The day we find the perfect church, it becomes imperfect the moment we join it. ~Charles H. Spurgeon
We enjoyed the people and service very much. They are grounded in the Word but they are open to breaking with traditions to be all things to all men. For instance, the service is flipped. Instead of having praise and worship at the beginning and ending with the sermon, they do announcements, sermon, and then praise and worship. Having been the praise and worship leader in our last church, I can tell you that there were times that I wish we had been singing after the sermon! It was refreshing.
It actually is a small church with not many families, but all the families are young...well, younger than we are. We could have been the oldest couple there, but my husband thought he saw two people who might be older--they may have been the parents of the man delivering the sermon. We sang three contemporary songs, two of which were hymns in modern arrangements, which we knew and the last one was new to us, but easy to follow. They have a streamline media and sound set up with several men who trade off the responsibility of running it. There was a guest speaker giving the sermon, one who will be starting their next planted church in about six months--they are seriously devoted to church planting. Most of the men and women wore jeans. While we were being told that the girls near the age of the Princess were not there due to illness, she was out playing football with the boys as the parents indoors were wrangling the little children, who where all over the place!
My family sat together near the fireplace, which was turned off after the building was warm enough to be comfortable. We actually sat together. We sat and stood and worshiped together. I have not sat with my husband in church except maybe for one or two times for two and a half years. He has ran the media every since the our first pastor and her husband left. I felt just as strange standing next to my family singing. I felt out of place or as if I was forgetting something. I felt I should be holding a mic. I realized then that I will miss leading the praise and worship, but I also felt less stress.
We took communion, which was done differently than any other church I have ever been in. It was on a table near the middle of the sanctuary but next to the wall and we were invited to partake during the second praise and worship song. It was completely self-serve. I neither particularly disliked it or liked it; it was just different. I also notice there was no passing of the plate for tithes and offerings, which I have always thought was a tradition set up to shame people into giving instead of allowing people to give out of their love for the Lord and desire to serve. I am sure there was some place for the tithes, but it was not pointed out nor were we asked to give. I prefer this approach. (We tried placing plates at the back of the church once in another church and the giving decreased so they went back to the other way...I guess shaming works better for those who are used to it or expect it.)
Overall, Church #1 was quite enjoyable for us and we felt quite at home there. We like their commitment to planting churches and discipling in small groups during the week, although the pastor mentioned that they are weak in bringing in new members, which I can kind of understand with so many young families. All those children would be enough to keep the parents rather busy, if you ask me. Many of the families homeschool, but the pastor and his wife placed their children in public school this year as it was getting to be much with a toddler and five other children up to the age of fourteen. We did not meet her or their nine year old daughter as they were ill. The Princess wants to go back next week, of course, to meet the girls, but we would like to visit a few other churches as well.
Although this one is on our revisit list, I do not feel any leading to settle into any particular church or ministry right now and when I think about how I was feeling a bit out of my element just because I was not leading in the singing and my husband was not running the media and sound, I realize that we need this time to just visit and enjoy other believers and their ways of worship. I kept thinking today of how I will be spending time in heaven with these people, even though I will struggle to remember their names presently, and maybe that is why I felt so at home.
~ My Lord, thank you for the opportunity to meet a few more of my brothers and sisters. Please bless this church with its growth and planting new churches in commitment to reaching the unsaved. ~
