eucharist very differently. Which describes the Catholic belief of transubstantiation?
- The bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Christ
- The bread and wine are only symbols that represent Christ
- Nothing happens; it is just an ordinary meal
- Ordinary bread is blessed but never shared out
Spot informal worship 🖍️
An interactive activity.
Whose practice is it? 🔀
An interactive activity.
Explain the disagreement ✍️
An interactive activity.