Worship & Learn
Sunday Worship
West Bethesda Presbyterian Church gathers for worship on Sunday mornings at 10:30AM. Our worship services have a fairly traditional format with an informal feel.
We sing hymns and songs (old and new) from the Glory to God hymnal. We read scripture. We pray (sometimes we pray silently, sometimes we pray a prayer that has been written for the congregation to pray aloud together, sometimes we pray or read responsively with a leader reading a line and the congregation responding.) We share joys and concerns and talk about activities coming up in the life of the congregation.
Throughout the year we also have some special services (sometimes together with our sister church, West Eagle Creek). Some of our shared services include a Thanksgiving Eve Service, a Maundy Thursday Service (the Thursday evening before Easter) and sometimes a shared service to celebrate milestones (like our 175th Anniversary Celebration last August) or to do something unique (like Sunday, June 23 when we’ll have one service in the morning at West Bethesda when Rev. Pamela Short will preach and the group “Squeeze Play” will lead the music with accordions and guitars!)
Whenever we gather, children of all ages are welcome in the sanctuary and parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles are welcome to walk around with a fussy child or get a toy from the playroom downstairs.
Liturgists, Choir and Volunteer Musicians
During most worship services a liturgist (a reader) helps the pastor lead the service. We also have a choir that practices following worship two or three times a month and sings throughout the year – if you like to sing, stay and practice with us anytime. Finally we have several musicians in our congregation who share their musical gifts as we gather for worship – folks who play the keyboard, guitar, and dulcimers – along with our resident computer whiz who loads hymn accompaniments into the computer for our use on Sundays. We are blessed!
Learn
A couple of times each year we use books with study guides that help us learn more about Christian principals and practices. Study groups will typically meet in person on a weekday morning (usually Tuesdays) and both in person and on Zoom on a weekday evening (usually on Wednesdays) for anywhere from six to twelve weeks (depending on the book.) We also typically do an Advent study (the month before Christmas) and a Lenten study (the six weeks before Easter.) In addition to books and the Bible, we have recently used the Follow Me curriculum for short term studies (4 to 6 weeks per unit.) Watch the calendar and newsletter for news on upcoming groups. We also make sure the children and youth connected to the church have age appropriate Bibles to use at home.
