Part B - References

- All About Religion, History of the Catholic Church, http://www.allaboutreligion.org/origin-catholic-religion-faq.htm

- Ancient Future, Basic Catholic Beliefs, http://www.ancient-future.net/basics.html

Part B

The Catholic Church origins and beliefs first date back to the times when Jesus Christ lived. The Catholics heavily base their beliefs on the bible verse Matthew 16:18-19, "Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven." Catholics believe that Jesus, after He had risen, instructed Peter to build the church that is talked about in the bible verse, and Jesus inducted him as the first Bishop of the church. (All About Religion, www.allaboutreligion.org)

The Catholic Church has many different beliefs to Protestant churches, especially in ways each denomination see God and his glory and the way each churches followers live there everyday lives. For example, the Catholic Church believes that the Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) are all God. However, according to the bible and Protestant beliefs, we believe that they are separate beings, but are unified in a trinity. Another example of these two forms of Christianity’s differences is there beliefs of sin. Catholics believe in mortal sin (sin that was committed on purpose and was explicit) and venial sin (sin that weakens morality/character). Protestants believe that all sin is equal in God’s eyes. Both denominations believe that through God’s grace all sins can be forgiven and we will spend an eternity in heaven with God. (Ancient Future's, www.ancient-future.net)

The Catholic Church visit gave me a lot more understanding into what Catholics believe. I found that the Catholic services were a lot more traditional than I thought. The order of events, and even the events themselves, were strict and organised. It was ver y different to Pentecostal worship, which is what I am use to. But, apart from just the way the servies are run, there are a lot more differences.

Another difference when communion is taken in the services. Catholics believe that when you take the emblems, the bread and the wine, inside your body they convert from food and beverage to Jesus’ body (bread) and Jesus’ blood (wine) and the emblems wash your sould and heart clean of impurities. However, if you’re not a Catholic, when everyone goes up to receive communion, you can receive a blessing from the Father. At Catholic masses, everyone drinks from the same communion cup and they break their own bread from a whole loaf. At River City Church, the communion emblems are represented as the blood and body of Christ, they do not become the literal blood and body of Jesus. Protestants also do not take the emblems from the same cup or loaf, they a seperately prepared before the service and handed out to those who wish to receive the emblems.

The Catholics and Protestants are very different in the way they worship. The Catholics sing 2 or 3 hymns at the end of each mass and prayer a prayer in unison. However, Protestants, especially Pentecostal followers, are very free in the ways they worship and prayer is a constant thing for Protestants, not an organised, pre-meditated event. A lot of prayer for Protestants is inspired by the Holy Spirit talking through them.

In conclusion, Pentecostal and Catholic beliefs are similar by teaching that we must live by the bible, but both denominations are different in the way their followers have views opinions on sin, prayer and worship.

Part A - Comment on Blog

My comment is about Dillon Power's blog. Dillon attended Brisbane City Church, which heads all ACC churches in Brisbane. I will compare his church, to my ACC church, River City Church.

Both churches are warm and welcoming and they both accommodate to all congregates of all ages. The services are both run the same way, and are pretty similar to other churches of the same denomination (ACC).

According to Dillon’s blog, the music that was played at his church was loud and out-there. This is different to River City as they use more tame songs and only a few instruments, which make their praise and worship time, seem more placid.

Brisbane City Church seems to share the same beliefs as River City Church, in that we can all be saved through the grace, love and sacrifices of God. Both churches also strongly believe that the Bible is the way of living, and everything that we do or need to accomplish in life, should be done in the Glory of God and done according to his will over your life.

Brisbane City Church seems to focus largely on forgiveness and having a clean heart full of the Holy Spirit, as Dillon explained how Pastor Wayne Alcorne was emphasising his opinions about having a clean heart by washing your sins away, whereas, River City Church, although they believe the same thing about washing sins away, focus on doing the good deeds that the Bible explains we should do if we are truly Christian.

Both churches are similar in their beliefs and ways the outreach to people and followers, but, and most probably due to size differences of the churches, have different goals for their church and their community.

To read Dillon's blog, click this link:
Dillon Power's Protestant Church Blog

Part A - References

RIVER CITY REFERENCES
- http://www.rivercitychurch.org.au/ , River City Church Official Website
-http://www.aog.org.au/AboutUs/OurHistory/tabid/117/language/en-AU/Default.aspx , AOG Australia, History

CITIPOINTE REFERENCES
- http://www.aog.org.au/AboutUs/OurHistory/tabid/117/language/en-AU/Default.aspx , AOG Australia, History
-http://www.aog.org.au/AboutUs/WhatWeBelieve/tabid/109/language/en-AU/Default.aspx , AOG Australia, What We Believe
- http://www.citipointe.com.au/ , Citipointe Christian Church

Part A - Citipointe Christian Church

The second church I attended was at one of Australia’s biggest churches, Citipointe Christian Church. The church started in 1974, and was known as the Christian Outreach Centre Mansfield, and only a small amount of followers attending. During the same time the church was being built, a school that was going to be run by the church, was being built. The school was named after that church, the Christian Outreach College Mansfield. However, over the past 30 years, the church and school both have grown and expanded simultaneously, with the church having over 5000 attendees and the school teaching over 1500 students at the college, international college and heritage college. The church has also changed its name from COC to its present name, Citipointe Christian Church. (Chrisitan Outreach College Brisbane, http://www.brisbane.coc.edu.au/).

Citipointe is in affiliation with the COC (Christian Outreach Centres) branch of
churches. Some people consider COC to be an affiliation of its own, and others would categorize Citipointe to be an ACC church, because of it’s beliefs and styles of worship.

