The seventh-day Adventist church is basically a modern church based on the original Adventist church. It is a Protestant (non-Catholic) church that is quite popular in certain places of America, though churches can be found all over. There are many things to know about the Seventh-Day Adventist church services, including what sets them apart from other Christian churches and their specific practices/beliefs that are closely associated to them. By understanding these you can have a better understanding of other church services.
What Sets Them Apart
There is only one basic practice that sets the seventh day Adventist church is which day they meet and worship on. Seventh-day implies the seventh day of the week, ie Saturday, as the day of worship instead of Sunday. This is the thing most people think of when they think of the seventh-day Adventists, but there is much more to them than this – this is just the distinguishing feature of the church. Saturday is just as holy to them as Sunday is to other denominations.
Practices
There are several practices that make people think of seventh-day Adventists among other Christian churches. The concepts of health and diet are very important to the seventh-day Adventists. Vegetarianism is recommended, but an adherence to Kosher foods is the generally accepted requirement. Health of the body is very important to Adventists.
One of the major stances of the seventh-day Adventists is that abortions are not condoned for all the usual reasons – however, in extreme circumstances like rapes and incest, abortion is acceptable to them. This makes the seventh-day Adventist church services extremely controversial in nature, and have been known to cause quite a stir.
Seventh-day Adventist church services preach that simplicity and modesty are important in dress and decoration of the body. Tattoos and piercings are generally disapproved of, while simple and (most importantly) modest clothing is required. They oppose things like dancing, rock music, secular theater and gambling based on their ethical implications and the harm they could lead the church’s youth to. Most of these are practices and beliefs that all Christian denominations share, but some (like dancing) are a little less conventional.