Sunday Service

As a breif preface, I had this written last week but forgot to post it until now, many apologies! Looks like I still have to catch up.

The last section of church life is Sunday service. Unlike at home (with a single service Sunday morning), there are three services each Sunday. Two, the morning and evening services, are the same. I will touch on these services first. The morning service starts at 6:00 AM, which, while it may seem slightly insane, I’ll admit. However, when the sun rises at 5:30 it’s only a little earlier than most people would be going to work anyways (around 7). The evening service is just before sundown, starting at 5:00 PM.

These two are gauged towards the adult members of the congregation, but younger people are definitely welcome. They start with singing, which is definitely more contemporary than I was used to when I arrived. Electric bass, keyboard, and drums are almost always used, and music is led by a group of 5 people. Music is also less defined by the verse, chorus, verse, and so on structure, instead just moving as the leaders go. Song books are not around; the lyrics are on the screen, and most members of the congregation seem to have the lyrics memorized anyways.

After singing is the sermon, generally delivered by the Church’s head pastor. This is more similar to what I’m used to, and is not by any means a ‘fire and brimstone’ approach. I would say, however, that congregational responses/ affirmations (“amen!”, etc.) are much more common, and are encouraged by the pastor.

After the sermon is more singing, and then the offering. This is followed by the weekly announcements, in the form of a short video (one of Travis’s frequent projects). After this is a prayer for any congregational concerns (sick people, good news, etc.), and then a closing video.

After the morning service, there is a meal outside the church, which is a good time to talk to people and fellowship together. I particularly enjoy it because I generally don’t wake up early enough to eat before church.

The other service during the day is the Youthteen service. This is a service for anyone from Junior high age to out of college. This service is structured much the same as the as the other two services in the day, but is gauged more towards young people. That just means slight changes in each element of the service.

Music is slightly more upbeat (and louder), usually includes an electric guitar as well. For anyone reading this who has been to Mennonite Youth Convention, imagine a smaller version of that. Lighting, dancing/ jumping, etc. At first this was a little intimidating, but since then I have grown to enjoy it.

The sermon is usually delivered by the youth pastor (Anton, who is married to our local team leader) or one of the church ministry team members.

I wanted to give a special place to youthteen because of how remarkable I find it. Youthteen is organized and run primarily by youth members, and it regularly brings in probably 40 to 50 people. I’m just continually amazed by the amount of initiative that these people (many of whom have become my friends) are willing to take within their church so that there can be a place just for the youth.

The last difference that I would like to take note of between Alexanderwohl and Maranatha is that communion in maranatha is once a month. Interestingly enough, because I got baptised this summer, my first three communions happened on the first sunday I was here, when we went to every service so we could introduce ourselves to the congregation.