Church 5 – Calvary Chapel

Church or Reality TV

Beverly Hills
That's where I want to be
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills
Rolling like a celebrity
Livin' in Beverly Hills
*****
The truth is I don't stand a chance
It's something that you're born into
And I just don't belong

—Lyrics from the song, Beverly Hills, by Weezer

Calvary Chapel is one of the biggest churches in my town. They have it all—big screens, coffee bar, book store, kids ministries, youth ministries, men’s, women’s and singles’ ministries, schools, broadcast ministries, social media outlets, parenting classes, small groups, Bible study classes, local outreaches and global missions. It is life encompassing, a one-stop shopping center of the Christian religion experience.

Calvary Chapel is one of those denominations that like to refer to itself as non-denominational. I guess it depends upon what your definition of is, is. They are certainly a fellowship of churches with a leadership hierarchy (Sr. Pastor led), boundaries on who is in and who is out (evangelical, dispensational, pretribulationist), strict adherence to teaching distinctives (focused on the inerrancy of the Bible and the expository teaching from Genesis to Revelation). For many in my neighborhood, this feels very safe and very desirable. They have multiple services to handle all the people who call this church home.

This was my first visit to this church, but I felt like I’d seen this show many times before. Everyone was in their place, the service was scripted to the minute, and the stage was awash with camera lights. The man entering the sanctuary in front of me was greeted by a very warm and grinning usher. “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you, sir,” he said, with his cheeks never leaving their upturned state. “Other than living water we don’t allow any beverages inside the service.” The man looked down at the cup in his hand, realizing he’d nearly stepped over a fundamental boundary.

“I’m sorry!” he exclaimed.

“No sin done,” the usher continued, putting his hand on his shoulder and leading him away from the door, “but feel free to finish your java in our outer courtyard. There is a video feed of what is going on inside. Then when you are ready to join us, please do so.”

The chastised man looked down at his drink and then over to the giant screen in the courtyard where a handful of other caffeine lepers stood. “Nah, I’m done with this,” he said, dumping the paper cup burden in a trash receptacle and walking back towards the sanctuary door. I was glad I’d left my coffee mug in my vehicle.

Now I have to admit, I was more than a bit critical during this service. It isn’t that I found anything wrong with what was happening, it is that as professional clergy I have been trained to nit-pick this style of professional service to death in order to give feedback on how to do it better for the next service or the next weekend. It is hard for me to relax and take the content of the service in when it has become second nature for me to evaluate its effectiveness. I am a living, breathing, church service Neilson rating.

If I was a church consultant, or if the senior pastor asked my opinion, I would let him know the following:

• There wasn’t enough light for people to be seated once the song service started.
• There was not enough greeting time after the worship service. There was more time given in the announcements about going to church functions so you could get to know people than time in the service while people were already in the church for them to get to know each other.
• You preached too long.
• You didn’t have a good closing point to your expository teaching and the crowd wasn’t sure how to respond.
• You forgot to mention the prayer ministry team, standing up front, waiting to pray for people.
• It was tacky to tell the congregation that there were cameras in the sanctuary making sure no one took money from the offering plate.

The church was very into their own vision, but they didn’t seem very interested in me.

• You were only asked to fill out the visitor card if there was something more you wanted to know about the church. They didn’t have anything to indicate that they wanted to know more about me.
• There were no directions on what to do with the visitor card if I decided to fill it out.
• The pastor did mention a Church Family Booklet that I could pick up in the foyer, but I couldn’t locate one. It was much easier to find a booklet on what is wrong with the Mormon view of Jesus. I finally found a couple behind a church desk and asked for the handout. The man looked at me like I’d asked for a Vietnamese version of The Shack. His wife disappeared into the office to try to locate one. I walked out of the building with more documentation and church history than contained in the book of Acts.
• There will be no follow up from this church because they don’t even know that I was there.

It was hard to distinguish if I was in a church service or a member of a live audience TV program.

• Although I was only eight rows back, it was easier to watch the pastor on the giant screen than it was to look directly at him.
• Half the crowd would awkwardly clap at the end of each song in the worship service like it was a performance.
• There were so many commercials for other events in the week and so many references to upcoming messages in the teaching series that I felt like I was watching the Calvary Chapel network.
• For those who are used to church in this manner, there isn’t anything distasteful to choke on. You can plug in, tune in (or out), and select the exact programming to fit your interest. There is a place for you in this church if you want to be the next Chuck Smith as well as for those who just want to sit back and be fed another message. There is nothing bad about going to church this way. There is also nothing wrong with finding your marriage partner on The Bachelor. It works for some. But for me, it’s really awkward, and showy, and impersonal.

I was sad when I drove away from the church; not because I was in disagreement or opposed to doctrine, but because I felt like they’d tried to impress me. I wasn’t looking for excellence; I was looking to be embraced.

You don’t have to be rich
To be my girl
You don’t have to be cool
To rule my world
Ain’t no particular sign I’m more compatible with
I just want your extra time and your kiss

—Lyrics from the song, Kiss, by Prince, on my radio as I left Calvary Chapel

Week 5 Preview – The Bigger the Better?

