L.A. Church Starts Dog Service

Worshippers Bring Their Pets to Church for Prayers and Treats

(AP)  When the Rev. Tom Eggebeen took over as interim pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church three years ago, he looked around and knew it needed a jump start.

Most of his worshippers, though devoted, were in their 60s, attendance had bottomed out and the once-vibrant church was fading as a community touchstone in its bustling neighborhood.

So Eggebeen came up with a hair-raising idea: He would turn God's house into a doghouse by offering a 30-minute service complete with individual doggie beds, canine prayers and an offering of dog treats. He hopes it will reinvigorate the church's connection with the community, provide solace to elderly members and, possibly, attract new worshippers who are as crazy about God as they are about their four-legged friends.

Before the first Canines at Covenant service last Sunday, Eggebeen said many Christians love their pets as much as human family members and grieve just as deeply when they suffer - but churches have been slow to recognize that love as the work of God.

"The Bible says of God only two things in terms of an 'is': That God is light and God is love. And wherever there's love, there's God in some fashion," said Eggebeen, himself a dog lover. "And when we love a dog and a dog loves us, that's a part of God and God is a part of that. So we honor that."

The weekly dog service at Covenant Presbyterian is part of a growing trend among churches nationwide to address the spirituality of pets and the deeply felt bonds that owners form with their animals.

Traditionally, conventional Christians believe that only humans have redeemable souls, said Laura Hobgood-Oster, a religion professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

But a growing number of congregations from Massachusetts to Texas to California are challenging that assertion with regular pet blessings and, increasingly, pet-centric services, said Hobgood-Oster, who studies the role of animals in Christian tradition.

She recently did a survey that found more than 500 blessings for animals at churches nationwide and has heard of a half-dozen congregations holding worship services like Eggebeen's, including one in a Boston suburb called Woof 'n Worship.

"It's the changing family structure, where pets are really central and religious communities are starting to recognize that people need various kinds of rituals that include their pets," she said. "More and more people in mainline Christianity are considering them to have some kind of soul."

The pooches who showed up at Covenant Presbyterian on Sunday didn't seem very interested in dogma.

Animals big and small, from pit bulls to miniature Dachshunds to bichon frises, piled into the church's chapel to worship in an area specially outfitted for canine comfort with doggie beds, water bowls and a pile of irresistible biscuits in an offering bowl. There were a lot of humans too - about 30 - and three-quarters of them were new faces.

The service started amid a riot of tail-sniffing, barking, whining and playful roughhousing.

But as Eggebeen stepped to the front and the piano struck up the hymn "GoD and DoG," one by one the pooches lay down, chins on paws, and listened. Eggebeen took prayer requests for Mr. Boobie (healing of the knees) and Hunter (had a stroke) and then called out the names of beloved pets past and present (Quiche, Tiger, Timmy, Baby Angel and Spunky) before launching into the Lord's Prayer.

At the offering, ushers stepped over tangled leashes and yawning canines to collect donations and hand out doggie treats shaped like miniature bones in a rainbow of colors.

Donna Lee Merz, a Presbyterian pastor at another Southern California church, stopped in with Gracie, her 14-month-old long-haired miniature Dachshund. The puppy with ears soft as silk was overcome by the other dogs and wriggled across the floor on her belly, quivering with excitement. She finally calmed down when Merz held her in her lap.

"She knew it was a safe place and a good place to be, a place to be loved," Merz said, gently petting Gracie after the service. "I'll be back."

Emma Sczesniak came to Covenant for the first time, lured by the promise that she could worship with her black Lab, Midnight, and her wire-haired Dachshund-terrier mix, Marley.

Marley sat on her lap during the service, while Midnight checked out the other big dogs and sat patiently waiting for his biscuit. Sczesniak said the dog-friendly service came at the perfect time for her: she's been thinking about getting back to church, but wasn't sure how or where to go.

"I don't have any kids, so my pets have always been my children, so it does mean a lot," she said of the dog-inclusive service. "I haven't been to church in a long time and this may push me into it. I'm getting older and I've been thinking about those things again."

But Midnight, Marley, Gracie and the other pups probably had something more important on their minds as Eggebeen intoned his benediction and the service drew to a close: Just where could they find more of those delicious treats?

For Eggebeen, the night was a spiritual success - and the rest is out of his hands.

"It's important for a church like us just to do good things. The results, we'll just have to see," he said. "Ultimately, that belongs to God."

