Looks Like Church

I tried a new church today. The first thing I noticed was I suddenly realized that the one I decided on this morning was one of the places that had all the people my age that aren’t at my home church. That and I’d never driven downtown on a Sunday morning to my memory. Neither of these things were bad, in fact it made for a new and fresh experience.

Although it was ridiculously different, it was quite nice. First off it was in a rented space, an event center that is. We sat in chairs like I’ve seen at fancy weddings instead of pews. Secondly, there were like 4 musicians and a whopping 5 singers, I’m used to like 5 total people. I’m also used to multi-generational church, at this new church I was surrounded by about 75% people within ten years of my age. Lastly the pastor was actually a man on a screen, since the church has multiple locaitons, I don’t think this is bad necessarily but it does lead to a slightly different experience at least, especially since the pastor didn’t encourage everyone to open their Bibles like my usual pastor does.

The one notable thing I didn’t like about the atmosphere was the lack of a visual of the cross in the sanctuary, it felt like something was missing. My home church doesn’t have a steeple but has a large cross at the front of the sanctuary.

There also wasn’t a benediction, and although this may seem small, I thought it was an oversight, but maybe its about the style of church. I was told after the service that it was technically a different protestant denomination than my home church.

The new church was a good experience overall, and I am certainly considering going back.

As long as a church stays true to the Word of God, and glorifies God in everything, it shouldn’t really matter what a church looks like. That is the message and beliefs/conviction of the church and its leadership are far more important than the visuals or where the church is.

I remembered while writing this that their was a silly song I heard as a kid about what a kid would do if they designed a church.