Palace Mission Church,
Gladwyne, Pennsylvania
Have you ever attended any of the services at churches of the Peace Mission Movement under the leadership of FATHER DIVINE? If you have not , you have missed one of the most unique experiences you will ever encounter.
There are five established churches under the direction of FATHER DIVINE. But, of these, there are branches and connections in different parts of the country and all over the world.
Services in these churches are varied in nature and quite different from most churches. The regular Sunday morning worship type of services conducted at these churches includes sermons, choir singing and testimonies. What is different about them is the fact that everything is absolutely spontaneous. People are moved by the Holy Spirit to worship, sing and praise GOD as they are led and that individual right is granted everyone.
Holy Communion at Peace Mission churches is different too. This is a practical religion and everything is of a practical nature. Father Divine has often said that while people may take it in the usual sense as communion, those who do not wish to do so, may just dine at communion tables as one would dine at any restaurant, of the many courses Father serves for the nourishment of the body. But the spiritual significance of the actual service is beautiful when one grasps the true meaning of the service.
FATHER DIVINE blesses all the food that is passed to HIM. When He is not present in Person, the food is touched to His plate or place at the table in recognition of His Ever Presence. The food is then served down the long tables, each person serving the next, so to speak, by passing the bowls or platters of food along. In this way One serves all and all serve One.
Devotional Services by the Rosebud and Crusader choirs of the churches are of a more religious nature in the common use of the word. Choir singing dominates, although there are volitional testimonies and readings by choir members.
The church buildings, for the most part, are also chosen with a practical purpose in mind. Most of these building house and feed the people.
Besides the church auditoriums or chapels, there are Holy Communion Halls where food is served for physical sustenance.
Neat, clean accommodations for sleeping are maintained at most of the churches. Men and women are always accommodated on separate floors and at times in separate buildings.
Training schools in academic and commercial subjects are a part of most of the churches. Bible classes and Creed classes of a more religious nature teach both the Holy Bible and the Creeds of the Peace Mission Movement, which give required mental spiritual and physical deportment to followers of FATHER DIVINE.
Homes for the aged are also maintained by the churches to care for older members of less fortunate circumstances.
More denominational churches hold services on Sundays and perhaps one evening during the week. Peace Mission churches are always open. If no particular service is going on and one wishes to worship, they are free to start a service or just sit and quietly meditate in solitude without being disturbed.
Followers of FATHER DIVINE are celibate, they integrate, they wear little or no make-up and are in general modest although prosperous and up-to-date in appearance.
Church membership is not required for one to attend services. Peace Mission churches are non-sectarian, interdenominational, interracial and international in scope. No proselyting is done in any sense of the word. Missionaries are never sent out. The Spirit of FATHER DIVINE is sufficient in Itself to do this work.
Donations, love offerings and collections are never taken up in any church service for spiritual service nor does FATHER DIVINE, as Bishop, Founder and Pastor of all Peace Mission Churches, receive a salary or anything of that sort.
The five mother churches of the Peace Mission Movement were all established in New York City in the nineteen thirty's. They are by name, Palace Mission Inc.; Unity Mission Inc.; Peace Center, Inc.; Circle Mission, Inc. and Nazareth Mission, Inc.
From a small nucleus, these churches have spread throughout the world. The same tenets and basic requirements are held. Internationally, the churches fly the American flag along with the flag of the particular country in which churches are situated, for Americanism is revered universally where followers of FATHER DIVINE are gathered.
FATHER DIVINE summed up Peace Mission membership very well in the statement to a lady: "It is not that you would necessarily have to join anything to join the church as an average person joins churches in the sectarian world, but to live exactly according to the life and teaching of Christ as recorded in the Four Gospels, and let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, and take Jesus the Christ as your Guide."
The most perfect example of this is the Personal life of FATHER HIMSELF. One may question, "But how can I live the life of Christ?" FATHER has made that simple. Look on Him.
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