Part B: Written Comparison and Conclusions

The Catholic Church and the Baptist church are both in the Christian circle, but they have such a large difference in their services, beliefs, rituals and decoration of the church.  The following paragraphs explain all these examples and more.

In the Baptist church, the service is a mixed choice of their service and what they do. They firstly have worship and then they have a prayer of their choice and then a sermon by the pastor. The Baptist has a wide range of individualism. Every one of the different Baptist churches has a different personal prayer and sermon each week, they are laid back and very casual. Whereas the Catholic Church has a set service every day, every year. Every catholic church in the world has the same prayers and the same repetitive stand and sitting for the set hymns and speaking. The Baptist church has only one service every week and they sing worship every Sunday. But the Catholic has many services during the week called mass, but only sings hymns on the Sunday service.

The two churches believe in difference of baptism. The Catholics believe that when a baby is born they have to be baptised into the faith, with a little sprinkle of water. The Baptists believe that Baptism can only be through immersion. Immersion is limited to adults and to such children that have reached an age where they can understand the meaning of baptism.

The Baptist church believes salvation is regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace where believers become new creatures in Christ. It is a change of heart created by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord.  The Catholic Church believes that salvation is by works and practicing the sacraments. They also believe that there is a place called purgatory, where they go and suffer after death until they are cleansed from their sins then they go to heaven.

In comparing the two churches when I visited them, I felt that the Catholic Church had a more strict, formal and very bland service. All through being in the church I felt anxious of all the icons and pictures and statues around the church. It was very confronting that you could feel some sort of spirit inside the church. Whereas the Baptist church was a lot more like my own denomination and it was laid back, relaxed and more comfortable. There was also a sort of spirit in the church but it was more lively and full of joy and hope. The church didn’t have any icons or pictures which relieved me because I was not used to them. I felt that I enjoyed the Baptist church a lot more than the Catholic.

Critical Reflection on Madeline Hurman's Catholic Church blog.

Madeline’s Catholic blog was outstanding. The whole blog was easy to understand, even a person who doesn’t know anything about Catholicism would have been able to get a feel of what it is about. All her information was executed properly and was very detailed which made it interesting to read. I loved it how she has added in and explained all the scripture verses in her blog. It has made a great emphasis on the information she has given. I think that she has covered all the areas of the criteria, such as the historical origins of the denomination, when she talked about Peter. The beliefs of the Catholics and their theological understandings, and the governance which she spoke about the pope and bishops, etc. The liturgy and the music and when they were preformed. All of her grammar, spelling and punctuation, I thought she used well. Although I must admit that her font was a little hard to read and follow as well as the spacing of her lines. It might have just been an error on the blog but it was difficult to read it that way. Madeline’s experience was a lot more open than what I felt. She felt a warming welcome, whereas I felt a strange spirit upon me as I walked in and felt very anxious. She didn’t explain much on how she felt about the experience but more on what had happened that day. Overall I think that Madeline did a great job and successful effort in her blog on the Catholic Church.

 http://maddiehurman.blogspot.com/

Part A: Rochdale Baptist Church

As well as the Catholic Church, we had to go to another church that wasn’t our own and I chose to go to Rochdale Baptist Church. Simply because I have heard that it is a good church and Baptist churches I don’t know much about so i liked the idea of the new experience. This church looked like a regular church. Not many pictures or icons. It was just plain and bare. When I walked through the doors there was a sense of warmth, and happiness to brighten up the plain scenery. Everyone was extremely welcoming and laid back. The service was just like any other service I had been to it was easily understood. It didn’t even feel like I was in a Baptist church. The following paragraphs are background information about the Baptist church and how the people do things.

Baptists are a group of Christian denominations, churches, and individuals who subscribe to a theology of believer's baptism , salvation through faith alone, Scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local church. They practice baptism by immersion. Baptists recognize two ministerial offices, pastors and deacons. Baptist churches are widely considered to be Protestants, though some Baptists disavow this identity. Most Baptist churches or individuals identify with evangelicalism or fundamentalism while a minor embrace modernist views of Scripture.

Diverse from their beginning, those identifying as Baptists today differ widely from one another in what they believe, how they worship, their attitudes toward other Christians, and their understanding of what is important in Christian discipleship.

Many Baptists trace their denomination's origins to the early church, a period when the church consisted of committed believers who were baptized upon confession of faith as adults. Baptist beginnings have also been traced to medieval sects who protested against prevailing baptismal theory and practice, and to the Anabaptist's of the Continental Reformation, especially in Zurich.

