Types of worship

Corporate exclusive worship

Exclusive corporate worship is worship that belongs to the group alone. Such exclusive groups may understand their distinct status over against other groups on the basis of a divine mission in the world (e.g., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), of clan, social, or initiatory distinctions (e.g., totemic societies, gnostic groups), or by reference to certain ritual or ethical commitments and practices (e.g., Seventh-day Adventists) characteristic of the group. Study of contemporary religious groups discloses many similarities of belief among these exclusive communities, and distinctions considered unique by the group may not be unique at all—but they are perceived to be unique.

Among the exclusive types, the mystery religions (e.g., Eleusinian) of the Mediterranean world are particularly well-known. The worship of such communities (also including gnostic sects) centred in the sharing of secret knowledge concerning the origin of the world and also of humanity’s true nature, proper vocation, and destiny. An elaborate system of initiation brought the new member into the community. The community maintained its exclusiveness through the passing on of the secret lore to new members through rites designed to free the devotee from the hold of the material world and thus prepare the way for his ascent to the realm of the divine, from which he had been separated.

Totemic societies are drawn and held together by the recognition of the significance of the animal or object that embodies and displays the holy in their midst. Signs worn or placed on the body identify the adherents of the society. Groups otherwise quite similar in language, customs, religious rites, social behaviour, and culture are held distinct from one another through the power of the totem, and worship underscores and helps to maintain this exclusivism.

Certain social or ethical commitments operate to single out the exclusiveness of religious communities and to define their form of worship. The commitment of Mennonites (a Christian group originating during the 16th century) to refuse participation in acts of war, for example, affects the character of their worship as well as of their general religious life. The worship is conducted over against the larger society, especially the power and commitments of the state. It centres upon peace and reconciliation, upon the moral demands laid upon each worshipper, underscoring the need for worship that issues in the service of fellowmen caught up in the evil of warfare.

The worship of the “gathered church” has a similar character: Baptists, Congregationalists, and many of the free churches—i.e., those not connected with the state (including Mennonites)—engage in a form of worship that stresses the need for each member to make his own confession of faith and to identify personally the character of his religious commitment. The new member must enter such a community on the basis of personal testimony and commitment. Those who do not share these commitments are, in principle (if not in actual fact), not to be accepted into membership.

Racial, ethnic, and language distinctions also can operate to create and maintain exclusive communities. African American churches of the United States, though open to members who are not African American, have become, in many sections of the United States, exclusive communities, largely through the exclusion of blacks from white churches. The worship of African American communities has incorporated elements from African religions and has focused upon forms of worship appropriate to a people oppressed by the larger society and excluded from many of its benefits. The service generally is “freer” than that of the white churches, including a more significant place for congregational singing and responses and more active participation by the congregation than has become customary in most white churches.

Many other exclusive communities could be mentioned: new religious groups in Japan and African countries (e.g., nativistic religious movements), in the United States and Canada (e.g., the Churches of Christ, the Nazarenes, the Nation of Islam), and in western European countries. These communities give prominence in worship to those features that called them into existence: sectarian religious concerns, nationalism, dissatisfaction with the worship and ideas of the dominant religious communities, or other distinctive commitments.