[blessed2serve]

I ran out of characters, however, wanted to leave this excerpt from the bible concerning the signs of the end-times:

Holy Bible regarding end-times:
II Timothy 3:1-5

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

[blessed2serve]

This is the most ridicules thing I've ever seen yet in these end times, and yet, my Holy Bible tells me it's going to get worse and worse. First of all, I have animals and I love them to pieces, but the Holy house of God is not the place to bring our animals! Things are to be done decently and in order in God's house. These dead ministers, priests, and men in the pulpit are compromising the Gospel doing things the way they are doing. God's house is to serve and worship Him, to win lost souls, to help those that need to find God, find true Jesus blood bought salvation, the REAL baptism of the Holy Ghost, and NOT bring their pet to church! You can never win people to God by compromising. There are churches that bring in Christian rock bands, and by the way, there's no such thing as Christian rock - if it looks like the world, acts like the world, dresses like the world, sings like the world, then it is of the world - they bring in these Christian rock bands to draw the youth, but that's compromising. The bible says singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. I was a part of that at one time because I was very young and the yes, Pentecostal Assembly of God church COMPROMISED by bringing in these groups. The reason I am strong about this is that there is one missing factor regarding all of this - the thought that keeps coming in my mind is this: What about living Holy before God? What happened to that? The Bible speaks of the last days and how men would be lovers of their own selves, they would (and as in this case), have a form of godliness, but deny the power of God. It's the deceit of the devil. Where people are missing it is that just because something is "spiritual" doesn't mean it's of God. That's where the truth is missed here. The pastor claimed how God is in all this, but Paul in the bible said that in the last days that men would heap to themselves teachers having itching ears (they want to hear pleasant things instead of the truth about living free from sin, living holy, living right and sin-free before God, and that man in this hour - the end-time hour would not endure sound doctrine - they just want their ears tickled - and bring the pets into this is just another form of so-called godliness, but it's so far from the truth, but the spiritually blind do not see it. The church is to be helping the souls, the souls that are needing to find God, receive deliverance for sin and sickness. The bible has the truth, but by this article, it doesn't appear that anyone is reading it. It's not my opinion, but that of the Holy Bible, the word of God. The so-called minister spoke of God being in all this when he's nowhere near this kind of thing. God's not please with this idea. Someone mentioned gay marriage. Look back to the Garden of Eden, God made man in his own image and made a help mate for Adam, not a "Joe" for Adam - and you don't hear of Adam over there in the corner of the Garden reading Playboy either - that's another article altogether. I was horrified when I saw this article, but it's just another sign to me that the Holy Ghost dispensation is wrapping up and Jesus is going to come for his true Jesus church - the ones that are living holy before him, consecrated, dedicated to Him, for the master's use to help win the lost at any cost. The Bible says that Jesus is coming for those who are watching for Him, not watching their pets in church. He's coming for those without spot, wrinkle, or blemish - that's Bible. This doggie church is just a form of godliness, but his church is a dead church because they are denying the power of God, the truth. In God's truth, there is also preached judgment: hell, heaven, salvation, holy living, and the real baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues as the SPIRIT GIVES THE UTTERANCE. Again, in God's truth, there is also judgment to be preached, and the truth of there being a heaven and a hell. A man and woman has a soul - it's eternal, it is either going to live for eternity in heaven or hell, one place or the other, and that is what my Bible tells me which is the infallible Word of God. These are the end-times people; open your eyes to it. LA is not in reality, at least, not in the reality of God. It's sad to see such as this. These are the end-times. Jesus is coming soon and so many will be left here with the antichrist - you will never live such a horror as that. I pray there be some that will read and understand with spiritual hearing and spiritual sight before it's too late.

[CommentMaker]

WHY????

[CommentMaker]

Dogs, cats, pigs, coffee, donuts, drive-ins and whatever to draw some that would never go to worship God is absolutely not what the bible meant to be all things to all people. This brings God down from his throne and makes fun of Him. This makes God common with sinners when we think like that. Just another ploy of the Presbyterian Church to undermine what God has set-up to be holy. Of course, SBC is heading the same direction with some of their attractions!

[omded]

I tried to have my dog, Mongo, baptized, because I don't want him to go to Hell for his original sin. But Mongo just wanted to drink the water in the baptismal pool. Then he ran over and humped a votive candle, and, now I think he needs to go to confession too. I don't think I'll take Mongo to church any more. Every time I do, I leave thinking he's a lot closer to Hell fire and damnation than he was before we went. Please pray for Mongo!!!