This weekend I’ll attend one of the Mega Churches in town. They are a BIG CHURCH. I’ve heard reports of their attendance and been told that the numbers seem inflated, like stuffed ballot boxes in Chicago. I’m not sure I trust the criticism though; it came from one of the staff members at another Mega Church in town.

How does your church count your attendance? Some churches pass attendance logs down the pews so they can keep an exact count of who showed and who didn’t. Some report with the numbers on their membership rolls, not the actual butt cheek imprints on their padded pews. I staffed a church that hired a counter on Sundays to walk around each service to count every head from the newborns on up to the eldest elders. They’d count the same head again if the person was present on the church property for the next service. We counted everything, as if numbers were the ultimate indication of our weekly success.

In our town it sometimes feels like the Mega Churches are the monsters that battle each other over the city like Godzilla and Gigan. Now you wouldn’t hear these pastors say anything negative in public about each other. They pat each other on the back and talk up each other’s ministries. They sit beside each other at community prayer meetings and even bring their churches together on evangelistic crusades. But in back rooms I’ve also heard some of these same pastors talk about the other large churches in town like they are they competition, and discuss the other senior pastors as if they were business rivals instead of men of God.

This church that I’ll be attending this week is known as a solid church in our community. They have good local ministries and foreign missions. They have good teaching within their walls and good outreaches outside them. Their building is big, but not gaudy. They are big enough to have multiple services on multiple days. They have a radio ministry, a TV ministry, and more parking than several car lots combined.

Don’t get me wrong, I like big church. There are tons of things a big church can do that smaller ones can’t. But when they morph into monsters, it is scary.

This weekend I’ll attend a Mega Church that is promoting that a traveling band is in town to lead their worship. I’ll also watch 1980’s pop stars Tiffany and Debbie Gibson star in Mega Python Vs Gatoroid on the SyFy channel. Both programs should be entertaining.

Staying in the Closet

I planned to visit the Metropolitan Community Church this coming weekend.

There are several churches in my area that are rainbow friendly.

• The United Church of Christ was the first denomination in our country to ordain an openly gay pastor.
• One of the local, liberal Jewish synagogues welcomes LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender) people.
• The Quakers recognize same-sex marriage even though there are laws in our country against it.
• The Episcopal Church encourages members of sexual minorities to attend.
• The Unitarian Church is open to everyone, even Jedi’s.

But the church I intended to visit this weekend, the Metropolitan, is the church that was founded for the purpose of meeting the spiritual needs of the LGBT community. Unfortunately their meeting time conflicts with a gathering I have with my extended family. If I show up late, I will get grilled as to where I was. If they find out I’ve been down at the Metropolitan the secret will be out. THEY WILL KNOW I’M VISITING CHURCHES.

I’ll put the Metropolitan thing off for another week because I’m just not ready to come out yet.

Church 4 – Assembly of God

Shaking Hands with the Happy Clappy Church

So what do you get when you take excited, Spirit-filled Christians, mix them with common vision, divine calling, and live music? That’s right, an emotional, loud, God-loving, church service.

Worship is the new Pentecostal hairdo- the bigger, the better and apparently the more spiritual. While the other churches I’ve visited this year had one or two people on microphones for the song service, this church had five. Two men and three woman stood on the edge of the stage performing like it was the semi-finals of America’s Who’s Got Talent. I was intrigued to see that they had built an enclosed cage for the drummer. I thought it was probably needed to mute the clanging cymbals in the acoustically challenged room, but when I saw that the drummer actually looked like Animal from the Muppet Show, I wondered if the box was for safety reasons.

The Worship Leader told us all to stand and to raise our hands. I don’t mind standing up with the rest of a crowd, whether it is to see the football field or the quintet on stage, but I’ll be darned if I am going to be directed at how and when to worship God like we are playing Simon Sez. I will fold my hands, close my eyes, jump up and down and fall to my knees, but I want to do these things when they are authentic physical responses to what I am sensing spiritually. Just raising my hands because everyone else is seems like going through the hand motions.

When the songs were over the worship leader directed us to sit down. I think he’d seen right over the crowd to my disobedience. “Do we have any visitors today? If so, would you please raise your right hand?” I complied. “Thank you!” he continued. “Now if you’d like a visitor’s packet, please raise your left hand.” I slowly and very begrudgingly raised my other hand. I’d been beaten by a better man.

It was missions emphasis Sunday at this Assembly of God church just down the street from my home. This week, and next, instead of regular service programming the focus shifts to the work being done by this church denomination outside of the US borders. The offering special (meaning the music being performed on stage while the offering bags are passed row by row) was performed by a group of refugee women in their native clothing. It was different, and entertaining. I saw several people nod to each other as if to say, “Isn’t that special?!” but a few of the older crowd didn’t look too impressed.

The pastor introduced one of the refugee men, who gave up his native dress for a Men’s Warehouse suit. He tried to share his story with an abundance of English words, but it was hard to track all his thoughts. What he very effectively communicated, however, was how difficult it was to live in a refugee camp with his family for almost a decade. He was gracious to God for getting them through that time; gracious for all the blessings they were experiencing in America now, and very thankful to have found a church family. Any church in any neighborhood in America would be a blessing for this man. I am glad he and his family made it.

