A typical Sabbath order of service, with a worked example
Ask five Adventist churches for their order of service and you will get five slightly different answers. Some open with a hymn sing, some with a welcome. Some have a mission story before the lesson, some after. The pattern below is a common one. Change it freely.
Sabbath School
Sabbath School usually runs first and lasts about an hour. It is often split between a short program for everyone and then classes for each age group.
9:30 Bible Study
Song service: hymns 1 and 12
Welcome and prayer
Mission story
Today's study: the lesson title from the quarterly
The lesson title and the memory verse come from the Sabbath School quarterly, so they change every week without anyone choosing them. You can find the titles for each quarter on our lesson list.
Worship service
The worship service follows. This is the part most members want printed, because it shows the hymn numbers.
10:55 Worship Service
Announcements and call to worship
Opening hymn: hymn 73
Tithes and offerings: the offering of the week
Doxology
Special music
Children's story
Scripture reading
Sermon, with the title and the speaker
Closing hymn
Benediction
Notes on what to print
Hymns. Print the number and the title together. If the number is wrong, members hunt through the book while the song starts. Check these against the hymnal, not against last week's bulletin.
Names. Print a name when it helps someone: the speaker, the soloist, the person telling the children's story. People notice when the name is spelled wrong, so ask if you are unsure.
The offering. Printing which offering is being received helps people give to the right fund. This one comes from the calendar your conference or union follows. Our guide on offering calendars explains how it is set.
Sunset. Many bulletins close the order of service with the time the Sabbath ends and the time next Friday's Sabbath begins. Both are on our Sabbath times pages.
Adapting it
If your church has a second language service, a youth program in the afternoon, or a potluck after the service, add those as their own lines with the time. If the children's story is told by a different person each week, print the name. If your service has fewer parts than this, print fewer.
The more your order of service stays the same from week to week, the easier it is to build, and that is where a tool helps most. Bulletin Generator lets you set the order once, switch off the parts you do not use, and fill in the rest from your schedule. You can ask to try it.
Common questions
Is there one standard Adventist order of service?
No. The pattern below is common, but churches change it for their size, language and traditions. Use it as a starting point.
What time do Adventist churches usually start?
It varies by church. Sabbath School often starts in the morning and the worship service follows an hour or so later. Print your own times on the cover.