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Ship of Fools: Hope Church
The Mystery Worshipper
Shipmate
Ship of Fools: Hope Church
Warm welcome and gummy candies, but no Bible readings
Read the full Mystery Worshipper report here
Comments
And, from today, not mandated anywhere!
About masks: they may not be mandatory but as the pandemic is far from over it seems a good idea to encourage their use especially in a comparatively crowded indoor gathering (even though most churches have plenty of space).
Yes, I wondered about that. The MWer said they saw a guitar, and heard more music, but mentioned nothing about singing...although the church website refers to *sung worship*!
Does this church uses a formal prayer book at all? I suspect not, but again, one would have expected at least a prayer before or after the sermon. There seem to be a number of places called *Hope Church* in this part of England, but I'm not sure if they're part of a denomination or network.
Past services can be watched on their website. I quick perusal—yes, I fast-forwarded quite a bit—shows that roughly the first half of the service was a “time of worship,” i.e., praise and worship songs. Roughly the second half was the message. In between was the offering, at which those present read from the screen a “declaration” that seemed very much prosperity gospel—“I’m believing for” better jobs and pay raises and sales and commissions and rebates and debts paid off, that sort of thing.
As for no Bible readings, I’ve encountered that from time to time, invariably in churches that assert that claim to take a very high view of Scripture as the inerrant Word of God. The omission of any reading of Scripture is frankly bizarre to me.
That's like removing the paintings from an art gallery because they obscure the message of the curator's labels.
I didn’t say it was a good reason
Where's that vomiting emoticon when you need it?
Thing is, actually reading makes belief in inerrancy much harder to sustain. Much better to take it as read, if you see what I mean. Then you only have to work with your personal entirely consistent paraphrase saying exactly what your particular brand of Fundamentalism says it says.
Exactly.
Let's remember that inerrant comes from the Latin errare, to wander. Miss Amanda fears this thread is wandering away from the service in question.
@Amanda B Reckondwyth
Lead Editor, Mystery Worship
But then, swathes of evangelicalism have been dumbing down for a good while.
This appears to be the church website:
https://www.hopechurchglasgow.org/
Trying to figure out any connection to NewFrontiers is a maddening rabbit hole.
Very disappointing in any church anywhere, I would hope (excepting those lacking access to a Bible or a literate person to read, of course).
And this RC is astounded that the word of man should apparently be deemed more worthwhile than the Word of God.