Bibliography

References:

christianity.about.com/od/denominations/a/Presbyterian.htm

Access date: Saturday 12th of June

christianity.about.com/od/presbyteriandenomination/a/presbyhistory.htm

Access date: Saturday 12th of June

John, M. 1997. Contemporary Worship Music: A Biblical Defence. Philipsburg, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing.

mb-soft.com/believe/text/cgovern.htm

Access date: Sunday 13th of June

myhillsong.com/corporate-goverance

Acess date: Saturday 12th of June

Olsen, R. 2002. The Trinity. Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

ucg.org.au/?library/sermons/transcripts/is-god-a-trinity

Access date: Sunday 13th of June

www.allaboutcreation.org/doctrine-of-original-sin-faq.htm

Acess date: Monday 14th of June

www.aog.org.au/What%20We%20Believe.page

Access date: Saturday 12th of June

www.catholic-pages.com/church/hierarchy.asp

Acces date: Sunday 13th of June

www.christiantoday.com/article/interview.with.hillsong.founder.brian.houston/1257.htm

Access date: Saturday 12th of June

www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922582.html

Access date: Sunday 13th of June

Hannah's Hillsong Blog

Hannah's blog on Hillsong in Brisbane is the same denomination that I had chosen and the same church I had visited. There is proof she visited this church by her comments reflecting on their warm welcome when the members greet you at the door, which I had experienced and the pastor that was preaching was Brian Houston. Hananh has stated that "They talked about how the bread is the body of Christ and is the blood spilt" which clearly shows that she believes that communion is a very important role in the church. I agree that Hillsong is a church that welcomes newcomers and that communion is a very important core belief of the church.

I agree that the music played at the Hillsong church was a contemporary style music. However, Hannah has not backed up her statement with any reference or evidence to show a level of accuracy. Despite this my statements are backed up by referenced and reliable sorces and therefore Hannah must have obtained the information from a reliable sorce however, failed to reference the piece of information.

She states that Hillsong believes that "Jesus died on the cross for us and rose again", this is a very important core belief of the Hillsong Church and the whole Pentecostal movement. The trinity is also a very important core belief of the church and Hannah has made it clear that the church finds the trinity a very important theological belief. "Hillsong church is a church that believes in the holy spirit and speaking in tounges", I agree on this statement and it is backed up bt their theological understanding of the bible (Acts 1:8). This clearly shows that Hannah has picked reliable sorces on which has information that I and Hannah agree upon regarding the Hillsong Church.

Hannah's Blogspot - http://hannahgovan.blogspot.com/

The Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church

Are the Catholics and the Presbyterians the same denomination and do they have the same theological beliefs however, simply have a different name? Even though the Catholics and Presbyterians have one theological understanding in common, they believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, they do not have the exact same theological understandings as each other.

The Catholic Church is governed by a church hierarchy where as the Presbyterian Church is goverened mianly by the board of directors chosen by the congregation and the General Assembly. The Presbyterian Church is ruled by the congregation since the directors on the board are elected by the congregation (http://mb-soft.com/). However, the Catholic Church is operated under many groups that all answer to the head of the church, the successor of Peter, the pope (http://www.catholic-pages.com/). The pope is the head of the church, appointed the position as Peter's Successor and he is the head of the College of Bishops and Cardinals and called to lead the whole church (http://www.catholic-pages.com/). The Pope is a very important figure in the Catholic church since he is known as taking Christ's place on Christ's behalf as a shepherd on earth to lead Christ's flock (http://www.infoplease.com/ & http://www.catholic-pages.com/). The pope is therefore, the head of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
The College of Bishiops are a group that are known as the successors of the apostles. The College consists of Bishops from praticular individual churches throughout the world and this forms the College of Bishops (http://www.catholic-pages.com/). Each Bishop has charge of a particular Diocese (http://www.catholic-pages.com/). An Ecumenical council is formed when the Bishops come together and they can there they can exercise their power. However, the Ecumenical council must be recognised and agreed upon by the successor of Petor, unless he is present at the meeting, then the ecumenical council is not valid and would have no authority (http://www.catholic-pages.com/ & http://www.infoplease.com/). The College of Bishops has quite a high amount of authority from within the Catholic church.
The College of Cardinals have a high amount of authority in the church. The College of Cardinals act as special advisors to the pope himself, meaning they have direct access with the head of the church (http://www.catholic-pages.com/). They also come together to elect the new successor of the pope after the last pope passes away. This is a display of complete and high authority.
The lowest authority in the church is the brothers and sisters that are said to be called to live "a life consecrated to god" (http://www.catholic-pages.com/). Therefore the Catholic Church and Presbyterian Church are ruled very differently from one another in the way they are governed.

