It has been a while since I have visited an evangelical church...and this one definitely had a similar feel to Eastridge Church and Meadow Creek Chapel. I mean this in regards to the aesthetics, the church like the website is clean and polished and very corporate/concert feeling. This was made greater by the pastors books being sold at the entrance (generally a red flag for me - Hello Mars Hill) and a hip cafe that sold coffee to the congregants.
There were some great differences this time though, first it was easy to be invisible. Which I appreciated. It made it possible to leave early when I had to catch my bus, and to fully experience the great Christian rock concert music. Which a question I have for believers.
Is the modern Christian rock of today in Churches meant to be like the psalms of old? There is a romantic feel to the music though thankfully some sorrow thrown in to a good degree. I always saw the psalms as people wrestling with themselves and God as that glass in which they could see themselves and their hopes and fears through. If Christian Rock is meant to be this (even if I'm not a big fan of it because of my love of the more traditional sounding stuff), I can appreciate it more.
The second difference (since I wasn't around for the sermon so I don't know if they were conservative or liberal leaning) was that they were active. They had missions were they were doing more than building churches for believers...they were helping local areas improve housing and orphans have schooling. That was somethign great and actually living love in the world. Which I appreciated. Both Meadow Creek and Eastridge had way too much naval gazing and all events and money went just into that community...
The third difference was diversity. There was a great variety of race and age which I hadn't really seen in many evangelical churches which have largely been white.
It was an interesting experience, and definitely not what I was expecting.
Have you ever come back to visit and enjoy a message?
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