Our partner church in Honduras is the Evangelical and Reformed Church of Honduras.  The Evangelical and Reformed Church of Honduras was founded in the 1930s by missionaries from the United States from the Evangelical and Reformed Church, one of the branches that united to form the United Church of Christ.  Common Global Ministries, a ministry of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is in partnership with the Evangelical and Reformed Church of Honduras. 

          We have visited many of the churches of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and regularly worship at La Misión.  Despite being founded by missionaries from the United States, the church here has a decidedly Honduran style to its worship. 

          Church begins when the congregation gathers at 8:30 for opening singing and prayer.  Singing is accompanied by guitar, keyboard, drums and taped music.  At La Misión the words to the music are displayed on an overhead, but this is unusual.  Most churches sing without written music.  There are hymnals available for purchase, but most of the songs are more contemporary and not included in the hymnal.  We learned the songs by listening to the Christian radio station!   Hondurans worship with their entire bodies, arms raised in the air, swaying to the music, or clapping.  During spoken prayers they will often pray out loud their own prayers as the worship leader is praying, and the choir singing in the background. 

          At 9:00 escuela dominical ( Sunday School)begins.  Children are in classes according to age and grade, and adults are usually separated into males and females, although recently La Misión had a series of classes on parenting, and another on living the Christian life where men and women were in the same class.  The classes are presented in a lecture style, with very limited discussion.  Each class memorizes a Bible verse for the day.

         At 10:00 the congregation returns to the sanctuary where there is a time of singing and prayer once again, announcements and celebration of birthdays and anniversaries.  Then each Sunday School class stands and recites its memory verse for the day.  There is one translation of the Bible which is used, La Reina Velera revised in 1960.  This is a revision of the original Spanish bible published in the 1500s, so is similar to a current translation of the King James Bible. 

         At 10:30 the congregation has a time of agape, or fellowship.  There is food which can be purchased, including fried meat filled tortillas, enchiladas, or tamales, potato chips and soda pop.  The children run through the gymnasium, often playing soccer while the adults chat. 

          At around 11:00 (remember, time is fluid here, so all times are approximate) the adults return to the sanctuary and the children go back to their Sunday School rooms for another hour of class.  Their second hour is more relaxed with videos, games or art projects.  The adults are participating in worship, beginning with singing and prayer.  The singing tends to be praise oriented at most churches we have visited, although La Misión does typically have a quieter more contemplative prayer time as well.  There doesn't appear to be a formal liturgy, and there are no bulletins for worship.  Worship is led by the lay leaders who also lead the singing, interweaving song and prayer.  Often this is a woman, or frequently the pastor's wife.   And, until it is time for the sermon, the pastor is not participating in leading worship, and may not even be in the sanctuary.  After about 45 minutes of singing and prayer, the pastor's sermon is announced, and a scripture he has selected read.  Then, the pastor preaches for 45 minutes to an hour, usually on a particular topic rather than on a particular verse of the Bible.  The pastor often draws from many scriptures in discussing his topic.  The sermons emphasize living as a Christian, Christian values and morals, and God's promises for a better world in the future. 

          Once a month, on the first Sunday of the month, communion is celebrated.  Baptized members of the church (the church practices adult baptism) are invited to come to the center aisle and face one another.  Again, without a formal liturgy first the bread and then the wine are blessed by the pastor.  A lay persons serves each participant, walking down the aisle of people first on one side, then the next, while the congregation sings a hymn.  There are often people in the pews, those who have not been baptized, including youth, who join in the singing.  At the conclusion of communion, a hymn is sung.

          To conclude the service the pastor will say a brief benediction.  On communion Sunday this is with the people still standing in the center aisle, facing one another.  On other Sundays, the members of the congregation are seated in the pews.  There follows another brief time of fellowship as people depart.  The greeting on departure is Dios le bendiga (God bless you) and the response is either to repeat back Dios le bendiga, or to simply say Amen