The two churches both partake in communion together except have a different way of taking communion. The catholic church takes communion when doing the "mass" which is a very important practice within the Catholic Church. The Presbyterian Church simply asks the congregation to take a cup and bread and they stand up together, give thanks then eat and drink. The mass is a longer practice which has been a traditional practice in the Catholic Church (http://catholic-resources.org/). Therefore they both practice a very important theological belief known as communion.

Their use of music is different as the Catholic church is more conservative and believes in keeping traditional hymns. There is no contemporary music in the catholic church and compared to the Presbyterian church it is very formally orientated. The catholic church keeps is very formal and it is nearly expected that you would know the Lord's prayer as they do they use their hands to peform the sign of the cross over their chest as they say the Lord's prayer. The Presbyterian Church does not peform such traditions, they simply bow their heads and close their eyes then pray.

The two denominations believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again. However the bible the two churches have are slightly different. Does this affect any of the theological understandings of the Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church? The theological understandings of the Catholic Church are based on their bible which contains additional books in the old testament than the other bible translations and does not affect the story of Jesus Christ (http://www.biblestudy.org/). The two denominations still believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again despite the two bibles being different.

Hillsong Church

Hillsong A Pentecostal Movement
On Sunday the 6th of June I attended Hillsong church at 10:30 am. The Hillsong church was first founded in Sydney in 1983 by Brian Houston's father and he later set up the Hillsong church here in Brisbane (http://www.christiantoday.com/). The service began with praise and worship which continued for twenty minutes. There was a full worship band and they had a few guitar solos on the electric guitars, meaning they use contemporary worship music. Contemporary worship music was not always used in the church until 1970 when there was the great Christian movement (John, M. 1997. p.2). Contemporary worship music became such a hit that it had become indutrialised and very popular (John, M. 1997. p.3). One of the pioneers at the time was Larry Norman nicknamed the "father of rock" (John, M. 1997. p.5). Larry Norman's music is still being used in the Hillsong church, songs such as, "One way" (http://www.emusic.com/). The music was well played as a result of having a full church band which shows the congregation's devotion to the church.

There are several pastors that attend the church in the morning and one of them would open up in prayer and ask for the new people that attend the church to stand. He then gave them a brochure and asked them to come to the welcome lounge. Despite the pastor being the leading pastor of the church each entity within the Hillsong church operates under the board of directors (http://myhillsong.com/). The board of directors is responsible for the leadership of the respective entity (http://myhillsong.com/). They are also responsible for a financial and spiritual oversight for the church (http://myhillsong.com/). Therefore the church is not goverened by one individual but rather a board of directors chosen by the congregation.


The tithe buckets come around and the pastors prays over the tithes before they are handed down the rows. Tithes are a very important core belief of the church since God asked his church to give ten percent of what they earn to him, this in itself is an act of obedience and a giving of thanks (http://www.aog.org.au/). This Core belief is based on the scripture Leviticus 27:30. Therefore tithing is an important core fundamental belief of the Hillsong church.



After the buckets are handed around the worship band then sits down and another pastor begins his sermon. Brian Huston is the leading pastor of the Hillsong church. The hillsong church is a part of the Assemblies of God, which is AOG, and they together believe the same theological understandings (http://www.aog.org.au/). The pastor of Hillsong church applies his sermon to their theological beliefs such as the trinity (Olsen, R. 2002 p.1). The trinity is Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and they believe they are totally loving and completely holy (http://www.aog.org.au/). They believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and he is the only one who can reconcile everyone and he rose again to prove his victory and empower his believers with life (http://www.aog.org.au/). To receive forgiveness and new birth one must repent for their sins, believe in Christ that he died for our sins and rose again and to submit his will to our lives. Hillsong church has a well structured theological basis of which many other churches in the congregation of the AOG follow.



If there are any baptisms or if there is communion it can happen during or before the sermon starts. They pray over the baptisms and the communions before they begin. Baptism is a very important practice and core belief in the church. Baptism is a time where someone would be baptised in the Holy spirit and ,in return for being filled with the holy spirit, be given the gift of speaking in tongues (http://ucg.org.au/). Communion is also a very important practice and belief in the church. The whole congregation in the church partakes in communion together which is a time where you take a biscuit and some kind of red juice, red juice symbolizing Jesus' blood and the bread representing his broken body when he got sacrificed on the cross (http://www.aog.org.au/). However, non believer of the faith visiting the church do not have to partake with the rest of the believers. As the congregation partakes in communion together they thank God before eating and drinking. Baptism and communion do not happen in every church service on a Sunday however, they are very important core beliefs of the Hillsong Church.

The pastor closes his sermon in prayer and asks for those who want to accept God to tell him by raising their hands, coming down the front or meet him afterwards. The church believes in making disciples, as was commanded by Jesus (http://www.aog.org.au/). The pastor is not very boring and often has a bit of fun while on the stage, telling a joke or two and often a story to go with his sermon for people to remember his message he is trying to get across to the audience. This shows that they are truly trying to save the people by getting them interested in the church. Therefore Brian Huston is a very good pastor who sticks to his theological understandings and core beliefs.

