This post is about church and churches.
To begin, here are some pictures of meetinghouses.
i.e. These are churches.
The things they have in common are that they all have steeples (at least I think they all do) and they all have a sign on the outside that reads " The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Visitors Welcome"
Jesus Christ is printed largest because that is what our church is all about.
Inside there is a chapel- with pews and a stand with a pulpit. There is an organ and and piano usually. There are classrooms with chalkboards/whiteboards, bathrooms (big surprise here!), a kitchen, and a cultural hall (usually this is a basketball court with hardwood floor and hoops that lower from the ceiling. However, I heard that in South America there are soccer fields outside of the church instead. We usually use this room for ward barbeques and get-togethers and such. Some members like to use the cultural hall for their wedding receptions because its free to use, its a big room, and why not if you don't mind the basketball hoops in the tops of a few pictures. ;)
Inside there is a chapel- with pews and a stand with a pulpit. There is an organ and and piano usually. There are classrooms with chalkboards/whiteboards, bathrooms (big surprise here!), a kitchen, and a cultural hall (usually this is a basketball court with hardwood floor and hoops that lower from the ceiling. However, I heard that in South America there are soccer fields outside of the church instead. We usually use this room for ward barbeques and get-togethers and such. Some members like to use the cultural hall for their wedding receptions because its free to use, its a big room, and why not if you don't mind the basketball hoops in the tops of a few pictures. ;)
Members go to church on Sunday for three hours for regular worship. As the sign reads; visitors are welcome. Anyone who wants to can just show up and sit down and worship with us. Church on Sundays is 3 hours long. This might seem overwhelming but let me break down the time frames and what exactly goes on during those three hours.
3 Hours of Church described
First hour -in general it actually lasts an hour and 10 minutes ( I underlined the condensed version of what happens)
Everyone is together in the chapel. The bishop (leader of the congregation) stands at the pulpit and welcomes everyone to church, gives any announcements such as "The Hughes had their baby this week. Adilyn Cynthia was born on Wednesday at 3:09am weighing 6lbs 6 oz. Both mom and baby are doing well." or "The youth will be doing a fundraiser this Friday, selling scones at the local farmers market." or " We have a new missionary in our ward. Elder Jones, welcome."
Then they proceed with the opening hymn and opening prayer. The prayer is offered at the pulpit by a member of the congregation who had been asked beforehand. The members of the congregation fold their arms and bow their heads and close their eyes for the prayer. At the end of the prayer, they all say amen and the meeting continues.
Then if there is any ward business to conduct this is where it happens. Members are given or released from callings. A 'calling' is basically this; the ward runs on volunteers. The bishop is a member of the ward who has been 'called' to be the bishop for a few years. Some callings are much more temporary. When I was in Arizona for only a few months, I was called to work in the Nursery with the babies/toddlers from 18months to 3 years. The bishop or one of his counselors asks you if you would be willing to accept such and such calling. In plain English, Will you work in the nursery and help keep kids happy with treats and songs and lessons about Jesus so that their parents can go to their own classes and/or fulfill their own assignments? What is really neat about callings is that I really believe they are (for the most part) very inspired. (sigh, another tangent)
The bishop then gets up and announces who will be speaking, what the intermediate hymn is and thanks those who are playing the piano and conducting the music.
Then there is the blessing of the sacrament. Two males who hold the priesthood bless the sacrament and then the deacons (young boys who hold the priesthood) pass the sacrament to the members of the congregation. First the bread is blessed and passed to everyone. Then the water is blessed and passed to everyone.
There are only a few prayers in the LDS church which we say verbatim. These are two of them. The prayers are found in Doctrine and Covenants section 20 verses 77 and 79. Here is a link to that section. http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/20.77,79?lang=eng#76
After the blessing and administration of the sacrament, we have our first speaker. The people who address the congregation are members of the ward. The bishop or one of his two counselors ask different ward members to speak and give them a topic such as "Charity" or "Parable of the Lost Sheep" or "Repentance" or any number of church topics. Personally I love the opportunity to address the congregation and share what I know about a certain topic and how it makes me feel. Then I share a few scripture. My previous post comes mostly from a talk that I gave in church on Sunday during the first hour. But I have gone off on a tangent.
The first talk is usually youth speaker (between 12-18 years old). It lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Second speaker is someone from the ward who is not a youth. (18+) and their talk can take anywhere from 5-20 minutes depending on how long winded/short and sweet they are. They are encouraged to take 10 minutes.
Then there is an intermediate hymn followed by the final speaker. After the final speaker ends their talk, there is a closing hymn and a closing prayer.
That's it. The congregation does not so much participate in this first meeting unless they are the speaker or the ones saying the prayer. They sit and listen to the speakers and to the spirit.
Then there is the blessing of the sacrament. Two males who hold the priesthood bless the sacrament and then the deacons (young boys who hold the priesthood) pass the sacrament to the members of the congregation. First the bread is blessed and passed to everyone. Then the water is blessed and passed to everyone.