ACC was originated in 1937, when two Protestant pastors felt like their needed to be more unity in the church, so the pastors decided to join their two churches and make a “megachurch”. However, this type of Pentecostal worship has only been noticed over the past 15 years when Pastor Brian Houston created Hillsong Church, the biggest Pentecostal church in Australia. COC was established the same time that the Mansfield campus was built, making Citipointe the head of the COC affiliates. The ACC and COC denomination heavily believe that the Bible is the accurate way of living, and what we do in life, so co-inside with the Bible’s ways of teaching.

My experience at Citipointe was amazing. Even though the church is so big, everyone is really friendly and really goes out of there way to make sure you are happy in the environment of the church. I attended one of the night services, which are aimed at young adults. The service was run by young adults Pastor George Salloum, who works under senior Pastors Mark and Leigh Ramsey. The service was not a completely normal service. The service was all about: “A night with Our King”. The main focus was to really see our God.

The service began with a Citipointe Live member performing the song, “Majesty”, which then lead straight into praise and worship, led by the Citipointe Live band, headed up by Pastors Aaron and Becky Lucas. The praise and worship was insane, that is the only word that can describe the feeling s and emotions that I felt during the praise and worship. All the songs that were performed by Citipointe Live were written and composed by Citipointe Live members, mainly Aaron and Becky Lucas and Joel Ramsey. Because everyone is so free during their own worship, it makes it a lot easier to really put yourself forward and be as vibrant as you want during your worship and praise.

The message for the night was preached by Pastor Tim Macdonald. In relevance of “A Night with Our King”, Tim preached about being at church, but actually trying to meet with our God. He used the example of a really famous Elvis impersonator who performed over 600 songs at 10,000 shows in his impersonating career, but never got to meet the “King”, Elvis himself. Pastor Tim used this story in relevance to our relationship to God. When we come to church, do we just come for the show, or do we really want to meet with our King.

After his sermon, Tim invited everyone to stand before the altar and really try and meet with God. This was another time of worship. I felt really relaxed to freely worship and really had the chance to meet with God. I was really moved and touched by the use of words and songs that the Citipointe Live band used in this time of worship, which really shows that they put everything they do before God, and want god to anoint everything they do with his Glory.

In conclusion, Citipointe Christian Church really puts God above everything they do. They really reach out to our younger generation in hope that we can change the world in power of God. It is a welcoming church, despite it’s size and allows all it’s followers to be free and vibrant in their own time with God.

Part A - River City Church

Located in the outer suburbs of Brisbane’s CBD, the small, but strong-hearted followers of River City Church gather each Sunday morning to worship and praise our Almighty Lord.

The church first congregated in 2003, with only 2 families and the Pastors of the church, Matt and Anna Casson. It was based in one of the families’ living room. Over the past 7 years, the church has grown to about 150 people and the church’s campus has moved from the living room to Cooparoo Secondary College’s main auditorium, free of charge. The school allowed the church to hold the services at this venue as a way of saying thank-you for everything the church has done for the school (donations, food hampers for families etc.). All of this has been accomplished through the school’s chaplain and the church’s former youth pastor, John Filewood.

River City Church is not an independent church. It is sister churches with Hillsong Brisbane (a.k.a. Garden City Church). The churches vision for this year is discipleship. The church’s focus is to bring people up in the church and influence them to help the community grow to be a safe and spiritual place

River City Church is an ACC (Australian Christian Churches) church. ACC (a.k.a. AOG) originated in Sydney, during Easter of 1937. The inspiration behind this came from the senior pastors of two Pentecostal churches, who thought the idea of a more unified and co-operative church was needed in those times. However, Pentecostal worship has only become well known in the past 15 years. (Australian Christian Churches, www.aog.com.au).

The church is run by a board of directors from both River City Church and Hillsong Church. The senior Pastors of the church are Pastors Matt and Anna Casson. However, this church does not have only selected people to do certain jobs. The church has a routine called DCAT, which stands for “Doing Church As a Team”. The whole church is on roster for setting-up, cleaning and helping out with the service. The church also has a rostered music team full of guitarists, singers and drummers.

My experience at River City Church was very warm and settling, as soon as I walked through the front door, the greeters bombard you with warm welcomes. At the welcome desk, there are a variety of pamphlets and newsletters about the church and other ACC events. At the top is a copy of the newsletter from the service I attended.

Like most churches, the service started with praise and worship. As the church is a family church, it isn’t usually Pentecostal-type music. It is more solemn, but still along the same lines of how ACC congregates worship. The church takes music from famous Christian musical groups and bands, for example, Hillsong, Planet Shakers and JesusCulture. During this time, all the member of the church really got into worship. And they really held nothing back, which made it comfortable and freeing to worship.

After the praise and worship, there was the formal introduction to everyone who was attending. Again they made new people and visitors even more welcomed by giving them chocolates and another warm welcome. They also took the time to announce events that the church were holding or attending in the following weeks. I gathered that because it was a family-friendly church, a lot of the events were family friendly. However, I was happy and surprised to find out that, just because it is a small church, it doesn’t just cater to families. There were many events for all ages, from youth groups, to mothers with small children, even to the “Vintage Wine” group for women over 50. It was very good to see that everyone in the church was catered for in some way.

The sermon was preached by one of the churches treasurers, Rod Pietila. His message was about perserverence and resillence. He opened with a true story from World War II about one of his relatives over coming all odds to save his team on the Kokoda track. The story’s message was about being the leader and overcmoing all odds with the power of Christ. The story lead into the sermon about having the courage to step up and do God’s will in the community. The message was immediately aimed at adults, as Rod talked about how we can change the community in a post-school everyday living. It was a very well-presented and hard-hitting sermon, but it did not have many teenager elements to it.

In conclusion, River City Church is a very welcoming, family-centered church that has good intentions for the community and for God, but the church is not very experienced in catering to younger ministries.