View Full Version : How Church Has Changed in Last 45 Years
Parson
12-09-2007, 07:23 AM
Greetings All!
Have you noticed how church has changed in the past 45 years?
Here are some differences that I have experienced. (and I do realize that some changes were due to the culture I was raised in--rather than a possible similarity
in every church nationally.)
The church service started with everyone coming to the front to the mourner's bench for prayer.
Everyone in the congregation stood together on the platform as a church choir during the "song service".
All songs, save for the SPECIALS, came from the Pentecostal songbook.
Everyone--but EVERYONE was expected to testify or affirm their faith during Testimony Time.
There were skits or some type of program that the youth presented during a section wide YOUTH RALLY which were held once a month. A banner was given to the Youth Group voted to have the best program.
There were FELLOWSHIP MEETINGS once a month wherein preachers were given 5 minutes (but usually took 15) to deliver a sermonette.
You must have a fever of 104 degrees and speak incoherently before you were excused from being at a church service.
Homework was NOT an excuse.
Family coming in for a visit was NOT an excuse.
Ice, snow, and tornadoes were NOT an excused. (As a young preacher, I was asked to preach during a horrible storm--all the while a tornado destroyed another church about 250 yards away)
Being horribly mangled in a car wreck was NOT an excuse (ok maybe I'm stretching that a bit)
All activities had to be planned around church services.
Revival services usually lasted at least 6 weeks and a rest night was considered blasphemy.
Saturday night services were as important as Sunday and Wednesday night.
The average offering from an individual was usually ONE DOLLAR per service. (ok....maybe THAT hasn't changed.......)
Flannelgraph and slide projectors were considered HIGH TECH
A preacher's anointing was measured by how red in the face he got. If the preacher did not get all red in the face--he was only teaching.
It was a different world then.
Blessings
Parson
Harmony
12-09-2007, 09:01 AM
you forgot the alter call after every service. Everyone is expected to go and PUSH (pray until something happens).
Carpenter
12-09-2007, 10:54 AM
Greetings All!
Have you noticed how church has changed in the past 45 years?
Here are some differences that I have experienced. (and I do realize that some changes were due to the culture I was raised in--rather than a possible similarity
in every church nationally.)
The church service started with everyone coming to the front to the mourner's bench for prayer.
Everyone in the congregation stood together on the platform as a church choir during the "song service".
All songs, save for the SPECIALS, came from the Pentecostal songbook.
Everyone--but EVERYONE was expected to testify or affirm their faith during Testimony Time.
There were skits or some type of program that the youth presented during a section wide YOUTH RALLY which were held once a month. A banner was given to the Youth Group voted to have the best program.
There were FELLOWSHIP MEETINGS once a month wherein preachers were given 5 minutes (but usually took 15) to deliver a sermonette.
You must have a fever of 104 degrees and speak incoherently before you were excused from being at a church service.
Homework was NOT an excuse.
Family coming in for a visit was NOT an excuse.
Ice, snow, and tornadoes were NOT an excused. (As a young preacher, I was asked to preach during a horrible storm--all the while a tornado destroyed another church about 250 yards away)
Being horribly mangled in a car wreck was NOT an excuse (ok maybe I'm stretching that a bit)
All activities had to be planned around church services.
Revival services usually lasted at least 6 weeks and a rest night was considered blasphemy.
Saturday night services were as important as Sunday and Wednesday night.
The average offering from an individual was usually ONE DOLLAR per service. (ok....maybe THAT hasn't changed.......)
Flannelgraph and slide projectors were considered HIGH TECH
A preacher's anointing was measured by how red in the face he got. If the preacher did not get all red in the face--he was only teaching.
It was a different world then.
Blessings
Parson
I actually miss those days...well some of them.
Now, the UPC has absolutely no sense of community. Most churches are encapsulated because they are afraid of swaping spit with other churches (A term I heard an evangelist use about saints going from one church to another. I actually laughed out loud and my wife poked me for it. :D)
I think the church has had to evolve/devolve because there is stiffer competition out there and those who haven't realized this are suffering.
Hoovie
12-09-2007, 11:06 AM
I actually miss those days...well some of them.
Now, the UPC has absolutely no sense of community. Most churches are encapsulated because they are afraid of swaping spit with other churches (A term I heard an evangelist use about saints going from one church to another. I actually laughed out loud and my wife poked me for it. :D)
I think the church has had to evolve/devolve because there is stiffer competition out there and those who haven't realized this are suffering.
Interesting... I did not think you would miss the good ole days.
Reverend epley, can we start a new work in Carps neck of the woods??
