A free form of worship is what Pentecostal churches across the world hold dear. Worshippers in a church service are at liberty to dance, scream and shout praises to God. True to the history of the church, the beliefs that God can be exulted, praised and worshiped without any inhabitations hold true to this day. The church is grounded on spiritual sensibilities based on Biblical teaching that God’s people should worship him in spirit and in truth. To this end, the church believe that the Holy trinity is to be revered, adored and exalted no matter what circumstances individual members may be faced with.
Unlike other churches where the pastor or service leader starts the service with a prayer, the congregants of the church I went to commenced the service with a hymn. According to the printed bulletin, this first section of the service would last for one hour. An engaging choir mellowed tune and after tune and for those not well versed with the wording of the songs, the song verses were on the multiple screens fitted all over the church hall. The choir’s members were dressed in casual black uniforms accessorized with African beads. One could not miss out the artistic nature of the design. The suaveness that they sang and danced to the songs was a clear indication that they had put enough time to prepare, rehearse and get the songs right.
The way that the instrumentalists handled the Piano, the guitar and the drums was also an indication that the church had invested in trained professionals who created the right atmosphere for worship. According to Pentecostal traditions, church leaders shoulder the responsibility of creating the right worship attitudes among the congregants. Accordingly, the worship atmosphere should be such that, even a person who had initially thought they had too many worries to join in the singing would have no option but to sing along the others. So far, this church had managed to do that. Everywhere I looked, everybody was engrossed in singing, dancing, swaying and lifting of hands. A realist would have trouble determining whether this was really true worship where people are conscious of the spirit nature of God, or simply religious excitement. The church can however be credited with fusing worship liberty with a scriptural order that makes the congregants aware of the various things that God has done.
Towards the end of the praise and worship segment, the songs were more relaxed and at this point I could sense that people were really connecting with God through the songs. Looking at the people seated on the front rows, one could sense that most of them were in deep contemplation as they sang, with eyes closed; some lifting their hands up, it was a solemn atmosphere. The songs slowly degenerated into loud prayers among the worshippers and after five minutes of individual prayers, one of the assisting Pastors took over the microphone and led the entire church in prayer. This was then followed by televised church news which were prerecorded and beamed to the church through the projector screens. Indeed modern technology has been infused in this church to cater for the voluminous numbers that attended the service. This was evident in the sound system, lighting and ventilation.
The Pentecostal church has overtime been reffered to as oral religion, as it relies on word power to give context to God’s word. True to this, some of the outstanding testimonies that the church had received through out the week were read. The contents delighted the church audience, mostly because they were personal revelations of how people had received blessings from God. One could not help notice that all testimonies gave credit to the church. This was closely followed by the offertory, presiding which a scripture was read encouraging the attendant to give back to God.
The main preaching was about worrying. According to the preacher, God’s people had been transformed by the pressures of modern living into worrying freaks. He told the congregation that most worries arise from the fact that Christians forget that God is in Control. He stressed the need for the congregants to have more faith in the promises of Jesus Christ, that God knows every detail of their lives. He also encouraged them to lead sinless lives in order to benefit from the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which he said would result in less anxiety. At the end of the service, the pastor prayed for the congregation that God would enable them to trust Him more and hence live worry-free lives.
By observing this church, one can tell, that worship plays a major role in their faith. Bible inspiration was also a major part of their actions including giving and tithing.