There was an awkward dance on stage as the pastor tried to move in to take over the microphone, and moved back when the refugee man raised his voice or quickened his speech. It is an old Jimmy Swaggart trick that this man has picked up without being in the denomination very long. Finally the pastor moved in, took control over the mic without breaking from his smile, and moved on to introducing the next guest speaker.

There were great missionary stories all morning long. At the end, the pastor asked for everyone to grab a pledge card before they went home. Next week they will collect them to see how much money has been promised to missions over the next 12 months. The Assemblies of God churches make missions one of their major emphases. They have a giving program for the little kids church (bringing their change to buy Bibles for other countries), to the youth department (buying vehicles for missionaries), and then the adults fund the rest. 95% of the donations given to missions in the AofG denomination go straight to the field. They have one of the lowest overheads for a non-profit group.

There are aspects of this style of church that come across as disingenuous to me. But it is the style that get’s on my nerves, not the people. I liked them and they were kind to me. I need to remember that.

Week 4 Preview — Merging Churches

It isn’t unheard of for a denomination to mothball a ministry that costs too much to run. While we are uncomfortable at the thought of evaluating the value of a church to its community solely by its financial status, it is often that the dollar bill has as much sway in our church board rooms as God does.

Recently the Vatican made a ruling that ten Boston-area parishes would be closed despite the protests from their parishioners over the past six years. The police may be called in to force an end to the standoff that has had round-the-clock vigils to keep the three of the churches occupied. Altogether the Catholic denomination has closed 66 parishes in the Boston area. Decisions are being made for the neighborhood without taking the needs/desires of the local community.

In other denominations it isn’t the officials who call all the shots when to consolidate their franchise locations. The church that I will visit this weekend merged with one of its smaller sister churches this last year. It was a decision that was made at the local level with the pastors, their boards, and their congregations.

Some of the benefits include

• The dwindling church of 50 members no longer feels the pressure of the mortgage, the pastors’ salaries, and trying to keep the ministry afloat.
• The pastors from the closed church were given roles on staff, and salaries, at the new church.
• The congregation has a similar church to attend, as a group, instead of the members trying to find new churches individually.
• The merged church changed its name so that everyone from both congregations could feel they were part of something new.

Some of the inconveniencies include

• Change is hard.
• Not everyone thought throwing in the towel was the change that was needed. What about a change of leadership? Of vision? Of method? There was a reason that the church had dwindled.
• It’s hard to celebrate “a win,” when what this bailout feels like for some is a loss.
• The neighborhood lost its Pentecostal anchor on the corner.

Have you ever experienced a church merger? What was the outcome for you?

Church 3 – Independent

This is For All the Lonely People

—Song by America, heard this morning on the radio on my way to the Independent Church

I was a few minutes late getting to church this morning. It was foggy, rainy, and I needed a second cup of coffee before waddling out into cold, duck weather. I entered the church’s front doors with a few other people, wiping our feet on the welcome mats, but missing any welcome handshakes. There was a desk right inside the door that had a sign about visitors, but it was unmanned. There were six gentleman sitting on the plush chairs just outside this area, but they were too busy to notice my stuttering glances at the empty welcome center so I passed them by.

A couple of doors to my right had “No Entry During Service” on them, while another said, “Enter Quietly.” I hoped I wasn’t opening a door near the stage so I pulled it open very carefully. Thankfully it and all of the non-entry doors were in the back of the room and I hadn’t interrupted the message or found the back way into the baptismal.

The service at this church is held in the gymnasium because the sanctuary wing hasn’t been built yet. The bleacher section serves as a stage, a cross is located where the scoreboard might hang, and the basketball hoops are all been winched up tight to the ceiling. Having staged more than a couple of church services myself in a gym I check the bottom of the blue padded chairs—indeed, all of the legs were properly fitted with rubber bottoms so that the gym floor wouldn’t get scratched.

The early service was at least ten times more populated than the Baptist service I attended last week. Though I was impressed with the comfortable atmosphere that this larger church had been able to create in a gym, I missed the warmth and hospitality of the smaller congregation. If you want to go to a church and hide, pick a big one; it’s much easier to not be seen. This morning I shook hands with no one, had to seek out an usher for a bulletin, filled out nothing intended for a visitor, and felt absolutely no motivation to stop back at the visitor’s center on my way out.

I did stop by their wall of pamphlets and handouts. I started at the top, left hand corner, like I was reading a book. The first pamphlet was “Policy for Handling Matters of Church Intervention.” It outlined the procedures and policies this church has for disciplining church members and regular attendees when they are caught in sin. Besides grabbing a Welcome booklet on the way out the door, I decided I didn’t really want any more of their church documents.

This is a Bible-centric church. There was a Bible reading by a lady in a black pant suit and a ponytail before the pastor came forward to teach. His message covered only two verses, and next week, he said, will cover just one. The Pastor even packaged a take home study guide in the bulletin and he encouraged the congregation to read more scripture at home, wrestle with the issues themselves, and join the upcoming Bible study training at the church, named after his father, Herman Uticks.

The message covered the five ministry roles that God gave the church (Eph 4:11-12). The pastor’s main point was that it is hard to build without tools, so everybody needs to be doing their part. Then he went through the five ministries.

