Personal Narrative: My Visit To The United Methodist Church

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The church that I visited for this church visitation paper was Highland Park United Methodist Church in my hometown Florence, South Carolina. The denomination of this church was United Methodist, which is different from the denomination and beliefs I was raised on, which is that of Southern Baptist. A person who is Methodist believes all the same things that a Christian person does, although Methodists have a heritage within the larger Christian family. I chose to attend Highland Park United Methodist Church’s contemporary service, although the church also offered a traditional service. Both the contemporary and the traditional services were held on Sunday morning. The contemporary service was held at 9 am on Sunday morning, the traditional …show more content…

When I visited the United Methodist Church, there was a baptismal, although, to me, it was very different. During the baptism, there were seventeen participants. Three were participating in baptism, while the other fourteen participated in what the church called a conformation, where they confirmed their faith to signify their dedication to God. This was different to me because I was taught that when you accepted God into your heart and were saved, you were to be baptized in something like a baptismal pool, where you were completely submersed in water by the pastor to signify the washing away of all of your sins. Also, within my regular church, being baptized is a sign that you are letting God into your heart and knowing that he continually forgives you of all of your sins, this was something you decided on your own, where at the church I visited, they had to participate in a “conformation class”, which, to me, meant that it was not necessarily something that a person decided on their own. Another thing that I did not like and was unusual to me was that at the end of the service, the preacher did not offer an invitation for anyone to come and talk to him and pray with him. At my regular church, the preacher offers an invitation at the end of every service for anyone who wants to pray, let it be known publicly that they accept God

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