Chapter 16
Every tradition: services and what they need
Every tradition in the game, each with a page of its own, grouped by faith as the game's picker has them: the services it holds each week (and, for those timed by the sun, when they fall through the year), what they need, its sacraments or rites, how people join it and the kinds of belonging, its day of rest, its quorum, how it gives and what it owes, how its leader comes and who decides, the staff it can hire, its own ministries, fundraisers, tenants, outreach, and dilemmas, everything its building is required, forbidden, expected, or discouraged to have (with the reason the game gives for each), how every item and every sermon or talk lands with it, and what its people feel. Faiths and traditions says how traditions differ, and how to play each one; this chapter is the checklist to build against. It's written from the game's own content and rules, so it's always complete.
In this chapter
- Part 1Christianity44 traditions, in 12 families: Catholic and Orthodox; Anglican and Lutheran; Reformed and united; Methodist and holiness; Baptist; Pentecostal; Anabaptist, Moravian, and Friends; Restorationist; Independent churches and networks; Charismatic; Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ; and Distinct traditions.
- Part 2Judaism5 traditions: Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Chabad-Lubavitch.
- Part 3Islam5 traditions: Sunni Islamic Center, Community of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Twelver Shia Islamic Center, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, and the Nation of Islam.
- Part 4Buddhism7 traditions: Buddhist Churches of America, Vietnamese Buddhist temple, Chinese Buddhist temple, Soka Gakkai International-USA, Soto Zen center, Theravada temple, and Tibetan Buddhist dharma center.
- Part 5Hinduism10 traditions: Hindu temple, Indo-Caribbean mandir, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, International Swaminarayan Satsang Organisation, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Arya Samaj, Vedanta Society, Chinmaya Mission, Self-Realization Fellowship, and Sri Sathya Sai Organization of USA.
- Part 6SikhismOne tradition: Gurdwara.
- Part 7Jainism2 traditions: Jain center, and Jain Vishva Bharati.
- Part 8Shinto3 traditions: Shinto shrine, Konko Churches of North America, and Tenrikyo.
- Part 9Chinese religion3 traditions: Chinese folk temple, Daoist temple, and Yiguandao (I-Kuan Tao).
How to read it
A service is always held. Nothing in the building stops one: a congregation missing a required item, with a forbidden one in it, or with no worship room at all still holds every service on its schedule. What goes wrong is how people feel afterwards, and three things that can't happen without the right furniture: two Christian sacraments, and the rites of every faith that need something:
- Communion served where people come forward (at a rail, at stations, or by spoon) needs an altar, a communion table, a rail, or a communion station with clear floor in front of it. Without one, communion can't be given that week. Communion passed along the pews needs nothing placed.
- Baptism needs a font of the tradition's kind, built and installed: a baptistry or an immersion font where it immerses, any of the three where it pours or sprinkles. Until there is one, those wanting baptism wait. (The Witnesses baptize at their circuit assembly, so a Kingdom Hall needs none.)
- A rite that requires something (foot washing needs its basins; Eucharistic adoration, the tabernacle; a bar or b'nai mitzvah and Simchat Torah's hakafot, the Torah scroll; the Anand Karaj, the palki; a Theravada temple's alms round, the alms bowls; a Unitarian Universalist chalice lighting, the flaming chalice) is missed without it, and the people who keep it mind (up to 0.06).
Everything else is felt after every main service, by everyone at it:
| In the building | Building check | Costs everyone, per service |
|---|---|---|
| required missing, or forbidden present | a red error | 0.08 each |
| expected missing, or discouraged present | a warning | 0.03 each |
| All of these together | at most 0.30 | |
| Facing the way the tradition wants: east, the qibla, or a quarter (or not) | +0.04 (or −0.04) |
Where two rules disagree about an item, the stricter wins: forbidden over required, required over discouraged, discouraged over expected. People and the building check count only items built and installed. Each page lists only the items the build tray offers that tradition (its own faith's and the shared ones), and any other item a rule names.
