Shopping for a New Church, Week 6

We checked out a new church this week. Surprised? Yeah, didn't think so. It is called Crossway Christian Church - and boy, was it ever a departure from the experience we had the week before.

First of all, it's not very far at all from our house - just a few minutes. So that's nice. Obviously. It was started in 1995. So it's not too old, obviously. And it shows - perhaps not as "obviously."

Let me cut to the chase: it was a happenin' place. It was a new church, with a new feel, and new approach at this thing called church. They are attempting to be on the cutting edge of conservative church ministry. They are incorporating innovation, technology and style with Jesus and the gospel to reach the next generation.

They are renting one-story, brick, formerly-industrial buildings. They have a coffee-house/cafe atmosphere inside. The lights are dimmed; the walls are dark: deep red/burgundy or black. They offer a wide variety of coffees for free that you may also take into the "sanctuary" with you. They have comfortable, separated chairs facing their platform, where a full band plays for their worship service.

The place was full of energy and life. The people were very friendly and personable. We felt immediately accepted and incorporated into their community - they're big on community. The service was great and the preaching was good.

And our oldest son finally said he likes this church - that's a big sell. However, I am always skeptical of these churches who attempt such modernism. I worry about losing Jesus in all the human-interest aspects of the church. This may not mean much to those of you who read this, but it felt exactly like a miniature version of what Moncton Wesleyan tries to do, just much fresher feeling.

Another thing that concerns me is the lack of demographic cross-section represented in the church. They were all white people who you would find sipping espressos in Starbucks or Panera Bread. And Nashua has a diverse population.

Lastly, I have never seen communion served the way they served it. The tray had what looked like an elevated dish for the bread over top the juice. The whole congregation ate of it as soon as they received the plate. We ate it right over the plate and then passed it on! It was strange. The people had to put down their coffee to take their communion - ha!

Afterword: We did not go to another church today - Feb 18 - because we are all sick. However, there is only one more church we want to check out before we make our decision of where to attend "full-time." We were gonna go check out the Nazarene church in Nashua, but now we'll have to wait until next Sunday. So stay tuned to hear about that visit next week - and then our subsequent decision.

Shopping for a New Church, Week 5

Ok, so I now realize that not all Baptist churches are created equal. I know, I should have recognized this before. And sure I knew this, but not until we attended the First Baptist Church of Nashua did I truly, and fully understand it.

If I thought their church building was imposing from the outside, it was nothing compared to the feeling I got from sitting in the inside.

Their sanctuary was a typical large, fan-shape design, but it was the stage that set itself apart. First of all, their only natural light came from way above the platform. From the platform, the skylight seemed to rise five stories into the sky. The huge expanse really dwarfed anyone speaking on the stage. It seemed really pompous and religious, like they were trying to reach the heavens.

The service itself was completely and absolutely dead. I have never attended a more solemn Sunday morning church service. There couldn't have been more that 60 people there in a sanctuary that could easily seat hundreds and hundreds.

As for not all Baptist churches created equal? Well, talk about liturgy. Everything seemed to be set and programmed. They wore their proud robes, and sang their songs as like they were singing dirges.

It reminded me of the Presbyterian church I attended the previous week. This is the first church I regretted bringing my family to. Needless to say, this one is not an option.

Shopping for a New Church, "Week 4"

This next venture was more of an adventure just for myself. My family was away this weekend, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to explore more diverse experiences. However, as you'll see, for the most part I couldn't have gotten further from that desire.

I had wanted to experiment with the Presbyterian and Lutheran experience. While I didn't have time to do both, I did get a taste of of the Presbyterian worship service - and boy was it odd. It is the Nashua Presbyterian Church. There were about 50 people squeezed into their beautiful, little room they call a sanctuary.

I felt extremely uncomfortable. I don't know if my experience was tainted by a negative opinion my wife had fed me the week before, but I felt very strange there. I felt as though I had inadvertently stumbled into the meeting of a secret society.

Everyone there had the look and feel of some social assembly, like the Masons. I felt like I was waiting for them to start chanting and making oaths. They all greeted each other with their perfunctory words, "peace of Christ."

As they worked through their "order of service" I sensed a lot of ritual. I didn't stay very long - 15 minutes. I had wanted to get over to the Baptist church in Hollis, where I had been curious to attend eversince moving to "Hollis." They had about 50 people there that day, too.

I did not expect what I found at the Faith Baptist Church of Hollis. I was actually comfortable, familiarly so. I felt right at home. I was so surprised. I even snickered to myself when they started to take verbal prayer requests and praises from the congregation for their prayer time. Even the pastor preached like me! (And I didn't like it...haha.)

Every word, behavior, and aspect of their service was a spot-on-match with the services I have lead. It was eerie. I was slightly disappointed because my family and I had no intention on travelling to Hollis again for church. But man, now I want to. I had just come today out of curiosity. Well, we'll see what we do now.

Shopping for a New Church, Week 3

As much as the last two Baptist churches seemed different from each other, this most recent family visit to the Heritage Baptist Church in Nashua takes the cake.

First of all, the neighborhood we had to drive through to find the church was a stereotypically "rough" section of the city. The houses were all white, built 70 years ago, worn out, and practically on top of each other. We realized this church would not be an upscale church.

Once we realized we had finally come to the unassuming presence of their all-red brick building, we were greeted by their very daunting chain link fence that enclosed their entire property. We had to figure out where was the narrow entrance through the fence into their property.

We got inside quickly, where we were introduced to a flurry of activity and commotion. For all the properness and professionalism of the last two churches, this was not like that. They were busy and friendly, but organized they were not.

Most of the people seemed to be low-income families. There was a vast spread of food items, spread out like a grocery store, in the basement for all to choose from at the end of the service. And many took advantage.

I did not feel good about letting my kids go in such a diverse and chaotic group of people for children's church. However, I did enjoy the pastor's sermon. Even though his preaching was all over the place, he preached with conviction and commitment to the truth and moral issues. The worship was severely lacking, though, as there was no music whatsoever, and the worship leader couldn't carry a tune very well. There were probably up to 100 people there that day.

I doubt we will go back. We did not feel comfortable there. But they seem to have a wonderful ministry.