Church
Well, it's been a while since my wife and I had gone to church. We were going to a church relatively close by a year or so ago, but things kind of soured there. I wasn't comforatable tithing to a place that was giving money to the likes of Kenneth Copeland. Plus, there were some things that were disturbing me.
My wife had gone up for prayer, and the pastor's wife (who was actually co-pastor) tried to push her over. "Slain in the Spirit" they call it, and she was trying to make it happen on her own. I have no problem with authentic things, but that is simply mocking God. She's also the worship leader, and when she's not there there's no worship. They just put on a tape and let it roll. That's one of the reasons we called the church the "Joe and Linda Show". It's just not my bag, baby.
So we left that church and the friends we'd made there and my wife found a church in New Haven that was monsterously large and had a school in it. We found it looking for a Christian school to put our daughter in. I kept on having doctrinal red flags flying when I went there. I eventually emailed the pastor and met with him one night, and we discussed his views on whether the Jesus underwent "spiritual death". While this may seem like a minor point, I feel it's important. It speaks to the question: "What is the basis for my salvation?" and "What did Jesus do that I am able to be made right with God?". They also tithed to disagreeable ministries, and when I was speaking with himhe pretty much said: "I'm not interested in what the church fathers or great Christian thinkers of the past have said. I use the bible and come to my own conclusions." While using the bible to come to your own conclusions is important, and it, of course, is the final arbiter, it's important to understand the opinions of the learned; these people have spent their entire lives dedicating themselves in different cultures to understanding the same book, and have come up with much of the same doctrine due to solid arguments for it. To throw that away seems foolish.
Anyway, it's been a while since I've been to church. And so last week I did some scouting on the internet and I visited New Life Church in Meriden, not 2 miles away from me. There was a large degree of community there, with people all speaking to one another and being very friendly. The worship was solid, though they did go out of their way to "diversify" - injecting spanish lyrics into a well known song. Many people find this "diversity" nice, or pretend to because our culture seems to think it's noble somehow, but I find it annoying. I'm there to worship God, and injecting stuff in a language I don't understand kind of kills that. It's also quite pointless in my estimation.
The sermon the pastor (Will?) gave was insightful, humorous, and accompanied with an authentic antecdote with regards to his father that touched me. The church wasn't so populated that you don't really get a chance to know people, but not so small that it's uncomforatable. It's close to home and I liked it. Also, one of the major selling points and perhaps the reason I decided to go there in the first place is that they have a focus on "cell groups", or small home meetings between members of the church during the week. After the church service, I introduced myself to the pastor and told him I wanted to "dial into one of the cells". He saw where I lived and recommended a couple of cell groups based on my age and location. He introduced me to the cell group leaders and provided me with cards with time and place and phone numbers.
I also picked up a CD they had prepared for newcomers that gave some more info about the church. All in all I was very pleased with the environment I came into and am looking forward to getting in touch with the cell group. Cell groups are what "church" is about to me.
My wife had gone up for prayer, and the pastor's wife (who was actually co-pastor) tried to push her over. "Slain in the Spirit" they call it, and she was trying to make it happen on her own. I have no problem with authentic things, but that is simply mocking God. She's also the worship leader, and when she's not there there's no worship. They just put on a tape and let it roll. That's one of the reasons we called the church the "Joe and Linda Show". It's just not my bag, baby.
So we left that church and the friends we'd made there and my wife found a church in New Haven that was monsterously large and had a school in it. We found it looking for a Christian school to put our daughter in. I kept on having doctrinal red flags flying when I went there. I eventually emailed the pastor and met with him one night, and we discussed his views on whether the Jesus underwent "spiritual death". While this may seem like a minor point, I feel it's important. It speaks to the question: "What is the basis for my salvation?" and "What did Jesus do that I am able to be made right with God?". They also tithed to disagreeable ministries, and when I was speaking with himhe pretty much said: "I'm not interested in what the church fathers or great Christian thinkers of the past have said. I use the bible and come to my own conclusions." While using the bible to come to your own conclusions is important, and it, of course, is the final arbiter, it's important to understand the opinions of the learned; these people have spent their entire lives dedicating themselves in different cultures to understanding the same book, and have come up with much of the same doctrine due to solid arguments for it. To throw that away seems foolish.
Anyway, it's been a while since I've been to church. And so last week I did some scouting on the internet and I visited New Life Church in Meriden, not 2 miles away from me. There was a large degree of community there, with people all speaking to one another and being very friendly. The worship was solid, though they did go out of their way to "diversify" - injecting spanish lyrics into a well known song. Many people find this "diversity" nice, or pretend to because our culture seems to think it's noble somehow, but I find it annoying. I'm there to worship God, and injecting stuff in a language I don't understand kind of kills that. It's also quite pointless in my estimation.
The sermon the pastor (Will?) gave was insightful, humorous, and accompanied with an authentic antecdote with regards to his father that touched me. The church wasn't so populated that you don't really get a chance to know people, but not so small that it's uncomforatable. It's close to home and I liked it. Also, one of the major selling points and perhaps the reason I decided to go there in the first place is that they have a focus on "cell groups", or small home meetings between members of the church during the week. After the church service, I introduced myself to the pastor and told him I wanted to "dial into one of the cells". He saw where I lived and recommended a couple of cell groups based on my age and location. He introduced me to the cell group leaders and provided me with cards with time and place and phone numbers.
I also picked up a CD they had prepared for newcomers that gave some more info about the church. All in all I was very pleased with the environment I came into and am looking forward to getting in touch with the cell group. Cell groups are what "church" is about to me.
posted by Adam Skinner at 9/12/2004 01:25:00 PM
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