• Apostle—The pastor taught that this role was only about the original 12 of Jesus’ handpicked disciples. Well, not Judas, of course, but it included Matthias, who was chosen to replace the traitor by means of a divine coin flip.
• Prophet—This was a role needed in the OT, when the Bible wasn’t finished, but one that isn’t necessary any longer now that the full will of God has been revealed through his word. No one gets to be a prophet in this pastor’s church.
• Evangelist—The church, and the world, need lots of evangelists today to share the message of the Bible so people can get saved. The pastor was very excited about this role.
• Pastors/Teachers—Though some see these as two different jobs, this pastor said they were meant to be one (check the Greek, he said), and that true pastors/teachers had to have both expressions. (That would rule out a great many of the Pastors and Teachers I know.)

So at the end of the message I was less sure of the passage than I was before the meeting began. Instead of having a solid five-fold ministry foundation, this pastor had narrowed it down to two. Fewer people on the payroll, I guess, but not sure how this proved his point that it’s hard to build without tools. It’s also hard to build without builders.

There were parts of the church service that I enjoyed.

• The congregation had the freedom to stand, sit, raise their hands, etc when they wanted; and the music service didn’t feel overly scripted.
• One of the worship songs we sang echoed the sentiments right out of my own heart.
• The pastor was a very good story teller and he got out from behind the pulpit, came down from the stage and gave his message closer to the people, which seemed very friendly.
• During the prayer time the leader prayed for specific needs in the congregation. There may have been 300 people in attendance, but during prayer time it felt like a family all around the dinner table, praying for individuals and needs by name.

My favorite part of the morning was this prayer time. The prayer leader asked us to close our eyes and picture God as an elementary school principal, who is loved by all the kids. We were to run up to him in our imaginations like the first graders would on the playground when the principal came out to check on and play with them all.

I liked my elementary principal a lot. He liked me too, and I could tell he cared about me even when I got in trouble or was caught cheating.

My childhood principal used to go to this same church. He got in trouble too, for cheating with another man’s wife. This Independent Church used what they have decided are Biblical principles to discipline him; probably with the same procedures set forth in the policy handout that I picked up from the wall. When the church was done with him, he didn’t think they liked him very much. They asked him to leave.

When I close my eyes and picture God as a principal, by both experience and example, I can feel loved and cared for; but when I close my eyes and consider hanging out any longer in this corner of my neighborhood, I feel lonely.

Week 3 Preview – Whether or not to Stay in the Neighborhood

In week 1 I attended a church service in the same church building where I went to services as a child. This week I venture further out in my town to visit the congregation that left that building to build a bigger campus on the outskirts of our fair city.

Why do churches move out of their neighborhoods? What statement does it make? From the church’s perspective I suspect that it reveals their vision is larger than their neighborhood. Since America has very mobile citizens who have the means of traveling from one side of town to the other, churches can target a whole city with their vision and don’t have to be limited to the current size of their building or neighborhood. Prime real estate for a church is very little different than for a shopping center or strip mall; growth is all about location, location, location.

Of course bigger buildings, with people driving from miles around requires vast amounts of asphalt for parking lots- another reason our churches need bigger acreage. There wasn’t enough room in the old location for all the vehicles. But something to remember is that when the church was located on the neighborhood corner, people could actually walk there.

At least to me it seems that when a church moves into a neighborhood and makes the focus of their attention the people in their immediate vicinity, community has great potential. The neighbors might actually get the idea that the church is there for them. Unfortunately that message can get easily lost when the church moves out of the area. Though the church may try to communicate that they exist for the people (and may honestly believe that sentiment), when the church makes decisions that are centered on their own vision, people learn that they are expected to make themselves available for the church.

I have to be honest and admit that I’ve had more conversations about our church’s parking lot and whether or not we needed a Disneyland trains to get people into the sanctuary than I’ve ever had about our immediate neighbors. Hell, I don’t even know their names.

I don’t suppose the folks at church #3 who moved away will remember mine either.

Can I Get an AMEN?!

The church I visited last week has a culture of congregational interaction. This means that not only can the church members speak up during various parts of the service; they are encouraged to do so. Several times when they weren’t being vocal enough the pastor would cajole them into doing so. “Can I get an Amen?”

“AMEN!” The church would respond, happy to keep the energy flowing in the service.

The couple that sat next to me was polar opposites when it came to interacting. She walked into church first; he followed a few minutes later, perhaps after parking the car or visiting the men’s room. She would be the first to stand up; he’d wait until the pastor requested it. She reached into her purse three separate times for her checkbook, lipstick, and breath mints; he kept his arms folded throughout the service. She sang loudly; he’d mumble through a few lines of a hymn when she pointed to the words in the hymnal held in front of his face.

But after observing them for the whole service, I’m not so sure he is an introvert as much as he just knows his wife will be vocal enough in the service for the both of them. He was right.

Strike One

Although most of the songs were 20^th century hymns and spirituals, there was one song that the congregation didn’t seem to know very well. While the pastor slowed up the piano and began to teach it line by line, Pamela spoke up and told the Pastor that it would be a lot easier if the words to the song were up on the screen. It was a passive/aggressive request, and I wondered how the pastor would publically deal with the admonishment for not being up to date with technology.