Carpenter
12-09-2007, 11:13 AM
Interesting... I did not you to miss the good ole days.
Reverend epley, can we start a new work in Carps neck of the woods??
:D Denny Perdew's church is close enough.
I just miss the fellowship of other churches. I think the UPC takes themselves too seriously. I know, guys have given their entire lives and every lasting calorie of energy they have to the movement and to their churches and they will do their best to protect what they have sacrificed for, but I don't believe for one second that most pastors trust most saints.
Hoovie
12-09-2007, 11:17 AM
:D Denny Perdew's church is close enough.
I just miss the fellowship of other churches. I think the UPC takes themselves too seriously. I know, guys have given their entire lives and every lasting calorie of energy they have to the movement and to their churches and they will do their best to protect what they have sacrificed for, but I don't believe for one second that most pastors trust most saints.
I totally agree, and this is one reason I make it a point to visit an AOG or Lutheran church a few times a year.
:santathumb
Sherri
12-09-2007, 12:50 PM
Does the UPC still have sectional youth rallies and fellowship meetings once a month? When we left in 1991, they were still doing that.
Carpenter
12-09-2007, 12:52 PM
Does the UPC still have sectional youth rallies and fellowship meetings once a month? When we left in 1991, they were still doing that.
Wow, I guess the question should be asked, how has the church changed in the past 15-20 years.
I'm not sure, but I think those were the last years for the now dead, youth rallies, fellowship meetings, and singspirations.
stmatthew
12-09-2007, 02:25 PM
Well, I can't go back that far. But being raised in a Oneness church, I do have about 35 years of actual memories.
-the song leader (thats what they were called back then) had to sing "Cain't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus" at least once during the Sunday Night Service so everybody could shout.
-prayer lines happened a lot, with folks being healed right then and there
-tent meetings came around at least once a year.
-street meetings were held
-tracks were handed out by the whole church. Even us kids handed them out to the folks coming out of K-Mart (No Wal-Mart in those days).
-all night prayer meetings (I remember as a child sleeping on the floor while the adults literally prayed until the light of day).
-shouting was not a choreographed dance, but uncontrollable jerking and screaming when the glory fell.
chseeads
12-09-2007, 02:37 PM
Does the UPC still have sectional youth rallies and fellowship meetings once a month? When we left in 1991, they were still doing that.
Indiana has sectional youth rallies. Not necessarily always monthly, varies a bit.
Don't think I've ever even heard of a UPC sectional fellowship meeting though.
MrsBOOMM
12-09-2007, 03:16 PM
Campmeetings that lasted all week! Including the weekend. Now a lot of them don't even go Mon-Fri
Singing songs about the Second Coming that would convict you to the point that if you knew you were not ready then you just KNEW that Jesus was coming before the song was over. ,...Sermons used to be that way too.
We used to never see denim in any form in church, except for may the sinners and even then it was rare.
Handkerchief Praise Offerings. The service leader would say, everyone wave your handkerchiefs in the air. Of course, now not as many carry them anymore. The church provides tissues for everyone!
Still thinking, I am sure there are more.....
Parson
12-09-2007, 05:06 PM
Youth Rallies changed, at least in my neck of the woods, from Youth skits to a service that featured a young minister....and perhaps a youth trio that would sing.
Interest waned and eventually the services were dropped.
An annual event was THE ALL DAY SERVICE and DINNER ON THE GROUND. Usually, this fell around the pastor's birthday. Preachers were given 10 minutes to preach. Someone would strum on a guitar to signal the preacher that his time was up. There would be special singing....usually Blue Grass Gospel or Southern Gospel.
And the food....a pot luck dinner that would make a Baptist church green with envy.
I haven't heard of one of these services in many a year.
Blessings
Parson
Greetings All!
Have you noticed how church has changed in the past 45 years?
Here are some differences that I have experienced. (and I do realize that some changes were due to the culture I was raised in--rather than a possible similarity
in every church nationally.)
The church service started with everyone coming to the front to the mourner's bench for prayer.
Everyone in the congregation stood together on the platform as a church choir during the "song service".
All songs, save for the SPECIALS, came from the Pentecostal songbook.
Everyone--but EVERYONE was expected to testify or affirm their faith during Testimony Time.
There were skits or some type of program that the youth presented during a section wide YOUTH RALLY which were held once a month. A banner was given to the Youth Group voted to have the best program.
There were FELLOWSHIP MEETINGS once a month wherein preachers were given 5 minutes (but usually took 15) to deliver a sermonette.
You must have a fever of 104 degrees and speak incoherently before you were excused from being at a church service.
Homework was NOT an excuse.