The leader. A service led by clergy and held without a leader (a vacancy, or no one hired) still happens, but costs everyone at it 0.10, and nobody preaches. Some traditions have a service for just this, and hold it until a leader comes: the Catholic Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest, a lay-led Sunday service, a lay-led Shabbat service, a Jumu'ah led by a member, a Buddhist temple's lay practice, a gurdwara's sangat diwan, an SRF reading service. The laity lead it, for 0.04. On sabbatical a supply leader stands in (the ledger's “Supply pastor”, “Supply rabbi”, “Supply granthi”), for 0.036. Meetings the laity lead (a Friends meeting, a Latter-day Saint sacrament meeting, a Christian Science service, an SGI gongyo meeting, a Sathya Sai center's bhajans, the weekday minyan) miss no one, and neither do open hours or a daily service. In a tradition whose ministers come in ranks, a church whose only leaders can't preside pays $150 for a visiting elder at each communion service.
Lay helpers are volunteers from the congregation (an acolyte or a lector, a Torah reader or a ba'al koreh, a gurdwara's sevadar, Tenrikyo's instrument players and dancers, a Latter-day Saint ward's priests and deacons): each required one missing costs everyone 0.03, each expected one there adds 0.02, and optional ones change nothing. Recruit them in Volunteers (Staff and volunteers).
The week's services are what a new congregation starts with: it holds the expected ones, and people mind if one is dropped. Optional ones can be added in Church → Services, and seasonal ones run in their season. A daily service (marked short in the table) is a daily prayer, a weekday minyan, a sitting, or an arati: people come one by one at the share given, it plays quickly, and it moves no one's satisfaction (see Faiths and traditions). Open hours (a temple's darshan, a gurdwara's open doors, a shrine's visits) are a window people come to when they like, a household together or one by one, with visitors who don't belong (see Worship and the year). A rite households ask for shows its fee and how often a household asks; one kept in shifts, its shifts. A service timed by the sun shows its moment (Dhuhr + 30 min, candle-lighting) and its clock time in Chicago in January and July; it moves with the sun wherever the congregation is. Variants are chosen when you found the congregation, and can change the services, the sacraments, and so what the building needs; the lists below are for the tradition as it usually is.
Fix every red error before you spend on anything else. Three missing required items cost everyone 0.24 after every service, which is more than most congregations can make up in comfort.
The traditions
Christianity 44
Catholic and Orthodox: Catholic Ukrainian Catholic Orthodox Church in America Greek Orthodox Coptic Orthodox
Anglican and Lutheran: Episcopal Anglican Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Reformed and united: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Presbyterian Church in America Christian Reformed Congregational
Methodist and holiness: United Methodist AME Free Methodist Nazarene Salvation Army
Baptist: Baptist American Baptist Missionary Baptist
Pentecostal: Assembly of God Church of God COGIC Pentecostal Holiness United Pentecostal
Anabaptist, Moravian, and Friends: Mennonite Brethren Moravian Religious Society of Friends (Friends General Conference) Friends United Meeting
Restorationist: Church of Christ Christian Church
Independent churches and networks: Community Calvary Acts 29
Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ: Latter-day Saint Community of Christ
Distinct traditions: Seventh-day Adventist Jehovah's Witnesses Christian Science Unitarian Universalist
Judaism 5
Reform Judaism Conservative Judaism Modern Orthodox Judaism Reconstructionist Judaism Chabad-Lubavitch
Islam 5
Sunni Islamic Center Community of Imam W. Deen Mohammed Twelver Shia Islamic Center Ahmadiyya Muslim Community The Nation of Islam
Buddhism 7
Buddhist Churches of America Vietnamese Buddhist temple Chinese Buddhist temple Soka Gakkai International-USA Soto Zen center Theravada temple Tibetan Buddhist dharma center
Hinduism 10
Hindu temple Indo-Caribbean mandir BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha International Swaminarayan Satsang Organisation International Society for Krishna Consciousness Arya Samaj Vedanta Society Chinmaya Mission Self-Realization Fellowship Sri Sathya Sai Organization of USA
Sikhism 1
Jainism 2
Jain center Jain Vishva Bharati
Shinto 3
Shinto shrine Konko Churches of North America Tenrikyo