Editing Church service (section)

{{Short description|Period of formal public worship}}
{{Redirect|Sunday service|the song|Sunday Service|the musical group|Sunday Service Choir}}
[[File:Worship at St. Paul Lutheran Church.jpg|thumb|A Lutheran [[Divine Service (Lutheran)|Divine Service]] in the United States]]
[[File:St Maria Sehnde Gottesdienst.jpg|thumb|A Catholic [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] at St. Maria Church, [[Sehnde]], Germany, 2009]]
A '''church service''' (or a '''worship service''') is a formalized period of [[Christian]] communal [[Christian worship|worship]], often held in a [[Church (building)|church building]]. Most [[Christian denominations]] hold church services on the [[Lord's Day]] (offering Sunday morning and Sunday evening services); a number of traditions have mid-week services, while some traditions worship on a Saturday.{{efn-ua|The majority of Christian denominations teach that Sunday is the [[Lord's Day]] on which all the faithful must assemble to offer worship to God (cf. ''[[first-day Sabbatarianism]]''). A minority of Christian denominations that follow [[seventh-day Sabbatarianism]] organize worship on Saturdays.<ref name="Hughes2006">{{cite web |last1=Hughes |first1=James R. |title=The Sabbath: A Universal and Enduring Ordinance of God |url=https://versefortheday.com/the_sabbath-a_universal_and_enduring_ordinance_of_god/ |publisher=[[Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America|Reformed Presbyterian Church]] |access-date=6 October 2020 |language=English |date=2006}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Korean Repository, Volume 3 |date=21 August 1896 |publisher=Trilingual Press |page=361 |language=English |quote=The Sunday morning service has been well attended, as have also the Sunday evening and Wednesday evening services.}}</ref> In some Christian denominations, church services are held daily, with these including those in which the seven [[canonical hour]]s are prayed, as well as the offering of the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]], among other forms of worship.<ref name="SPFMC2021">{{cite web |title=Times of Worship |url=http://www.stpaulsfmc.org/worship.html |publisher=Saint Paul's Free Methodist Church |access-date=5 August 2021 |language=English}}</ref> In addition to this, many Christians [[Church attendance|attend services]] on holy days such as [[Christmas]], [[Ash Wednesday]], [[Good Friday]], [[Feast of the Ascension|Ascension Thursday]], among others depending on the Christian denomination.<ref name="Morgan2019">{{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=Bonnie |title=Ordinary Saints: Women, Work, and Faith in Newfoundland |date=19 December 2019 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=978-0-2280-0028-0 |language=English |quote=Starting with Shroe Tuesday (locall known as Pancake Day), and proceeding through Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, families increased their church attendance and, especially, engaged in the embodies practices of fasting and/or "giving up something for Lent."}}</ref>

The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be taught the "Word of God" (the [[Christian Bible]]) and encouraged in their [[Faith in Christianity|faith]]. Technically, the ''church'' in "church service" refers to the [[Church (congregation)|gathering of the faithful]] rather than to the physical place in which it takes place. In most Christian traditions services are presided over by [[clergy]] wherever possible, but some traditions utilize [[lay preacher]]s. Styles of service vary greatly, from the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]], [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox]], [[Anglicanism|Anglican]], [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed]] ([[Continental Reformed]], [[Presbyterian]]), and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] traditions of [[liturgy|liturgical]] worship to informal worship characterized by certain [[free church]] traditions, common among [[Methodist]]s and [[Baptist]]s, that often combine worship with teaching for the believers, which may also have an evangelistic component appealing to [[backsliding|backsliders]] and the non-Christians in the congregation (cf. [[altar call]]). [[Quakers]] and some other groups have no formal outline to their services, but allow the worship to develop as the participants present feel moved.