In the Protestantdenominations of Christianity, a service of worship is a meeting whose primary purpose is the worship of God. The phrase is normally shortened to service. It is also commonly called a worship service. The term is also commonly used in Jewishsynagogues.
Protestant Services
In most but not all Protestant traditions, services are presided over by clergy wherever possible. However provision is in many cases made for them to be conducted by laymen if clergy are not available.
Services typically include:
Regular Sunday services. These are a part of most traditions. Holy Communion may be celebrated at some or all of these; Often it is included either once a month or once a quarter. A few denominations have their main weekly services on Saturday rather than Sunday. Larger churches often tend to have several services each Sunday; often two or three in the morning and one or two in the late afternoon or evening.
Midweek services. Again, Holy Communion can be part of these, either on every occasion or on a regular basis.
Holiday services. Treated like a regular Sunday service, but made more specific for the day.
Marriages. These are normally separate services, rather than being incorporated into a regular service, but may be either.
Baptisms. These may be incorporated into a regular service, or separate.
Confirmation. This is normally incorporated into a regular Sunday service, which will also include communion. It was traditionally the first Communion of the confirmee, but more recently children whether confirmed or not are invited to communion in some denominations.
