≫Liturgy≪ of Free Churches

Abstract

This article deals with the relationship between form and content in the context of a church service by observing and comparing church services and forms of worship in free churches in comparison to liturgical churches. Special emphasis has been put on the reflection about the ≫liturgy≪ among free churches, on the detection of possible wrong practices and on offering solutions in light of the New Testament. Furthermore, the ≫liturgy≪ among free churches is compared to churches with a strict liturgical structure, aiming to conclude what liturgical churches can offer to non-liturgical or free churches in terms of worship through a comparative overview of the two worship traditions. In the first part of the article, the sources and basic characteristics of worship in both free churches and in liturgical churches are presented and compared. In the second part of the article, an overview is given of the mutual misconceptions between the free and liturgical churches. Arguments for the criticism of liturgical worship services as well as free church worship services are presented. In the third and concluding part of the article, special focus is put on the existent issues in free church worship services, while offering viable solutions on how to potentially correct problematic areas of worship services in free churches based on the New Testament and on certain aspects present in liturgical churches that are also in harmony with the New Testament.

Keywords

• liturgy
• free churches
• liturgical churches
• worship service
• worship