What is it Like to Attend the Worship Service in Iglesia ni Cristo? (2024)

Curious how ‘Church of Christ’(Iglesia ni Cristo) Members Attend andConduct Worship Services?

As God requires, do everything in anorderly manner. And here is how theChurch follows that commandment:

1.The Church Officers - be it deacons, deaconess, choir member,finance officers, the secretariat, SCAN members have each own set of uniformsfor the Worship Service (WS).

2.The church goers are seatedseparately based on gender – males are seated on the left column and women onthe right column.

3.There is an office where to get yourproof of attendance (if you are registered from other Locale and just nearby toattend) or give your Transfer Certificate ( if you opt to move-in permanentlyto the place).

4.Choir members have identical clearbooks where the set of hymns are written, they stand to singsimultaneously and take their seats in the same manner.

5. The church pews are filled from the front to the last rowwith the assistance from a deacon (men’s side) or a deaconess (women’s side)ushering attendees to the proper pew row.

6.There is the name board (tarheta board) placed in the lobby facing the front door of every house ofworship where one can find his name and turn it back to note that the person isinside to attend the service.

7. If you are a guest and you arrive atthe chapel minutes late, you would probably think there is no one inside butthe Minister who preaches the service- but when you peek on the windows:

-the church’s door is closed rightbefore the third hymn is sang – from there no one is allowed to enter; that isto make sure that all worshippers have completed the service from praising thruhymns, the lecture part, the offering, the prayer at the start and after) thereis silence in the audience, you will be surprised to see the house of worshipis filled with brethren; everyone is just listening carefully.

- No one is chatting (nobody stopsthem but felt a sense of discipline to pay respect to the premise) or textingnor calling (mobile phones are left in a counter, turned off).

8.As much as possible, members withlittle children who are sometimes implacable are advised to manage shiftingschedule on childcare with household members – WS are usually scheduled in twosets (morning and afternoon/evening) – the wife will attend in the morning andthe husband in the evening, depending on their agreement and work schedule ifthere is. That is to keep the service atpeace without noise from children’s tantrums and cries.

9. During Worship Services, men must bewearing formal attire like slacks, polo or barong or even coat and tiedepending on his preference and the weather only rugged jeans (maong pants), shorts, t-shirt orsleeveless shirts are prohibited. Men are not allowed to wear earrings too (oneear or even nose ring).

-For women, knee-long skirt in anycut (pencil, bubble, balloon etc.) blouses, dresses or office suit are required– and mini-skirts, sleeveless, tube (with blazer or bolero would be accepted),pants, shorts, low-cut back or front shallbe avoided. Wonder why? Let me askthis question, if you are to have a face to face interview with the richestman, the president of the country or any person of high rank will you not wearyour best? Will you not wear a set of clothes that shows you are appropriate tobe on that appointment? Well, it is not a great scientist, a famous politician,a billionaire BUT above every man or creature existing – it is God, the creatoryou shall come to meet to be dignifiedly dressed.

However, if you are a visitor whowants to observe, you are welcome to get in with your rugged attire but BE SUREto inform the deacon (usher) or deaconess (usherette) that you are a guestto be dealt with accordingly – you will just be asked to seat at theback pew even if you came earlier and will not be any more reminded of yourinappropriate attire knowing you are just a visitor.

10. In Iglesiani Cristo (Church of Christ), wherever you are in the world, no matter what language you speak –the lesson on a particular date (be it Wednesday/Thursday or Saturday/Sunday), the lecture is the same. Yes, it couldhave been translated in different languages but it is the EXACT COPY of what ispreached in every chapel worldwide. We received one message from God twice aweek (the WS sched is officially Thursdays and Sundays – the preceding dayslike Wednesdays or Saturdays are counted to the next official WS Day meaning,the lessons taught on a Wednesday sched is the same as for Thursday and samegoes with Saturday and Sunday – you just have to choose the time where you cancome.

11. Scheduling is done if the seatingcapacity of the house of worship is short to accommodate the existing serialnumber of brethren till a new edifice is built.Sometimes the old chapel is collapsed to the ground to make way for theconstruction of a bigger and permanent structure.

12. Rest assured that wherever you gobecause of your work etc. a house of worship is nearby for you to perform yourduty to our dear Lord God. The effort onour part (members) is getting theWS schedule as well as the exact address ofthe nearest chapel so as not to miss the most important Meeting we have toattend. Actually, there is now an applicationthat you can install on your mobile phones and other gadgets called ‘ChurchLocator’ where you can find the nearest chapel to your location, I think it issupported by Google Maps and that the WS schedule is provided too.

When I was still working in theoffice wayback years ago when I am still single, if the day falls on theWorship Service Schedule (say Thursdays), I have to make sure that I attend theworship service before going to work. When I change my career from office to afield work, if it happened that I missed the morning schedule, no matter wherethe chapel is, I am looking for the nearest house of worship where I couldpossibly attend.

I am securing a proof of attendance(a small paper in a form-type) to besubmitted to the Locale or place where I am a registered member so I would not berecorded as absent.Oops, before you conclude about it, we are never tortured nor punished for being absent. It is every individual’s conviction like me,to keep a perfect attendance in attending WS. If we will rely on Mathematicswhy attending Worship Service is a not a burden, why it became my conviction toattend every WS, we have 168 hours a week (24hrs by 7days). And a worshipservice is just about an hour each, calculating the travel time say around halfto an hour each attendance – it would just be 4 hours at the max. What if thehouse of worship is just minutes walkfrom one’s residence?! Are we not greedy enough to take that away from our LordGod? We must know that we do not existjust to eat, sleep, drink, achieve our earthly goals nor be great BUT toworship God. It is the reason why He created man, to serve him. I know Christians like me are aware of thisfact. But are we putting this to application?That is the reason why the setback of calamities never stopped an Iglesiani Cristo member to perform hisduty. I heard of a ‘Hai-yan’ victim wholose love ones, shelter and belongings and never had a way of living when giventhe chance for an interview by media people, you know what she said “Please, siblings-in-Christ help me find a way tohave another deaconess’ uniform so I can be on duty again…” and the ChurchAdministration heard of the plead and urgently sent “saya” and “barongs”,shoes and choir uniforms for the brethren.They are so thankful when interviewed again. They could have begged forfood and other material things they need but the foremost priority they valueis their relationship and duties to our Lord God more than anything else.

Why attendance is checked and listedas absent? Those who were absent in theWS are visited and advised –given encouragement if feeling down, ask what couldpossibly be the problem that kept himfrom attending – help the member find a better solution and remind him that runningaway from God by neglecting duties is not in any way helping the situation butworsening it; that God more than anyone else has the solution to every problemno matter how impossible it could have been. After tons of visits and remindersand the brethren refuses to change and opt to intentionally abandon his dutiesof worshipping God, records will be the proof in case he should complain ofbeing expelled from the Church. That isjust one of the many grounds to be expelled.

In truth, I was admonished by someclose friends not to write about the Church and make a separate blog so as notto bother my audience (readers) of my religion but I was thinking that if myblog is just solely about the Church, will you bother to drop by? At leasthere, I know you come to read a different topic but it may somehow kindle your curiosity to read posts likethis. And somehow in a little way I canperform my duty of spreading God’s message to peopleimportant to me, my audience is very important to me, and that is you…

Written on this post is my personal opinion and keen observation,the Church Administration and council has nothingto do with it, with all due respect.