Church Visit #4
Yesterday marked our fourth church visit this month. We visited four different churches on four different Sundays.
The church we visited is located in the downtown area of the nearest city outside of our local community. It is approximately a 25 minute drive, though our trip through Hardee’s slowed us down significantly.
The church is located in a former downtown business building. We were greeted by a gentleman who gave us bulletins, followed by one of the elders. He welcomed and told us a bit about the church.
*One item of note: We knew absolutely no one at this church as we visited yesterday.
We sat down and waited for the service. It began with a song calling the service to order. There was a singer/guitar player, two singers and a drummer. There appeared to be someone who would play a bass guitar who was not there. They were also accompanied by a piano player.
The elder who greeted us welcomed us all to the service and read from Psalm 119. From what I could tell, they have been opening with a reading from this Psalm for some time.
The singers/musicians then led us through about three or four songs that flowed together. The songs were focused on God and Christ. The lyrics were projected upon the wall for us to see while we were singing.
Two gentlemen then spent time in prayer. I’m not sure if they were elders or deacons. They included scripture in their prayers. I would estimate this time to be approximately 10 minutes.
The pastor began preaching and it was definitely not what we are used to. The sermon was about The Will of God. He preached from Ephesians, but packed an incredible amount of scripture into the sermon to flesh out his sermon. This sermon lasted somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 55 minutes. This may sound rough, but I didn’t even realize how much time had passed.
We ended with a song and were dismissed. Coming from the tradition that we have participated in, we have always had an invitation. There was no invitation at the end of the service.
Following the service many more people came up to greet us. One gentleman whose small group was having lunch immediately after the service invited us to have lunch and attend their small group with them.
This first month of searching for a new church was interesting. Tomorrow I will give everyone our impressions of the four churches and how they rank with us.
Looking forward to your thoughts.
This is a great series. I love seeing these churches through your blog.
In many ways it’s been fun. Now we just need to evaluate.
nice.
Sounds Tulip-y. Which means you probably liked it.
It probably is, though nothing was mentioned about it.
Did you take advantage of the lunch offer?
Ha! No. We had already made plans. I like to think it was indicative of the fellowship they have.
I totally feel your pain! My wife and I recently moved and we’re in the process of finding a new church after going to the same church for almost 4 years prior to our move. It’s like breaking up with a longterm girlfriend and starting all over again!