“Christian churches should never meet except to listen to the preaching of the Word of God... where the Word of God is not preached, it would be better neither to sing, nor read, nor meet together”; with these short and direct phrases, Martin Luther expressed the foundation and meaning of Protestant worship. In fact, Protestant worship is centred around and based on the preaching of God’s Word. There is a place for singing and prayer, but the contents of hymns and prayers are determined by Bible reference. Simplicity and moderation are distinctive features of Protestant worship which has no need of a particular place or time. As well as this, there is nothing sacramental about the role of the preacher who leads the assembly. His or her role is not special for any question of principle but essentially for practical reasons; that is to say, the local church recognizes in him/her a particular preparation as far as Bible teaching is concerned as well as the maturity of his/her faith.
Protestant worship, or the Service, is usually carried out as follows:
- the Introit
- Confession of sin
- Bible reading
- Sermon
- Confession of faith
- Prayer of intercession
- Final prayer and benediction.
Hymns are sung between these sections.

The Lord’s Supper is celebrated on various occasions, these being decided by the single churches themselves. The frequency may vary from once a month to four times a year. The Lord’s supper is usually celebrated between the Confession of faith and the prayer of intercession. The main parts are:
- the reading of the institution from the New Testament
- a prayer of thanksgiving (the name “eucaristia” used in Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, comes from the Greek verb “eucharisteo”)
- invocation of the Holy Spirit
- breaking of the bread and blessing of the wine
- distribution of the bread and wine to those present.

Once again, any believer from the community may be invited to lead the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This practice is linked to the biblical vision of the two sacraments: the Lord’s Supper and baptism. While these signs represent visibly the Lord’s promises and are a token of the same, they must be seen only as a “supplement of the Gospel”, intended to represent and confirm its contents and therefore subordinate to the Word which is read and meditated from the Bible and explained and proclaimed by preaching.
Despite different doctrinal emphases from those given by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, Protestant worship (or the Protestant Service) corresponds to that practised in the early Christian churches, traces of which are to be found in the present day liturgies of all churches. For example, the same elements found in Protestant worship can be seen in the Roman Catholic Mass whi ch is divided into the liturgy of the Word and Eucharist or Holy Communion. Apart from the complex differences in the interpretation of the Eucharist, the fundamental disaccord is that a Protestant Service cannot exist without the Sermon (preaching), while the Eucharist is essential to the Roman Catholic Mass, seen as the centre of the liturgy.