Christian practices Flashcards
What does the word church mean?
The building where Christians meet, Christians of a certain type (Roman Catholics) and all Christians around the world
What does denominations mean?
Groups within Christianity
-Roman Catholics
-Church of England
-Evengelical church
-Baptist church
-Orthodox church
Features of a Roman Catholic church
- The priest welcomes everyone
- Only the priest talks
- They shake hand with each other as a sign of peace
- Read the bible and the creed together
- Singing worship songs
- Highly decorated church to show their love for God
- Share bread and wine
Features of Evangelical Protestant church
- Study the Bible
- Beliving anyone can have a message from God
- Plain, large buildings, they worship from heart
- Singing dancing and raising hands
Features of a Quaker Christian church
(society of friends)
- Anyone is free to give a message
- Old buildings
- Welcome children
- Don’t need to dress smartly
- Listen in quite prayers (Bible recitation) letting the words flow inside them
- People are free to sit anywhere
- There are no instructions you sit quitly and listen for yourself
Social and community role of the church
- Providing homeless shelters - because Jesus was homeless
- Providing food banks - because Jesus fed 5000
- Mentoring ex-offenders - because in the parable of the sheep and the goats says that by visiting prisoners you are visiting Jesus
- Space for support groups
- Support for parents like providing parent cources - because Jesus said let the children come to me
How do Christians pray?
Give examples from the lords prayer
Praise - Our father in heaven your name is holy
Ask - Give us the food we need and forgive us our sin
Confess - And don’t let us give into temptation
Thank - We are thankful for the food were about to eat
The lords prayer was when Jesus was talking to the crowd
What is liturgical worship?
(set prayers)
This is when worship follows a structure and is the same eveytime (everyone knows what to say and the same amount). Believers read out liturgy and performs rituals.
For example:
* In Catholic church the eucharist is lituergcal worship
* Bible reading
* Reciting the Nicene creed
* Prayers
* Lords prayer
Written down and memorised
What does the word liturgy mean?
The precribed set of words and rituals that take place during a church service
Evangelical/Informal worship
This is where worship has no set structure. Pentecostal churches rely on the holy spirit which makes worship even more unpredictable
Some christians sing, dance pray and some even fall down and speak in tongues
Some christians emphasise that the Church is a gathering for belivers not just a building
Individual worship
This is where Christians worship alone in addition to worshipping together. These Christians believe that private worship is important to build their relationship with God. Some Christians worship God solely on their own and do not even attend church
The Bible says you should do both
Church of England attendence is decling maybe because more people pray at home
What are silent prayers?
This is where people pray in silence and only speak if they feel the holy spirit is leading them to, so they don’t have leaders. For example Quaker churches
They know God is with them and have times of peace and restings in Gods presence. This means prayers are completeley personal, it doesn’t matter if others understand or agree
Explain the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector
The pharisee who is a influential teacher of Jewish law and religion prays loudly to himself saying that he is better than the tax collector and enjoys attension and thinks he is very holy and the tax collector (who people hated as they were known to steal) was also praying at a distance and beats his cheast and cries out loud asking for forgiveness and mercy.
Jesus points out that that the tax collector is right in the eyes of God.
Why is Baptism important?
- It’s one of the seven scaraments
- It’s important to salvation
- The inward grace is reciving the holy spirit, being cleansed of original sin and being welcomed to Gods kingdom
- For catholics baptism is the first sacrament required to access all the othes
- Roman Catholics believe that if a baby if a baby is not baptised and dies it goes to hell
Why do Quakers reject sacraments?
They believe
* Jesus did not intend for baptism to become a rigid constraint for poeple
* Rituals are a distraction and they become a focus of worship with the inward grace forgotten
* There is no need for it
* God can speak directly to ones heart
What is infant baptism?
Getting baptised as soon as possible
It symbolises a new beginning and represents a baby becoming a member of the church
Alhtough a baby cannot decide to follow Christ for itself, a baptism shows that the child is included as a member of the church family.
In the Bible it tells a story of a prison guard deciding to become a christian and getting his children baptised
Symbols of infant baptism?
- The child is clothed in white garment to show they are free from sin
- The child is anoited with chrism (holy oil) on the cheast and between the shoulders as a symbol of strenghth
- The parents and godparents make baptismal vows on behalf of the child
What is adult baptism?
A symbol of a new beginning, not that the person has been born but that they have been BORN AGAIN
Christians believe that when they chose to believe in Jesus, their sins are forgiven, it makes them new, clean and pure
Why might people get baptised as a adult?
Jesus was 30 when baptised
When they are older they actulally understand christianity
Babies are innocent of sin
Symbols of adult baptism
Believers being fully immersed in water to symbolise that they have buried their old life and the emerge from the water that they are brand new , born again
Water washed away the sins
Professed thier faith saying that they have chosen to follow Jesus and that they are proud of their chioce
Why do Christians celebrate christamas and one way they do
Chritamas celebrates the birth of Jesus (incarnation)
Singing carol - Expressing worship in thanks for sending Jesus
Why do Christians celebrate Easter
Easter remembers the death and resurrection of Jesus
Easter sunday - celerbration of the ressurection in exchange of easter eggs
What is the Eucharist?
Where Christians remember the last supper where Jesus broke the bread and shared the wine.
It is one of the 7 sacraments
Roman Catholic views on the eucharist
Once a week or more
They believe that they literally become Jesus’ body and blood. This is called transubstantiation
They do it to bring gods grace to us
When children are old enough to understand it they have their first communiion and a big party
