Worship generally takes about an hour and 15 minutes, usually from 10:00 to about 11:15 AM. We do like to visit after services, but you won’t be kept late, and nothing gets tacked on once you’re in the building. Since the shape of our services comes out of the New Testament, we’ll walk you through the passages that set it.
Acts 2:42, the Parts That Fill the Hour
Our worship keeps to the New Testament pattern, so the same elements come around every week. We sing together, with no instrument. Someone leads us in prayer. We observe the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week. A sermon of 25 to 35 minutes is preached from the text. The first church is described in almost those terms: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (). Nothing on that list is there to fill time.
Ephesians 4, Why Class Is Separate
Bible class isn’t part of worship, but visitors are welcomed to come. It’s a guided study of a book or a subject, about 45 minutes, with children grouped by age, and its purpose is building people up in the faith (). Nobody assumes you know the Bible, and no one will call on you.
Something you should know about our schedule here: our Bible class meets Sunday at 5pm, not before morning worship, and Wednesday class starts at 7:30.
Hebrews 10:24-25, Why We Don’t Rush
You might reasonably ask why nobody trims all this to half an hour. The answer sits in one sentence: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (). Stirring one another up takes actual time in the same room. That’s most of why our people stay in the parking lot talking afterward.
1 Corinthians 14:40, Why You’ll Know When It Ends
Our services are planned rather than open-ended, and one instruction governs that: “But all things should be done decently and in order” (). There’s an order of worship, the preaching lands inside it, and Sunday morning finishes when you’d expect. Wednesday evening is lighter, with classes and then a short worship period of ten or fifteen minutes.
Before You Drive Out
Times vary from one congregation to another, since churches of Christ have no headquarters and no organization scheduling anything for us. We can tell you how this congregation does it and nothing more, which is why we’d rather you check the schedule of any church you plan to visit. Ours is at the bottom of this page.
Come and See for Yourself
We’re on Hardin Store Road in Magnolia, half a mile east of FM 249, and when the front lot fills up there’s a second lot in front of the portable. Give us a Sunday morning. If your week already runs full and still feels hollow, an hour spent with people trying to serve God and each other is not the hour you’ll regret.
Plan your visit and we’ll be watching for you.
If you’d like to read what the Bible says about being saved, start here.
When we meet:
- Sunday: Worship 10am, Bible Class 5pm
- Wednesday: Bible Class 7:30 pm
