A Different Kind of Church

(I started this days ago, and I got really busy. I didn't go back on Sunday because I had to work, but as long as I don't have to work on Thursday, I will be going back. Also, I'm not saying the name of the church because I don't want to just yet; just in case it doesn't work out. Anyways...)

So, I just realized that I never updated about the church hunt, so here it is.

Last Saturday night, my roommate and I spent about an hour and a half Googling churches in the Chicago area, and let me tell you, the are way too many of them. I really didn't think we were going to be able to find one before Sunday morning, but we did.

Now, as I mentioned before, my roommate, Anna, went to a Methodist church for a while, and her last church was actually a house church with about fifteen members. For those of you that know me, you know that that is completely different than what I'm used to. My old church is on the larger end of the spectrum and it is a non-denominational evangelical church and the BCM was, well, Baptist based. Now, I'm not going to go into detail about how Methodism and Evangelicalism are different other than, Methodism is similar to Catholicism and Evangelicalism is not like Catholicism. (Use Wikipedia, that's what I did. lol) Anyway, so I was a little concerned that we wouldn't like the same church, and while I know that we don't have to go to the same church, it makes things a lot easier if you go into something new with someone else.

So we found a church that looked promising, and we were really enthused because it had one thing we were really looking for. We really wanted was a college/university ministry, so we could get to know other people our age in the church we went to. So Sunday morning we took the bus to church.

Now this church is considered a megachurch. It's average congregation on a Sunday morning is between 4,000-6,000 people. It's about 4 times bigger than my old church. (But it's also not the largest church I've ever been to either. In the summer of 2005 when I spent the summer in Florida with my aunt, I went to a church that had a weekly average attendance of 15,000 people per Sunday.) But one thing that separates it from other megachurches is the sanctuary. It actually looks like a cathedral on the inside with stained glass and everything. It is truly beautiful. It's kind of weird to see the contemporary band in that sanctuary. Anyway, I've gotten off topic.

So we were late by like five minutes because Google Maps told us that the bus would be the fastest and the easiest, but it wasn't. When we walked in we were given a program. Now, I'm not talking about a list of announcements and other service times. It was a program, complete with what songs would be sung and what scriptures would be read and in what order they would be sung and read. Also, it began promptly at 9:50 and had to end by 11:30 because they have Sunday school classes, which they call communities, that start at 11:30. I am definitely not used to that kind of structure or that short of a service, and the three of you that know me know exactly what I mean ;) . It just doesn't seem like there is any room for deviation from the schedule, and I still don't know how I feel about that.

After the service, I had to run off to work, so I couldn't really explore. I had to wait until Thursday when I would get to see what the college group was like.

So Thursday night Anna and I made our way to the college service. This time we took the train, which was soooooooo much better! Anyway, we were kind of prepared to be asked our names, where we went to school, where we were from, etc. But we weren't prepared for how loud it was going to be when we were trying to answer all of the questions. The band was still practicing, and to be honest, there were a lot of people there. I was kind of nervous, but also very excited about how many people were there. I think it was close to 50. Of course it was the first week they were meeting since summer ended (They work on a semester basis from what I gather.), so there were obviously going to be more people than normal.

Anyway, so the night went like this:

First thing we did was eat. They have dinner together every Thursday before the service. (It was bacon mac & cheese that night, and it was amazing cheesy, bacony goodness! Oh and there was a salad with strawberries in it. Just wanted to make sure you knew it was a balanced meal! lol) Then it transitions into a worship service, and then the college pastor started the message. This semester is going to be a walk through the book of Galatians and after Thursday night, I am definitely looking forward to next week.    {Let me just say that the pastor is AMAZING! He is funny. He really knows what he's talking about. He was asking questions, and he could feed off of any answer one of us gave him. He kind of reminded me of Bro. Jonathan from when I was in the youth group at my old church.}    Anyway, after the message we broke up into small groups. Now Anna and I didn't end up in the same group, and that kind of made me nervous. But the group that I was in turned out to be great. There were only four of us, but we got along great. And after the small groups, it's kind of like you're free to go, but they do go out for coffee or whatever sometimes.

So yeah, I still don't know how I feel about the main worship service on Sundays, but I am loving the college service. They also have a service on Sundays at 11:30, so whenever I don't have to work I will definitely go.

Comments, questions, insight? Please feel free to comment. I am sort of looking for an outsiders perspective.

Until next time,
<3 Amber Marie