[CommentMaker]

I know this is a stupid article. Why do you read such nonsence and comment like this. I guess I need to ask myself the same question about responding to someone like you.

[The_Sea_Witch]

Well.... DOG is just GOD spelled backwards anyhow. :)

[pbrammer]

There is a God and His son-Jesus Christ-died for you! God made all things. Even dogs. I thank God everyday for my sweet dog. I do not worship my dog but I do love her and she loves me-unconditionally-just like God. He loved us so much He sent His son to die for us. Our sins is what killed Him! We did. But He was willing. Our church welcomes dogs in training for the blind. I love it. I would like to take my dog with me but I can go to church without her. Does she have a soul?I don't know but I often tell her she is a blessing from God and she hears His name a lot. For all you pet lovers even dogs existed back in Biblical times. Love your pet-they are a precious gift from God! Love each other-the same way God loves us all!

[rogermedanich]

I'll bet that the folks attending these services are much better people than those who condemn them via the web. For those who seem so upset by the notion of taking a pet along to a prayer service, I have a suggestion: either get God or a dog!

[erlindab]

I don't understand the anger of a lot of these posts. I work for a church where animals are welcome. Grant it, the services are for PEOPLE. Folks bring their animals to church regularly. Animals help us find our own compassion, and in many instances, are better companions than people. If you believe in God (in whatever form)it is refreshing to be able to give thanks for the love of our animals. If you don't believe in God, you might be refreshed in give thanks to a "higher power" (however you define it) for the companionship and love of your animal. If you don't have an animal, you might want to adopt one. They make us better people - whether we go to church or not.

[mswolfestock]

The dogs are just happy to be with their humans and all the other dogs and humans. And anything that makes my dog happy makes me happy, too.

[johndevinejr]

I think they would have done even better if the had a "Happy Hour Service" with $.25 beers

[mswolfestock]

Great idea - my yellow Labrador Daisy Duke loves beer, just like me! She loves to fetch the frisbee and when she gets tired she drinks beer out of it. (Don't go busting me to the ASPCA - I'm talking a couple of slurps here. I tell Daisy all the time that she has to buy her own Corona if she wants more.)

[anitaymoore]

Are you KIDDING me????!!!! This is just ridiculous...to me this just shows how many people step over good common sense, for the propaganda of "religion".

[Ms_enza]

And yet... gay marriage is wrong.

Well, you know where their fellow man sits in the grand scheme of things.

[orinfagel]

This is so very stupid! I can't believe it! And, since there is no god why in hell would anybody take a dog to a prayer service. They don't believe in god, they have no religion...people are so afraid and unintelligent. Unbelievable. VERY STUPID! Your dog/cat dies...he/she turns to fertilizer and that is it!

[mswolfestock]

orinfagel -- I don't know (or care) what happened to make you so mean-spirited and nasty-minded, but you should take your vitriol some place else. I have found that unconditional love comes from two sources: Jesus and dogs, and my loving them is not mutually exclusive of one another. Animal lovers are usually kind, happy, and loving towards their fellow human beings, and THAT is what it is eventually all about. I feel sorry for you. You must be terribly lonely, but I can understand why.

[cleric60]

For many, many years, the Catholic/Episcopal/Lutheran faith communities have thank God for the gift of their pets, such as dogs in a ceremony/celebration called "The Blessing of Animals" The celebration is held on October 4th, which is the Feast Day for St. Francis of Assisi. I would direct your attention to the website, www.americancatholic.org/Features/francis/blessing.asp

So we praise God as we pray: "All praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister creatures." Amen.

[cleric60]

For many, many years, the Catholic/Episcopal/Lutheran faith communities have thank God for the gift of their pets, such as dogs in a ceremony/celebration called "The Blessing of Animals" The celebration is held on October 4th, which is the Feast Day for St. Francis of Assisi. I would direct your attention to the website, www.americancatholic.org/Features/francis/blessing.asp

So we praise God as we pray: "All praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister creatures." Amen.

[orinfagel]

You are such an idiot and stupid! Get it straight, there is no stupid god, there is no god, jesus was just an effeminate boy!

[anitaymoore]

Thanking "God" for the gift of your pets is one thing...actually bringing them to church and having prayers for dogs is ludicrous. Why stop at dogs...what about cats, rabbits, horses, ferrets, pigs, hamsters, pet rats, parakeets, snakes, turtles, tarantulas etc? This is insane!