“When I was little, our church often didn’t have money for church books or the electricity for the lights. We’d learn the songs anyway and just sing them with all our heart to Jesus! I’d suggest we do the same thing this morning. Then when we have someone step up who will be CONSISTENT with helping with the lyrics on Sunday morning we will use the newer technology.”

We learned and sang the song without any modern assistance.

Strike Two

During the prayer segment of the sermon, the pastor covered several needs that were in the congregation and the community. Obviously attempting to get the church to pray without sharing too many personal details, the pastor talked in general about a pressing emergency that a family was experiencing. Pamela glanced to her left and her right, to the families in front of her and behind her, trying to figure out who was missing from the church role. Finally, exasperated she loudly asked, “Well, Pastor, who is it?”

The pastor patiently smiled and asked us all to pray even when we didn’t have names to match the requests.

Foul Ball

During the message a cell phone rang. Of course it was Pamela’s. She struggled to get back into her purse, find the gadget blaring the William Tell Overture, and push the appropriate button to turn the offending noise maker off. The pastor ignored the interruption, but looked perturbed.

“Oh look,” Pamela said to her husband, holding the cell phone in front of him. “Look who it is!” He glanced down at the screen but made no comment, nor uncrossed his arms. Pamela put the phone back into her purse, sat the purse under her chair, and focused back on the pastor.

Strike Three

Moments later it rang again!

The pastor, knowing exactly whose phone it was, asked the whole congregation, “Whose phone keeps interrupting the service?”

“It’s mine,” Pamela announced to the pastor. “I was trying to turn it off but I’m not sure how… The great thing is I’ve been trying to get in touch with this person for six months!”

Pastor just stared at her.

She stared back.

No one else dared blink or breathe.

Pamela finally stood and said, “I think I’ll take this call outside…”

The pastor turned to the congregation, “Amen?”

We all knew the desired response, even Pamela’s husband mumbled it.

“AMEN!”

"As in all the congregations of the Baptists, noisy women named Pamela should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Pastor requires. If they want to keep speaking up about something while interrupting the service, they should wait to do it at home with their own husbands over lunch.”
(1 Cor. 14:33b-36 If Paul had been writing to this particular church).

Church 2 – American Baptist

“This is my story, this is my song.”

Fanny J. Crosby – Blessed Assurance

One of my friends in high school used to mow the lawn at the Baptist church down the block. His family attended this fellowship and made this chore one of his weekly responsibilities. The building and the property are more run down these days than when he was doing their yard work. The behemoth TV satellite dish at the south side of the church is from that same era. It is way too large for the roof, has its own cement foundation and surrounding chain link fence, and looks like it is part of NASA’s broadcasting network.

I showed up five minutes early and walked to the wrong entrance. What looked like the church’s front door went to the Sunday School wing and the door was still locked. I made my way around the side of the building and found the door into the foyer.

It was a cold and dreary winter day on the outside but it warmed up immediately once I stepped inside the church. I’m not sure if Kimberly was the official greeter or not, but she is definitely has the type of comforting personality that you want hanging out near the doors to welcome people to the service. She asked the typical questions you would to a new face, never losing eye contact with me as she handed me a bulletin and apologized to me for the lingering symptoms of her sinus infection.

Two or three more people were immediately pleased to make my acquaintance and make me feel welcome. I took a seat three rows from the front along with a Baptist hymnal to guide me through the service outlined in the bulletin. Organ music played quietly in the background and Kimberly and the trumpet player struggled to get the Power Point image from the laptop onto the screen behind the pulpit. The technology seemed to have caught Kimberly’s virus too.

The pastor came on to the stage from a back room and sat down at the piano. I heard a church member a row behind me detailing to her guest (an aunt from out of town) that the pastor not only preached each Sunday, but also led the music service. I started looking for signs of weariness on the pastor’s face but I couldn’t detect any stress once the fingers started pressing the ivories into notes of joy. The next half hour was pure bliss! Since the church wasn’t large enough for a choir, the congregation all joined their pastor in song.

The eight year old girl sitting in front of me belted out the songs like a Black, gospel soloist and I joined in behind her like one of her backup singers. The lady next to me touched my arm between songs and told me what a nice voice I had. Since all the songs and hymns were familiar to me from my childhood, I felt very comfortable participating. The only surprise is that the pastor played the music with more Honky-tonk rhythm than I thought was permissible in a church sanctuary. I made up my mind to invite my wife back to this church to enjoy this expression of joy, wondering if I’ll have to wait a whole year for my project to be over before I’ll get a chance to do so.

One of the deacons came forward to give the “Call to Worship.” He described the church as being a filling station for the community. He encouraged those in attendance not to just get a gallon or two of fuel but to top off their tank. I considered what I would take away from this morning for my experience in this neighborhood worship.

The pastor spoke about having an anchor, about having a safe place in a storm, about being tied securely to something more significant to yourself. People were moved (audible responses) when the shootings in Arizona were mentioned by the pastor. It made sense in the context of what was being discussed for the church to wrestle with the pain and the tragedies felt outside the church doors.

We were all invited to the front at the end of the service to join hands in prayer as one body. I may have only been introduced to this group 90 minutes before, but I felt a part of them. After one visit, I still don’t know many particulars of an American Baptist church, but I sure do like this particular filling station located at the end of the street.

