When people act together for a common purpose, conformity to a prescribed procedure is necessary.  Since the presence of Christ among His followers is specially promised where they assemble in His Name for worship,^[1] a fixed Form of Service will help to actualize that unity which their coming together already suggests – that is one of the positive advantages of an Order of Service.  On the negative side, it checks the expression of individual partiality and contention, which would be incompatible with seemly proceedings.  For such reasons the Rites and Ceremonies used in worship are an important concern of the Church.

There are not many references in the New Testament to details of behaviour in places of worship.  In his ruling on the dress of worshippers, St. Paul defends the established practice of his day, and suggests that if anyone disagrees with him in holding that a man’s head should be uncovered and a woman’s veiled, he is just being troublesome and has the custom of the churches against him.^[2]  Much unbecoming conduct accompanied the observance of the Lord’s Supper in the Corinthian Church, which emphasized the social differences among members and was contrary to the oneness of all in Christ: the Apostle severely rebukes them and promises to put matters right on a future visit.^[3]  Clearly St. Paul, as an Apostle and leader in the Church, regarded himself as having authority to intervene and regulate.

The considerations recommended in the New Testament for the performance of the Church’s services are respect for tradition,^[4] the fitness of things for edification, and a sense of comeliness and order.^[5]  Complete uniformity in Rites and Ceremonies is not to be expected among the churches of Christendom; a complete lack of uniformity, on the other hand, can gravely imperil the unity of the Church – a proper balance between the two extremes is essential.

A varying appreciation of forms of art, and different standards of decency and appropriateness, – these are part of the many cultures in which the Church has been planted and has grown up, and the churches of different nations and civilizations have the power to devise such ritual and Forms of Service as they deem will be most effective in presenting the Christian message: that is the important matter.  Ceremonies, as the Preface Concerning Ceremonies (1549) declares, should be ‘neither dark nor dumb’, but such as convey their meaning clearly and are least conducive to misunderstanding and superstition.

In matters of faith the Church’s authority is more like that of a guardian or a judge.  It may be exercised in binding and loosing, that is, in deciding what is lawful or unlawful for