Many people are saved and become Pentecostal Christians. Pentecostalism is known as a renewal movement within Christianity with a direct personal experience with God (http://myhillsong.com/). Many people accepted the Lord as their Christ and saviour. Brian Huston prayed over them and blessed them achieving one of their goals, to make disciples of all nations. Pentecostalism started at 33 AD the day of Pentecost. However there are some sources that argue that there was not a real Pentecostal movement until the beginning of the 20th century.

The full band joins the stage again and as the service comes to a close they play one last song. There is a bookstore, welcome lounge and food joints to hang out and greet other people. If you are new they ask you to come to the welcome lounge and if you are not you can help out in the lounge or become a devoted church member. Hillsong was a very interesting church with a dedicated congregation.





I acquired this pamphlet from Hillsong that shows an event, the Hillsong Conference in 2010 and some of their goals and beliefs that were discussed of the church are on the pamphlet which is very useful to those new to the church that know nothing about the church.

The Presbyterian Church

Presbyterianism
I attended the Presbyterian Church on a Sunday morning at 8:30 am and during the beginning of the service, for about ten minutes we began to worship together. Their worship band has only a few guitarists and a drummer and they sing to contemporary Christian music. The period of the "Christian movement" (http://christianmusic.about.com/) brought about great change to the style of music played in the protestant churches. The church would once sing hymns to God and would be rather quite boring until 1970 it all changed. This had a great affect on the Presbyterian church in Creek Rd seeing as they use contemporary music that was introduced around 1970 in the time of the Christian movement (John, M. 1997, p.2).

After this there are announcements, reminding the people of the upcoming events in the church. There is then a bible reading and a prayer, most of the time it was related to the scripture just read out to the congregation. This clearly showed a part of the governance of the church. The pastor preaching was the minister, "the teaching elder" (http://mb-soft.com/) of the church. The minister or teaching elder is chosen by the local congregation. There is a "session" (http://mb-soft.com/) that is also elected by the local congregation that handles the church's affairs. Although Presbyterian churches are independent from one another the minister is ordained by the Presbytery that consists of teaching and ruling elders which is a congregation that exercises jurisdiction (http://mb-soft.com/). Above this congrigation of teaching and ruling elders is the General Assembly which consists of the main leaders of Presbyterianism (http://mb-soft.com/). The governance of the Presbyterian church is complicating, stating that they are independent from one another yet are ruled by a congregation of teaching and ruling elders and a General Assembly.

A 'children's talk' follows after the prayer and all the children under grade seven go to Sunday school. Everyone that is year seven to twelve can go to a discipleship/cell groups. The pamphlet below, the evidence I had acquired, was a card as a reminder that the Presbyterian church is organising a study group where they study the bible for ten weeks. They mention that the younger congregation of the church can join too, the Sunday school.

While this is happening there is a break in the service where people can have time to talk and greet each other. More praise and worship follows at the same time as the offering bucket is taken around and this is known as tithing. Tithes are very important in the church as they believe in giving 10% of what they earn to God (http://www.hpchurch.org/). This is, in return, is a thanks to God for all he has done and as an act of obedience to God (http://www.hp.church.org/).

The pastor then took the podium and started his sermon which went on for twenty to thirty minutes. Baptisms are very important and if there is any baptisms, they happen before the sermon begins. The Theology behind the pastor's preaching was interesting since they beleive in the Trinity (Olsen, R. 2002, p.5), which is the father, son and the holy spirit which is God expressed in each of these distinctions and not three separate parts (http://www.hpchurch.org/). The liturgy they follow that states the beliefs of the trinity is the, Doctrine of the Trinity. In the Doctrine it is stated "Anyone believer who denies the trinity is in danger of losing their salvation" (Olsen, R. 2002, p.1).
They beleive that Jesus died for our sins and that Christ will forgive your sins through your faith and his salvation alone (http://www.hpchurch.org/). This is shown in the doctrine of original sin that states that we can "only be forgiven through salvation" (http://www.allaboutcreation.org/). Therefore, the pastor applies his sermons to the theological understandings of the doctrine of Original Sin and the Doctrine of the Trinity.

The pastor then closes with a prayer that is related to the sermon. There is one last praise and worship time before the service is over. After leaving the church it had me wandering, when did this movement of Presbyterianism begin? The origins of their theological understandings and core beliefs and their historical denomination dates back to John Calvin, an early French reformer in the sixteenth century (http://christianity.about.com/). In 1690 the National Church of Scotland officially adopted the Presbyterian church government and their reformed theology (http://christianity.about.com/). In conclusion, unto this date the Presbyterian church still has the same core beliefs and theological understandings with little difference in governance.

This is a small card that is given as a reminder that there is a study group that is going to study the bible and the book of Philipians in ten weeks.