Seeking to Understand

I expect to encounter 50 different points of view about God on my project this year. Some may land close to my own; some will be very, very different. I’m challenged with how I’m going to relate to those who practice their religious beliefs different than me.

I’ve grown up in a Christian culture that is very quick to highlight differences and very reluctant to find common ground. Our pressing need to be right and to press our opinions and theologies on others can leave us far from the peace that is Jesus. If an outsider evaluated our theology based on how we live they’d probably assume that Jesus installed a dividing wall of hostility instead of destroying it.

Author and Theologian Ed Cyzewski speaks to this issue in his blog post titled, The Call to Love All: What to Do When Someone Dares to Disagree with You.

There is a false sense among some of us that certainty leads to combativeness and conflict. I can, in fact, be completely secure in my faith and beliefs about Jesus and still seek to understand other perspectives in redemptive conversations.

If we truly are secure in our beliefs, we actually have no reason to fight others. What do we personally stand to gain?

It is far more important to begin our interaction with other beliefs by seeking to understand them. How can we critique what we do not understand?

Click here to read Cyzewski’s full article.

And so I’m venturing into my neighborhood a little farther this week, hoping to understand more.

How do you get to understand people who believe different from you?

Week 2 Preview

I’m going to a Baptist church this weekend. I thought I’d do a little research and find out which flavor of Baptistism I would be sampling. I presumed there were three main types- the Southern Baptists (the largest with over 16 million members), the American Baptists (who trace their history to the first Baptist church in America), and the Reformed Baptists (who are the Calvinistic stalwarts).

Boy was I way off the mark (which is how some Baptists define ‘sin’). Wikipedia lists 62 different Baptist denominations in the United States alone! Here are some facts about the Baptists you may not have known.

• The denomination with the shortest name is the Regular Baptists. They used to be known as the Particular Baptists, which was to distinguish them from the General Baptists.
• The denomination with the longest name is the National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the U.S.A. This is an African-Americans missions body that broke off of the National Baptist Convention of America in 1937. For a while this denomination was headquartered in Boise, Idaho, which isn’t really known for its diversity. Now the denomination is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.
• The Six-Principle Baptists got their start in Rhode Island with the ministry of Roger Williams, who also founded the State.
• The group with the most interesting name (and extreme Calvinistic doctrine) is the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists, who are commonly referred to as “anti-mission” Baptists. They teach that you were either born or good stock or evil stock and that your eternal dwelling place has already been determined, thus missions are a waste of time and money.
• The most infamous Baptist church, an independent one,  is Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church. They’ve unfortunately made their hate-filled presence known in my community. Have they ever protested something in yours?

I will be attending one of the oldest American Baptist Churches in my town. The pastor has a unique background, has been influential in education, social work and historical preservation in my state. I look forward to worshipping alongside this congregation.

Do you attend an American Baptist Church? What should I expect this weekend?

Inspiration

There are a handful of creative people have inspired me with their lifestyle experiments and writing:

A.J. Jacobs

Although being a human guinea pig isn’t always an easy journey, A.J. Jacobs has continued to entertain his readers at the same time as bettering his own life. His book, The Year of Living Biblically, is a classic.

Kevin Roose

In his book, The Unlikely Disciple, Kevin Roose shares the story of transferring from very liberal Brown University to Jerry Fallwell’s far right and religious Liberty University. This book is a frighteningly honest look inside a Christian world from an outsiders view, but is hardly dismissive.

Ed Dobson

At face value Pastor Dobson’s book appeared to be the Christian version of A.J. Jacobs book, but in The Year of Living like Jesus, Dobson focuses less on the particulars of the experiment and more on his own personal growth. He made a focus of experiencing aspects of Christianity that were very unfamiliar to his background, and yet very meaningful for his development.

Rachel Held Evans

The inspiring author of Evolving in Monkey Town is in the middle of her own social experiment this year. Starting in October, Rachel began living out a Year of Biblical Womanhood, following all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible. Reading about the her experiences along the way is fascinating and I can’t wait for her book to be released.

Morgan Spurlock

Though most people know Spurlock for his documentary Super Size Me, about eating only at McDonalds for a month, I’ve been more impressed with his fantastic TV series on FX called 30 Days. In this reality show Morgan puts himself or others in a real world environment usually very opposite of where they normally live. It is a fantastic and thought provoking show.

Timothy Kurek

Though I won’t steal this new writer’s thunder by sharing any details before his book is published, his dedication to living life in someone else’s shoes was full of compassion and sacrifice. The story will no doubt get some religious tongues a clucking, but will certainly help spark some significant, healthy dialog.

…

When I look at the above list and compare it to my own experiment, just going to a different church service every week for a year sounds like a pretty minimal challenge. Yet my heart is full as I feel both the freedom and the desire to press forward into a realm that before would have been unheard of for me.

Church 1 - Christian and Missionary Alliance

I decided to start my experiment by going back to the beginning. My earliest recollections of church are at a building not too far from my current home. The building has housed several different types of Christian churches through the year, but I imagined I’d have a bigger emotional impact by first visiting the building rather than the actual congregation of people that used to meet in that location. (I’ll visit them later in the year.) Now the building is home to the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church.

