Worship
Worship at the UPCI is often described as lively, with members jumping, dancing, singing, shouting, and clapping, as in all Pentecostal churches. Some people run through the church aisles, dance in the spirit, roll in the floor, which coined the term "holy rollers". They have even been known, mostly in the earlier days of Pentecostalism, to walk across the top of pews or jump over pews in an act of fervent worship. Some Pentecostals disagree with such radical acts of worship. Another form of more organized worship is when one person begins to walk around the church as other worshippers follow in a systematic march while worshipping; this is known as "victory marching". Services are ofttimes punctuated by acts of speaking in tongues (glossalalia), interpretations of tongues, prophetical messages, and laying on of hands for the purposes of healing. These events can happen spontaneously, often at massive altar calls where the entire congregation is encouraged to come and pray together at the front of the church. The pastor is always in charge of the worship activities, although he might relinquish control temporarily to "let the Spirit of God have its way." Excessive control of worship activities is often referred to as "quenching the spirit", a scriptural term taken from I Thessolonians 5:19, which states, "Quench not the Spirit." There has often been controversy over how much worship should be controlled and how much a congregational leader should "let the Spirit move."
Read more about this topic: United Pentecostal Church International
Famous quotes containing the word worship:
“Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance. To neither love nor reverence wilt thou be kind; and e’en for hate thou canst but kill; and all are killed. No fearless fool now fronts thee.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Among the virtues and vices that make up the British character, we have one vice, at least, that Americans ought to view with sympathy. For they appear to be the only people who share it with us. I mean our worship of the antique. I do not refer to beauty or even historical association. I refer to age, to a quantity of years.”
—William Golding (b. 1911)
“My religion is no garment to be put on and off with the weather. You had better know that, all of you. I shall worship as I please and hope for all men to worship as they please in Scotland.”
—Dudley Nichols (1895–1960)