There are only a few prayers in the LDS church which we say verbatim. These are two of them. The prayers are found in Doctrine and Covenants section 20 verses 77 and 79. Here is a link to that section. http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/20.77,79?lang=eng#76
After the blessing and administration of the sacrament, we have our first speaker. The people who address the congregation are members of the ward. The bishop or one of his two counselors ask different ward members to speak and give them a topic such as "Charity" or "Parable of the Lost Sheep" or "Repentance" or any number of church topics. Personally I love the opportunity to address the congregation and share what I know about a certain topic and how it makes me feel. Then I share a few scripture. My previous post comes mostly from a talk that I gave in church on Sunday during the first hour. But I have gone off on a tangent.
The first talk is usually youth speaker (between 12-18 years old). It lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Second speaker is someone from the ward who is not a youth. (18+) and their talk can take anywhere from 5-20 minutes depending on how long winded/short and sweet they are. They are encouraged to take 10 minutes.
Then there is an intermediate hymn followed by the final speaker. After the final speaker ends their talk, there is a closing hymn and a closing prayer.
That's it. The congregation does not so much participate in this first meeting unless they are the speaker or the ones saying the prayer. They sit and listen to the speakers and to the spirit.
Second Hour - Usually lasts more like 40 mins once people get to class and stop socializing in the hall :)
The babies/toddlers go to nursery where they have a short lessons, play with puzzles, color, play with toys, have a treat and sing cute songs.
Boys and girls ages 3-11 are called Primary Children.
Children 3-11yrs old go to classes with their age group. ages 3-4 in a class. ages 5-6 in a class. ages 7-8 in a class etc. each with a volunteer teacher from the ward. (Their calling is to teach the such and such year olds)
Boys ages 12-18 are called Young Men
Girls ages 12-18 are called Young Women
The young men and young women go to class together. (Unless there are lots and lots of them in which case they also break into age groups)
Adults go to one of two classes. The first is Sunday School or Gospel Doctrine. They just follow through different books of scripture. One year they will study the Old Testament together. Next year the New Testament. Next year the Book of Mormon. There is either one or a couple of teachers that take turns. It usually is more of a discussion among the adults with a bit of structure.
The other option class is called Gospel Principles and it is for people interested in learning more about Mormonism (we refer to these people as Investigators) or for new members. It focuses more on the core of the doctrines such as the Word of Wisdom, or Prophets or The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ.
Third Hour
Nursery kids stay in nursery.
Primary Kids all to to a class called, (get ready for this) Primary. They sing songs and do group lessons and give mini-talks to each other
Young Men meet together.
Young Women meet together.
The women 18+ go to a class called Relief Society. (If curious, my current calling is teaching Relief Society on the second Sunday of each month.)
The men 18+ go to a class called Priesthood Meeting.
And that's Mormon Church in a nutshell. Just kidding that was certainly no nutshell. But I wanted to be sure that I did not use Mormon Jargon without explaining myself. Speaking of Mormon Jargon, I found this website that you may want to look at if something I said was not well explained or just in general curiosity about words us Mormons use.
http://www.mormonjargon.com/
Boys and girls ages 3-11 are called Primary Children.
Children 3-11yrs old go to classes with their age group. ages 3-4 in a class. ages 5-6 in a class. ages 7-8 in a class etc. each with a volunteer teacher from the ward. (Their calling is to teach the such and such year olds)
Boys ages 12-18 are called Young Men
Girls ages 12-18 are called Young Women
The young men and young women go to class together. (Unless there are lots and lots of them in which case they also break into age groups)
Adults go to one of two classes. The first is Sunday School or Gospel Doctrine. They just follow through different books of scripture. One year they will study the Old Testament together. Next year the New Testament. Next year the Book of Mormon. There is either one or a couple of teachers that take turns. It usually is more of a discussion among the adults with a bit of structure.
The other option class is called Gospel Principles and it is for people interested in learning more about Mormonism (we refer to these people as Investigators) or for new members. It focuses more on the core of the doctrines such as the Word of Wisdom, or Prophets or The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ.
Third Hour
Nursery kids stay in nursery.
Primary Kids all to to a class called, (get ready for this) Primary. They sing songs and do group lessons and give mini-talks to each other
Young Men meet together.
Young Women meet together.
The women 18+ go to a class called Relief Society. (If curious, my current calling is teaching Relief Society on the second Sunday of each month.)
The men 18+ go to a class called Priesthood Meeting.
And that's Mormon Church in a nutshell. Just kidding that was certainly no nutshell. But I wanted to be sure that I did not use Mormon Jargon without explaining myself. Speaking of Mormon Jargon, I found this website that you may want to look at if something I said was not well explained or just in general curiosity about words us Mormons use.
http://www.mormonjargon.com/
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