Driving up to the church was sad. I parked near the back of the building where the playground used to be. This was also the same building where I started elementary school so I had spent a lot of time on the playground equipment with childhood friends in this back lot. This is where we played ‘boys chase the girls’ around the old fashioned merry-go-round and where I watched a classmate on the swing set try to swing so high that he’d flip all the way around the bar. He flew out and broke both arms and the fire department had to come. It was pretty cool. Now the playground is entirely gone. Someone literally paved my childhood paradise and put up a parking lot.

Some of the things inside the building were different too. The pews had been replaced with padded chairs. The balcony was empty and the entrance was blocked. But the smell was the same. As soon as I opened one of the big double doors I caught the aroma of fundamentalism that I’d remembered from those early years. I paused in the foyer to glance around at the surrounding classrooms and remember classmates and teachers that have such solid places in my memories.

I was a bit surprised to be standing in the foyer alone. I arrived five minutes earlier than the starting time that had been advertised on the church’s website and posted on their doors. They hadn’t waited though; the three man band was already into their first or second song when I found a seat in the sanctuary.

There was some disorganization. It was the first Sunday of the year and the Sr. Pastor was still on his holiday break. The Christmas decorations and banners were still spread throughout the sanctuary; then again, I haven’t put mine away at home either. The comment cards, to be filled out and put into the offering baskets weren’t on the chairs so there was a mad rush to make sure all of the visitors, meaning me, had one.
The man who gave the announcements made reference to this being the first service of the New Year and was hopeful that 2011 would be better for the church than 2010 had been. “Do you realize we only meet like this for 78 hours the entire year?” he asked the congregation. 52 weeks at 1.5 hour sessions on Sundays aren’t really that big of a commitment, I realized. How a church uses this time on the weekend certainly impacts the rest of their practices and outreach to their local community.

The hour and a half spent this weekend was used to differentiate between their church community and society. The associate pastor even made several distinctions between the type of “wise” Christians he was asking the congregation to be as opposed to how many other Christians lived. It was hard for me to get past the rhetoric and twice I had to sit on my hands to keep from raising them and challenging one of his offhand comments.

The only further mention of the surrounding community was during the benediction when the pastor prayed that his congregation would all be lights for the lost and dying world. I think that is how they see their gathering, a refuge from the corruption outside and an ark of safety from the coming judgment. It’s not what I expected based on this quote from their denomination’s website:

The Alliance is a unique missionary denomination—a maverick movement into whose soul the Head of the Church breathed “Go!” from the very start. —L.L. King, C&MA President (1978-1987)

The inward struggles of this church and the deviation from the missionary heart of their denomination may be some of the reasons why there were only 35 souls in the building on this Sunday morning, including my own.
When I was a young man in this church I remember my family filing out of the building and getting to shake the pastor’s hand. No one had spoken to me on the way in, during, or now on my way out of the service. The young pastor even glanced down at a text message on his phone when I was in front of him getting my communion elements. Possibly I was too much of an enigma for them, wondering what I was doing in their boat.

Just as I was leaving an elderly gentleman asked me why I was taking so many notes during the service. I stuck out my hand, introduced myself, and then told him I was back visiting the church building after many years away. He relaxed and we spent the next several minutes discussing our town, the pastors and friends we had in common, our missionary adventures around the globe, and his wife that he lost this last summer after 50+ years of marriage. He teared up when I asked him how this Christmas season was without her. At the end of our time together, he reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a gospel track that had his name and address printed on the back. It was the only material I had been given that morning. I plan to write him a note today and drop it in the mail, thanking him for our time of sharing yesterday. For some reason I think that is the only follow up that will take place from this first week of visiting the 50 closest religious institutions near my home.

What is my Background?

I identify myself strongly in the Christian community, having been raised in a Christian home and attended Christian churches and schools my whole life. I grew up in this same neighborhood that I’m participating in this study and have seen it grow and change over four decades.

Why I’m qualified

I’m an expert when it comes to church attendance. Since I can remember I’ve been to multiple services each weekend, supplemented by at least two church based, mid-week meetings. I’ve also worked in churches as either as a volunteer or paid, professional minister for close to two decades. My college degree specializes in Church Ministries.

Why I’m not qualified

Though I’m very experienced in my particular brand of Christianity and the various styles and sizes of churches I’ve attended and worked at through the years, I know very little about the denominations that I’ve not darkened their doors. And when it comes to other religions, most of what I “know” has been handed to me from other people’s opinions and assumptions. Very little is firsthand experience.

What do I expect to change?

I’m not seeking for a new location to worship or a new religion to practice. I’m not out to validate my own forms of following God, create a showdown in the heavenly realms, or try to prove that everyone who doesn’t believe exactly like I do is a heretic and belongs to a cult. I may not change anything or anyone but me. But that should be a good start. I do expect to relate to my community better at the end of this challenge.

Will I be critical?

Probably. I’ll be honest and write about the things that rub me the wrong way. At the same time, I’ll be asking myself why these things got under my skin.

I do not feel the need to be a protector or body guard for Jesus. Since he reserved his harshest words for those who were from his own background, I imagine I’ll do the same.

Am I John Lennon?

