Visiting Other Churches

Columbine

As mentioned earlier, we are taking the summer off in our transitional work as a congregation. So we have decided to get a feel of where the broader church is headed today by visiting other congregations in our area.

Our first experience was with a congregation from a more conservative conference within our denomination. At least, that was our thought before we visited. But we discovered that at least as far as their worship service is concerned, they are no more conservative than our own congregation. Perhaps even less so. The style of music was much more contemporary than what our congregation offers, mostly praise songs with a band. It was a much smaller church so the preaching, by comparison, left much to be desired. The style of dress was perhaps even more modern and relaxed than our church. They are struggling within that conference with many of the issues facing our broader denomination today, just like our conference.

Our next visit took us to a church that has recently left this same, so called "conservative", conference. One of their reasons for their leaving was the divorce issue. The women in this congregation appear more conservative and no musical instruments were used in the service. We really enjoyed the singing here. There is something about the simple use of the human voice in praising our Maker that is refreshing. We had no problem with knowing the hymns that were used, even those sung spontaneously during the offering and at the end of the service. Our only concern with this group was the obvious double standard in outward appearance. The men could be anyone you would meet on the street today...but the women wore long hair (always put up into bun style), coverings and dressed modestly. There seems to be one standard for the women and another for the men. Some men had long hair and pretty contemporary clothing. This congregation is presently strugling with the use of musical instruments in their worship service. Several people recently have left this congregation over the instrument issue. The preaching was very biblical and well done. (As a matter of fact, the pastor giving the sermon was at one time pastor of the church we had visited previously.) We noted that this congregation was larger with many families and the facilities were very comfortable.

Our next visit will be to a non-denominational church that uses a traditional service. At least, that is what has be reported to us...and remains to be seen.