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.