No, I can’t imagine the world without various forms of religion, but I am a dreamer. I do think Jesus is more popular than John, but I also think that Jesus knows all of John’s song lyrics by heart and is a huge fan.

Do I think tolerance is a virtue?

No, but respect is.

What else do you think is relevant about my background to this experiment?

Where Am I?

While I am taking steps to understand my community better, I imagine that some of what I find in my neighborhood may be very similar to what others would find near their home.

I hope that blogging about my experience will encourage others to think about their own, especially if they do not find themselves with the time or freedom to do something similar. Because of this, I will not be sharing the specifics of my town or the names of the specific churches I visit. It can be too easy to dismiss other’s experiences with simplistic generalizations:

• “Well that’s because he lives in the Bible belt.”
• “Of course. All the Southern states are that way…”
• “That has to be Cincinnati. Have you ever been to Cincinnati? Pretty sure I know exactly what neighborhood he’s talking about. That’s why we left.”

I know that I am going to be stretched with this exercise and I am putting myself in a position to challenge my preconceptions about my neighbors and learn more about them. I think readers of this blog could also benefit by picturing their own cities, towns and nearby churches when they read about the experiences in mine.

Where am I? Anytown, America, right next door to you.

Who Am I?

I’ve decided to keep my identity under wraps on the blog during this project. For the same reason a food critic keeps their picture out of their newspaper reviews, I won’t purposely advertise my project to the congregations in my neighborhood. I prefer to be treated just like any other visitor.

However, while visiting these congregations I plan to go as myself. I will use my real name, provide a real telephone number (if requested) and the same with an actual mailing address. Although my project is on a need-to-know basis at this time, my interaction with these people at their meetings and any follow up will be genuine.

Although I may do a little research on the upcoming service that I will be attending, I don’t intend to dress up or play a part. I just want to go as me. This  means that some weeks I will easily blend into the crowd, as I will look and dress like most of the people in attendance. Other weeks I will stand out like a PC user at a Mac conference.

Since the title of the blog is “Who Are The Churches In Your Neighborhood,” I’ve been reminded of the famous Sesame Street song, “Who are the People in your Neighborhood?” Long time Sesame Street actor Bob McGrath would sing this song and then introduce the young viewers to a couple of puppets and their local professions. It is a catchy tune and I always liked Bob so I decided to use his name as my blog pseudonym. I hope to introduce my neighborhood to you with as much fun and grace as he always did.

A Diversity of Denominations and Religions

My visitation project amazingly incorporates a very wide range of religious expressions. Not only are there many different Christian denominations in my neighborhood, there are many other religions as well. Although there will be a few duplicate visits (mostly independent and non-denominational churches), most weeks will look very different from all the others.

Here are the types of churches I will be attending:

1. American Baptist
2. Anglican
3. Assembly of God (1)
4. Assembly of God (2) 
5. Baptist
6. Bible Fellowship
7. Calvary Chapel
8. Catholic
9. Christian and Missionary Alliance
10. Church of Christ
11. Church of God of Prophecy
12. Church of the Brethren
13. Community of Christ
14. Disciples of Christ
15. Eckankar
16. Episcopal
17. Evangelical Covenant Church
18. Evangelical Free
19. First Bible Missionary
20. Foursquare
21. Fundamental
22. Home church
23. Independent
24. Islamic
25. Jehovah Witnesses
26. Jewish Reformed
27. Jewish Orthodox (Chassidic)
28. LDS
29. Lutheran
30. Mennonite
31. Methodist
32. Metropolitan Community Church
33. New Age
34. New Apostolic
35. Non-denominational
36. Orthodox Christian Church
37. Pentecostal
38. Presbyterian
39. Quaker
40. Russian Orthodox Church
41. Scientology
42. Seventh-Day Adventist
43. United Church of Christ
44. Vineyard

Notably missing from my neighborhood are the Nazarenes, who left the area a few years back for greener and bigger pastures on the other side of town. Who else is missing from my list that you would find in your neighborhood? Is your neighborhood as diverse as mine?

A Year of Church Visitation

In 2011 I plan to visit the 50 closest religious institutions near my home. Why? Same reason George Mallory gave for climbing Mt. Everest, “Because it is there.”

Some people think that climbing ridiculously tall mountains is a fool’s game. Those same people will think that spending a year attending a new church every week is a form of sadomasochism. It probably is, but I’m still excited about this little adventure.

My Motivation

I drive by local churches every day on my way to the post office, work, and supermarket. I’m familiar with their names and the clever sayings on their reader boards, but I don’t know that much about what happens inside. I’m curious to find out more.

I know I have some preconceived ideas about many of the religions and denominations around me, though I have no real experience with them. And though I doubt going to their place of worship just one time will overturn all of my biases, I am expecting to walk away from this exercise with more understanding of who is in my community, what they care about, and what they have to offer.

There is a church
There is a steeple
I’m opening the doors
To find all the people

I no doubt will have some revelations along the way about how this project could shape up. At this point I’m going into it with an open mind and an open hand. Besides talking to my immediate family, I’ve shared this little adventure with no one – not an agent, a publisher, or my therapist.

I plan to blog about these 50 visits and it will be interesting to see how other people react to what I find and share. I look forward to the interaction.

More to come. My first church visit is tomorrow morning!