How is your church service set up?

[Trouvere]

We were in a service yesterday where the whole platform was
musicians only. The worship leader led and focused the entire service on
the worship of Jesus. Many people were out in the aisles dancing and singing and worshipping Jesus. It is the first time I have ever been in a service where there were not chairs with ministry on the platform. The pastors and other ministry sat among the congregation worshiping as well. My own husband also teaches this and I thought it was great to see it in practice. Most Apostolic churches we attend or minister at have all kind of preliminaries and things. This church had them after. It was great to see this in action. There was no pulpit. Those that taught or preached brought a lectern up when they began. After church when we spoke to the pastors they told us they felt no one person was the most important in the church and that all eyes should be focused on Jesus. I like this It made a big difference in the response of the people.
Does anyone else attend this kind of assembly or been to this kind of service?

[Digging4Truth]

Originally Posted by Trouvere

We were in a service yesterday where the whole platform was
musicians only. The worship leader led and focused the entire service on
the worship of Jesus. Many people were out in the aisles dancing and singing and worshipping Jesus. It is the first time I have ever been in a service where there were not chairs with ministry on the platform. The pastors and other ministry sat among the congregation worshiping as well. My own husband also teaches this and I thought it was great to see it in practice. Most Apostolic churches we attend or minister at have all kind of preliminaries and things. This church had them after. It was great to see this in action. There was no pulpit. Those that taught or preached brought a lectern up when they began. After church when we spoke to the pastors they told us they felt no one person was the most important in the church and that all eyes should be focused on Jesus. I like this It made a big difference in the response of he people.
Does anyone else attend this kind of assembly?

I think that, whether we realize it or not, the setup of a service reflects many of our beliefs. This type of setup says a lot about how the ministry feels about their relationship to the people.

[Pressing-On]

We don't have chairs on our platform either and we never will. My husband teaches on Sunday morning and it's very informal. You can ask questions during the lesson. I really like that.

[misspresley]

Originally Posted by Trouvere

We were in a service yesterday where the whole platform was
musicians only. The worship leader led and focused the entire service on
the worship of Jesus. Many people were out in the aisles dancing and singing and worshipping Jesus. It is the first time I have ever been in a service where there were not chairs with ministry on the platform. The pastors and other ministry sat among the congregation worshiping as well. My own husband also teaches this and I thought it was great to see it in practice. Most Apostolic churches we attend or minister at have all kind of preliminaries and things. This church had them after. It was great to see this in action. There was no pulpit. Those that taught or preached brought a lectern up when they began. After church when we spoke to the pastors they told us they felt no one person was the most important in the church and that all eyes should be focused on Jesus. I like this It made a big difference in the response of he people.
Does anyone else attend this kind of assembly?

Love and Truth Cordova follows the bolded - never gave much thought to the "WHY" it's done this way - Just know I like it - and flow of our services are very smooth - praise and worship is better each service!

[rgcraig]

I believe it allows for much better "worship/praise" focus and not personalities.

[ForeverBlessed]

I never really thought about that before… In my church, the pastor does not sit up front, he sits in the pew unless he is speaking or at the keyboard.

My church doesn’t have a pulpit, everything is on one level. There is a simple stand for those who are speaking or praying in front. If you even testify, they expect you to go up front where the stand/mic is. (different for me) Praise singers stand across the front. I am a praise singer and also sing by myself at times. I stand next to the keyboard when I do. There is a keyboard and drums on the right front.

[Trouvere]

Hey I have thought of it. I suppose because I have experienced in most services the typical denominational order of services in most churches on our travels. I can never
remember ever being is a service where there was no pulpit or minister being in a control type seating over the service. I liked it honestly.

[rgcraig]

It does give you a more open feel to the audience for sure.

I attended a church for a little while that did a strange thing. They had about 10 chairs on the platform (off to the side facing the pulpit). About 10-15 minutes into the service (singing) they would all file in (they had been in the prayer room), then they would kneel at the front for a short moment and head on to their chairs.

It was extremely disruptive and very showy to me.

[Apocrypha]

Originally Posted by Trouvere

We were in a service yesterday where the whole platform was
musicians only. The worship leader led and focused the entire service on
the worship of Jesus. Many people were out in the aisles dancing and singing and worshipping Jesus. It is the first time I have ever been in a service where there were not chairs with ministry on the platform. The pastors and other ministry sat among the congregation worshiping as well. My own husband also teaches this and I thought it was great to see it in practice. Most Apostolic churches we attend or minister at have all kind of preliminaries and things. This church had them after. It was great to see this in action. There was no pulpit. Those that taught or preached brought a lectern up when they began. After church when we spoke to the pastors they told us they felt no one person was the most important in the church and that all eyes should be focused on Jesus. I like this It made a big difference in the response of the people.
Does anyone else attend this kind of assembly or been to this kind of service?

The ministers seating actually violates the book of James where he said not to give preferential seating. Its bothered me for years, even when i had to sit up there as a staff minister.

[rgcraig]

And some of those chairs look like thrones.....lol!