The Baptists are one of the largest Protestant Free Church denominations. As indicated by their name, the primary Baptist distinctive is their practice of believer's baptism and corresponding rejection of infant baptism. Most Baptists are evangelical in doctrine, but Baptist beliefs can vary due to the congregational governance system that gives freedom to individual local Baptist churches. Historically, Baptists have played a key role in encouraging religious freedom and separation of church and state.

The term "Baptist" refers to a person who believes in the adult "baptism of believers" in Jesus.  In other words, Baptists are those who claim a personal faith in Christ alone for salvation, which also reject the baptism of infants, believing that only adult believers in Jesus, (or those at least old enough to actually understand about trusting in Christ), should be baptized.  They also do not believe that baptism itself saves them from their sins.

Depending upon the tradition to which they belong, the shape of Advent services might follow a similar route year by year or, with liturgical series such as that used by the Anglican Church follow a three year cycle of readings.

The themes most often used for the four weeks of Advent are Hope, Peace, Joy and Love; or God's people, the Old Testament Prophets, John the Baptist and Mary. However, the choice of themes is not limited to the usual or comfortable, and with a little forward planning there are many ways in which the approach to Christmas can be tackled imaginatively, and bring out different truths about God's amazing love and Grace.

Those in the congregation are just as likely to sing out with joy and praise as any choir member.  There are always instrumentalist whether it be a lone pianist or a well practiced orchestra.  The choir may be made up of several members who love to sing or seventy members who sound like the angels around God's throne.  It may be a quartet, a trio, a duet, or a soloist who sings the "special" just before the pastor comes to the pulpit. Baptists take the preparation of hearts to receive God's truths as very serious business.

Part A: The Catholic Church - St Stevens.

The three history classes in year 10 went on an excursion to the St Stevens Catholic church. The point of this was so that we could get a feel and understand how Catholic’s have church or mass and how everything in the church has reasoning behind it. The mass that we attended was very formal. Everything had a set timing for the way things were said such as hymns and other prayers. We were always repetitively standing up and down so that we could experience what the other Catholics do at every mass they attend and not be rude. we were told that we had to be extremely quite because our voices echo but the real reasoning behind is that there is a gold stand with gold strokes coming out, almost like a sun shape with the rays of light shining outwards in the church, that is a sacred part of Catholicism. they believe that whenever that is within the church, the spirit of god is inside the church. We got told a lot of the background information afterwards when we got to walk around the church, which was quite interesting. There were a lot of things in this Catholic experience that I had already known due to my mother used to be Catholic herself, but there was also a number of things that I learnt. The following information explains the background information about Catholics and how they do things their ways.

For the first thousand years of Christianity there was no "Roman Catholicism" as we know it today, simply because there was no Eastern Orthodoxy or Protestantism to distinguish it. There was only the "one, holy, catholic church" affirmed by the early creeds, which was the body of Christian believers all over the world, united by common traditions, beliefs, church structure and worship. Although, throughout the middle Ages, if you were a Christian, you belonged to the Catholic Church. Any Christianity other than the Catholic Church was a heresy, not a denomination.

Today, however, Roman Catholicism is not the only accepted Christian church. Although to be a Roman Catholic means to be a certain kind of Christian: one with unique beliefs, practices and traditions that are distinct from those of other Christians.

Catholics believe Jesus is fully God and fully Man, with a human will and a divine will. He is the King of Cosmos, the Word of God, and the awaited Messiah of Israel. He was born of a Virgin, Mary, suffered, was crucified, truly died, and rose again bodily, all for our sins. He ascended into heaven intercedes on our behalf before the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Jesus was a great teacher, and His teachings are the very teachings of God.  Catholics believe we are saved only by God's grace working in us. Although we are justified, transformed from the state of unrighteousness into a state of holiness and the son ship of God, on account of Christ. Justification is the merciful and freely given act of God which takes away our sins and makes us just and holy in our whole being. This justification is given to us in the sacrament of baptism. Justification is the beginning of our free response to God, which is our faith in Christ and our cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

The bishops, who possess the fullness of the priesthood, are as a body considered the successors of the Apostles  and are constituted Pastors in the Church, to be the teachers of doctrine, the priests of sacred worship and the ministers of governance. The Pope himself is a bishop (the bishop of Rome) and traditionally uses the title "Venerable Brother" when writing formally to another bishop.

The typical role of a bishop is to provide pastoral governance for a diocese. Bishops who fulfill this function are known as diocesan ordinaries, because they have what canon law calls ordinary authority for a diocese. These bishops may be known as hierarchy in the Eastern Catholic Churches. Other bishops may be appointed to assist ordinaries or to carry out a function in a broader field of service to the Church.

Most of the Catholic music is composed so that the choir and assembly can be accompanied by organ, piano or guitar. Today, however, Catholics don’t use the pipe organ as much as they used to. Catholic music has gone from a folk sounding genre to a more electric sound of its own.