The plain answer first: a worship service usually runs about an hour, or sometimes less. Bible study is a separate gathering, and coming for worship only is completely fine. Here at Christians in Honesdale, our Sunday worship begins at 10am and our Bible study follows at 11am, so you’ll know the shape of the morning before you ever walk in. Nobody’s going to hold you hostage until suppertime. And there’s no hidden overtime.
What Happens During Worship
Our worship follows the New Testament’s pattern, so the parts don’t change from week to week. The whole congregation sings together without instruments. We pray. We observe the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week. There’s a sermon — usually 25 to 35 minutes, preached with an open Bible — and a collection is taken among our members. That’s the entire list, and it’s a very old one. Luke described the first congregation this way: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
Nothing in that hour is filler. None of it is a marathon, either.
Do I Have to Stay for Bible Study?
No. Bible study is its own gathering, separate from worship, and plenty of first-time visitors head home when worship ends. If you stay, expect an open-Bible discussion of a book or topic, guided and unhurried. Nobody assumes you know anything going in, and nobody will call on you or put you on the spot. Come for worship only and you’ve done nothing wrong.
Why We Don’t Rush It
Fair question, and the answer tells you what the assembly is actually for. The Bible never treats meeting together as a box to check. It treats it as the way Christians keep one another going: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25). You can’t stir anybody up from the parking lot.
There’s a night in Acts when the preaching went very long indeed. “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:7). We can safely promise you nothing like that. But notice why they’d come together on the first day of the week: “to break bread” — which most likely refers to the Lord’s Supper. The gathering mattered enough that nobody was racing the clock.
You’ll Know When It Ends
Yes, really. Worship is planned rather than open-ended. Paul told a first-century congregation, “But all things should be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40), and we take that instruction seriously. The service has an order, the sermon lands where it’s meant to, and things wrap up when you’d expect. Our midweek gathering is even lighter: a Tuesday evening Bible study at 7pm, held online over Google Meet, so you can join from your own living room.
Check the Schedule Before You Visit
One honest caution before you go anywhere, including here. Times and lengths vary from congregation to congregation, because congregations like ours are independent. We’re simply Christians, with no headquarters or denomination setting a schedule for anyone. So nothing you read online speaks for every congregation — we can only promise you what we ourselves do. Check the local schedule before you visit. What we can tell you is this: your time with us won’t be wasted, and God’s Word will be opened. An hour spent that way tends to feel shorter than it sounds.
Come Spend an Hour With Us
If you’ve been weighing a visit, you now know exactly what the morning holds and how long it takes. Come as you are. And if you’d rather start smaller, we’d be glad to open the Bible with you one-on-one first. You can schedule a free Bible study, get to know who we are, or send us a note about visiting.
When we meet:
The address is 416 Main Street, Suite D, Honesdale, PA 18431. Park at the rear of the building and enter there.