Family coming in for a visit was NOT an excuse.
Ice, snow, and tornadoes were NOT an excused. (As a young preacher, I was asked to preach during a horrible storm--all the while a tornado destroyed another church about 250 yards away)
Being horribly mangled in a car wreck was NOT an excuse (ok maybe I'm stretching that a bit)
All activities had to be planned around church services.
Revival services usually lasted at least 6 weeks and a rest night was considered blasphemy.
Saturday night services were as important as Sunday and Wednesday night.
The average offering from an individual was usually ONE DOLLAR per service. (ok....maybe THAT hasn't changed.......)
Flannelgraph and slide projectors were considered HIGH TECH
A preacher's anointing was measured by how red in the face he got. If the preacher did not get all red in the face--he was only teaching.
It was a different world then.
Blessings
Parson
Parson, my church was still doing a lot of this stuff in the 70s. finally started dying out in the 80s.
I cleary remember Testimony service. it seemed to have went on FOREVER sometimes. our services lasted till mid night and up until the mid 70s we had revivall every night. they finally gave us monday night off and even at that they thought we were getting a little worldy :christmoose
you are right, we had to be Dead or dying to even think about missing church. now people miss if they have a runny nose.
I do not know how we did it lol
I remember when Sunday Night was THE MAIN EVENT!
The clothes that we use to wear to church was VERY important.
BUT I must confess that I do enjoy some if not most of the changes that have transpired in the past 20 - 25 years!
Sept5SavedTeen
12-09-2007, 05:32 PM
I went to a Testimony Service for the first time this Wednesday before Thanksgiving. And I've been Apostolic for a little over 3 years! My first Testimony Service... good times...
GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex
freeatlast
12-09-2007, 05:46 PM
I went to a Testimony Service for the first time this Wednesday before Thanksgiving. And I've been Apostolic for a little over 3 years! My first Testimony Service... good times...
GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex
I'll occasionally ask someone to testify during a service, bu ti ask them ahead of time.
Testimonies can be a "humorous" time in church.
Several years ago an older brother had just come back in from the rest room and testified how he had been bound up for a week and "glory to God, he just gave me such a wonderful movement."
We all tried real hard not to luagh to hard.
Then there will always be that sister that testifies, " ya all pray for me, the devil's been on me all week, bless his holy name........
Blubayou
12-09-2007, 06:41 PM
Remember footwashing and communion on New Year's Eve, called Watch Night Service.
Singing "Look What the Lord Has Done" over and over during altar service.
Friday Night Youth services at the local church.
These are just a few that come to mind.
Ronzo
12-09-2007, 07:03 PM
How about how much "church" has changed in the last nearly 2000 years...
Sept5SavedTeen
12-09-2007, 09:36 PM
How about how much "church" has changed in the last nearly 2000 years...
Go 'head brother :hanky... that's what no one wants to talk about. Being Pentecostal (100 years back) seems more important to most than being Apostolic (2000 years back)... But I'll save it for another thread, lol
GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex
commonsense
12-10-2007, 12:19 AM
:D Denny Perdew's church is close enough.
I just miss the fellowship of other churches. I think the UPC takes themselves too seriously. I know, guys have given their entire lives and every lasting calorie of energy they have to the movement and to their churches and they will do their best to protect what they have sacrificed for, but I don't believe for one second that most pastors trust most saints.
Carp, very true. You don't see much interaction except for camp.
I remember the fellowship meetings and the every night revivals.
In the north, we didn't have ""the everyone on the platform for song service"
or the mourners bench.
I do remember altar call every service and if there was no one to "tarry" or repent, everyone went forward and prayed. The pastor would go from saint to saint and pray over each one. I miss that!
We had testimonies, usually someone led this portion of the service and they would just allow anyone to get up and speak. Some were long, or perhaps not really glorifying the Lord, but it was a chance to give a "word". I doubt it was more than 10, maybe 15min. If no one got up, they would try to guilt people into testifying. :jolly
Parson
12-10-2007, 03:58 AM
Remember footwashing and communion on New Year's Eve, called Watch Night Service.
Singing "Look What the Lord Has Done" over and over during altar service.
Friday Night Youth services at the local church.
These are just a few that come to mind.
I cannot remember the last footwashing service I attended.
One song we no longer sing--(or at least I haven't heard it in years) is I KNOW GOD IS GOD.
Others include
This Train is Bound for Glory--This Train
One--One--One--One Way to God
Jesus on the Main Line
Turn it Over to Jesus
After church on Sunday Night, many would go out to Pizza Hut or Pizza Inn.
Blessings
Parson
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