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John_C said:
I've never been a part of a church that did it. I've seen it a few times while visiting other churches (Methodist or Baptist).

I have not thought of the Scripture command of greeting, so I need to think about that. However, my initial reaction is that what I have seen those few times is not the greeting that the epistle writers had in mind. When on cue by the Pastor or Worship Leader, everyone stands up to say hello to those around them just seems manufactured by me. IMO, there was no genuine greeting of a fellow brother/sister.

Did the early church have a formal time of greeting and I guess we can add communion? My impression is that the early church did not crunch all elements of worship into an 1-hour or 1&half-hour worship service. They had plenty of time for greeting each other, not just the 1-minute time frame.

I think that this may be a baptist thing. Like you, I have only seen this in churches I visited.

Maybe I am being overly strict. But I question anything that breaks the sense of Worship in a worship service. For some time my home church has had the announcemnets at the beginning, before the prelude. I complemented my pastor when a few months ago he switched from doing the announcements from behind the pulpit to standing at the front end of the main ailse. It communicated that this is something we do as needfull but it is not a part of worship.

Soli Deo Gloria
John Schultz
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