Christians gather to fellowship in spirit and truth in a church service. Particular days, times, and hours are apportioned for these church services by the church leader or council.
There are a lot of activities that take place during the church service. These activities are carried out peculiarly depending on the church denomination and doctrines. One of the lead activities is; the opening of the service for a particular program.
How To Open A Church Service: A Step By Step Guide
Since it is necessary to fellowship in the church and partake in all church activities, especially church opening sessions, this article might help give insight into how to open a church service which is crucial to the spiritual and physical growth or deterioration of the church.
This article will assumably serve as a step-by-step guide on the general knowledge of what it entails to open a church service, what to know before embarking on opening a church service, how to open a church service with Worship, Prayers, Bible verses, and other activities that can be upheld as a standard and generally accepted pattern of church opening service by all church denominations with diverse doctrines.
1. Open A Church Service With Prayer
Prayer is the most powerful tool for Christians, and it is not only our way of speaking and connecting with God but also a means by which we call upon God’s intervention.
How to start a church service with prayer is the most fundamental element that will help navigate the leading of the dimension of the holy spirit to take charge of the day’s church activities. Opening prayer in a church service is an intentional prayer to call upon God to dwell amongst the brethren.
These are the tips on how to start a prayer of opening service;
A) Tell the congregation to be upstanding
B) Reminding the congregation of the importance of the prayers
C)Remind them to close their eyes as prayers will soon commence
D) Remind them to be in absolute humility to tender prayers
E) Sing one or two solemn songs before the prayers
2. Opening Prayer For Church Service
Father Lord,
We thank you for the grace and sustenance of Life. Thank you for bringing everyone to assemble in your holy presence this time. Thank you for guarding and preserving our steps each day to make it possible for today’s gathering. I thank you for our brethren yet to join this service today, and we believe you will grant them a smooth journey.
As we gather may your spirit walk within us. We will be blessed as we gather in your excellent presence today. Our hearts are full of joy every time we gather to worship you.
We know the devil invades when two or more people are gathered to praise and worship the Lord. We call the father, the son, and the holy ghost to dwell in our midst today.
We bind every work of the flesh. Let us glorify only your name. We come against every hypocrisy that may arise in our hearts. We conquer every satanic manipulation of the flesh. We bind every spirit of distraction.
We submit every activity into the hands of God and let the holy spirit guide and control activities. With God, all things are possible, and that is why we invite the holy spirit to take charge.
As we dwell in your presence, take away all our iniquity to be worthy of being a partaker of today’s divine blessings. Let the joy of your salvation take away every grief, break every yoke, and deliver us from the bondage of the kingdom of darkness.
Let the extraordinary grace of God speak good things into our lives. Let us experience the remarkable transformation of the presence of God in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
3. Open A Church Service With Powerful Worship
Worship is the act of showing reference to a supreme being and the process of connecting with a supernatural force. In this context, it is the act whereby Christians express their respect, admiration, love, and adoration to God through impactful worship songs.
Another excellent step to open a church service is singing a powerful short worship session to arouse the spirit of the congregants. This serves as an inspiration and reminder that they are in God’s presence, inspiring them to seek to digest more as the service continues. Singing a powerful lyric reverberates the spirit mind and calms a troubled soul.
The following is what to say before leading in worship;
1. Admonish The Recognition Of God’s Presence
Lovers of Christ, let us be on our feet. Lets us recognize the presence of the Almighty God.
You can stand to show that you are ready to worship in humility. Stand in recognition of the Holy Spirit in our company.
Stand up to show that you are prepared to join the host of angels to worship the master of the universe.
2. Usher In God’s Presence With Invocations
It is time to worship the King Of Kings and Lord of Lords. The only one who is worthy of our worship. The Alpha And Omega. The Rose of Sharon. The bright morning star. The Lily of the valley. The I am that I am—the great Jehovah.
Call out the excellent names of God as much as you can.
C. Demand A Clap Offering
Brethren, as we usher in the Holy Spirit in readiness to receive our worship unto God, let’s offer a clap offering. Our maker. The Almighty father is ready to welcome our clap offering.
D. Request A Wave And Shout Offering
Children of God, if you are among the living, give a wave offering unto the sustainer of your soul and shout to the Lord, our maker. Clap unto Jesus, the perfect Redeemer.
E. A Total Surrender
Pour out your soul unto Jesus; tell him that you are here to worship his holy name. You can kneel and close your eyes to honor the son of the living God. Meditate unto Jesus to use this worship period to rectify all that the devil destruction Life.
4. Opening A Church Service With A Bible Verse
To usher in the holy spirit, some churches open the church service with a bible verse. A word of knowledge is admonished to revive the heart of the congregants. Certain Bible Verses for opening a Church Service can be found in this link.
5. What To Know Before Opening A Church Service
As much as a step-by-step guide has been provided for opening a church service, it is equally essential to conversate with the general knowledge of opening a church service. They are stated below:
A. Importance Of Opening A Church Service
Having in mind the importance of opening a church service will make you understand how to go about opening a church service. How a particular church service is opened may likely affect the atmosphere of the church either positively or negatively.
How the church service is open dictates if the church service will be warm, lively, dull, etc. So, keen attention should be paid to opening the church service.
B. Pattern Of Opening A Church Service
Before considering opening church service, you must be conversant with the pattern of the church operations. It is proven that not all Christian denomination uses the same operational mode of opening a church service.
Some churches have a similar pattern of opening a church service despite the church’s diverse doctrines and standards of the church, while some churches do not share the same way of opening a church service.
While some churches may accept any form of conducting the opening session, it is also essential to get acquainted with the pattern of the opening of a church service of a particular as some churches may not accept a strange routine. At this instant, the conductor of the opening service session must be taught the pattern to avoid confusion in the church.
C. Impactful Way Of Opening A Church Service
Every church opening service must be impactful to the attendees. Whoever takes up the responsibility of opening a church service must do it impactfully.
His actions and words must have a remarkable effect on the congregation. There must be an impactful resonance of the leader starting from how he conducts himself to the podium; his voice, manners, etc.., must influence the congregation positively.
When there is no significant impact at the opening service session, someone might not be intrigued to continue till the end of the service.
D. Captivating Opening of Church Service
How captivating a church service is opened will arouse the curiosity of the congregation, especially the newcomers, to seek to stay and see how the church service will unfold—this attribute to how and how the conductor manipulates the congregation’s minds with his actions and words.
E. Invoke The Spirit of Adoration
For solid connectivity with the holy spirit, the leader or conductor of the church opening session has to invoke the spirit of adoration. In response to the invocation of love, the people’s hearts will be relaxed and, in turn, crave more intriguing episodes.
F. Words Of Inspiration
Words of inspiration to the congregation are one way of preparing the ‘s minds community to hope for relief in the presence of God. The purpose of being in the presence of God is to be hopeful toward attaining your personal needs and goals. So, reinforcing that assurance by the conductor during a church opening session is very important. Receiving heartwarming truth inspires the hearts of worshipers.
G. Warm Welcome
During the opening of the church service, the conductor of the activity has to welcome the congregation warmly. This may not necessarily mean greeting people one by one. It should be a general acknowledgment and appreciation to the community who finds it worthy to come and fellowship.
H. Mission Minded Focus
To lead in opening church service and worship, you will need to focus on the theme of the day’s service. These themes can be derived from the sermon’s topic or what the church is celebrating. For instance, during the Easter celebration, your focus should be surrounded by the theme of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
This step-by-step guide on opening a church service is relevant in your quest to know how to conduct an opening service of a church program. I would love to know your feedback on this article, and knowing how good our report has been to you would open an avenue to serve you better.