Independent Evangelical & Fundamentalist Churches

Traditional evangelical and fundamentalist worship is informal in style and emphasizes the sermon, singing, and prayer. Recent influences point to the need for more God-oriented worship and emotive music. Recently evangelicals have been borrowing from the liturgical and praise-and-worship traditions as well as utilizing the distinction between the seeker's service and believer's worship. The formation of an independent evangelical congregation often springs out of a home Bible study group that has prospered. On other occasions a new congregation comes out of a church split, either from within a congregation or through the severing of ties with a denomination. The principal worship orientation is most often informal and folklike in style. Since most new congregations begin with a constituency where everyone is known, there is a basic bias against any sort of formal structure for worship. Casualness and informality usually characterize the church's worship as well. In the past, the f…