10 Great Phrases to use in the Church Service

There are so many one liners and phrases that can be used during a church service. It is almost an injustice to try to narrow them down to just ten. But, when you're just starting out, ten may be all you can handle. By no means are the following phrases the top ten. I just feel that they are a great start and will be recognized by almost any spanish speaker. So here goes

1. Paz de Cristo. Literally 'Peace of Christ.'
     This is the equivelent of saying 'Praise the Lord' in english. It can be used when greeting a congregation. Paz de Cristo, hermanos. Praise the Lord brothers and sisters.  It can also be used when greeting or shaking the hand of an individual. Paz de Cristo, hermano(a). You can add a blessing on the end when departing someone. Paz de Cristo, que Dios le bendiga. Praise the lord, may God bless you. You would not use it when praising or glorifying God for something. Rather, you would use 'Gloria a Dios'. Glory to God.

2. Gloria a Dios. Glory to God.
     Many times when an english speaker is first exposed to this phrase, they wonder why the preacher or saint is saying 'Glory Bye Bye'. This is because what they're hearing is 'Glory Adiós'. They know what 'glory' is and most know that 'adiós' is 'goodbye or see you later' so their mind is translating it as 'Glory Bye Bye'. Lets break this phrase down:
Gloria glory
a to 
Dios God.
Many times in spanish when one word ends in a vowel and the next word begins with the same vowel the sound blends. So Gloria a Dios really sounds like Gloria Dios. You can use this phrase as a stand alone phrase. It can also be used to add emphasis. Estoy agradecido estar en la casa del Señor. Gloria a Dios. I'm thankful to be in the house of the Lord. Glory to God.

3. Aleluya. Hallelujah
     This would be used just like you would use it in the english language. Technically it's not a phrase but it's just as useful. Just drop the beginning "H" when saying it and it will sound authentic. You will still be understood if you forget and use the "H" out of habit.

4. Dios es bueno. God is good.
      This is a great phrase all by itself. When used in the pupit, many times it will generate alot of amens. You can also combine it with the two previous words. Dios es bueno, gloria a Dios. Dios es bueno, aleluya. If you want to sound authentic, pronounce the "D" like the english "thee". So Dios sounds like Thee-ose. You can substitue the following for Dios:
     Cristo. Christ
     El Señor. The Lord

5. ¿Quién vive? Who lives?
     This is another great phrase that is heard in many hispanic churches. It has a great question and reponse effect. The whole thing goes like this. ¿Quién vive? Cristo. ¿A su nombre? Gloria.
¿Quién vive? Who's alive? 
Cristo. Chris
¿A su nombre? And to his name?
Gloria. Glory
Many times the speaker will add a little something to the end like:
Vamos a darle un aplauso a Dios. Let's clap our hands to God. 

6. ¿Cuántos creen que...? How many believe that ...?
     Here is great phrase to use when you want to involve your congregation some. There are a number of endings that go well with this phrase. Here are a few to get you started.
¿... Cristo vive?  ...Jesus lives?
¿... es bueno estar en la casa de Dios? ... it's good to be in the house of God?
¿... Dios esta aqui? ...God is here?