The United Church of God is one of the scores of churches that sprang from the break up of the Worldwide Church of God that occurred in the early 1990s. The main issue surrounding the disintegration of the church was the leadership's change of position regarding when the Sabbath should be celebrated (changed from Saturday to Sunday). Another distinction of the Worldwide Church of God is that the adherents continue to celebrate the Old Testament feast days (Atonement, Tabernacles, Trumpets, Unleavened Bread, Passover, etc.) and vocally shun holidays celebrated by mainline Christians (ie. Easter, Christmas) because of the pagan connections to their institution.
My father and his girlfriend keep the 7th day Sabbath and so they participate with various other Sabbath observers and they invited me to attend this small group of believers in St. Louis de Kent. It is a house church connected to a network of other United Church of God small churches.
We arrived late (naturally) to find the small group (about a dozen people) gathered in the kitchen/dining area. I was surprised to see the men bearing ties and the women were in dresses (I had shorts and a polo shirt on - I'm glad too, the temperature was really high).
The sermon was about to begin: an online 60 minute audio message by an Australian minister. Some information about the downloaded sermons was shared at the beginning of the sermon including a jab at Easter. The topic of the sermon was a meditation on the life of Sampson and in particular the decisions he made early in his life that ultimately led to his demise.
Following the sermon a CD-track accompanied a couple hymns and prayer closed the service.
We enjoyed a potluck together and in the afternoon, one of the worshippers took most of us on his decommissioned fishing boat out to a sand dune where we enjoyed the quiet, the sun, water (not me) and the sand.
My father and his girlfriend keep the 7th day Sabbath and so they participate with various other Sabbath observers and they invited me to attend this small group of believers in St. Louis de Kent. It is a house church connected to a network of other United Church of God small churches.
We arrived late (naturally) to find the small group (about a dozen people) gathered in the kitchen/dining area. I was surprised to see the men bearing ties and the women were in dresses (I had shorts and a polo shirt on - I'm glad too, the temperature was really high).
The sermon was about to begin: an online 60 minute audio message by an Australian minister. Some information about the downloaded sermons was shared at the beginning of the sermon including a jab at Easter. The topic of the sermon was a meditation on the life of Sampson and in particular the decisions he made early in his life that ultimately led to his demise.
Following the sermon a CD-track accompanied a couple hymns and prayer closed the service.
We enjoyed a potluck together and in the afternoon, one of the worshippers took most of us on his decommissioned fishing boat out to a sand dune where we enjoyed the quiet, the sun, water (not me) and the sand.
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