Again, I have changed the name to protect the church and its members. No harm intended. (If you know me well enough, it won't take you any time to figure which church this is!)
We decided that we needed to visit "Williamsburg Christian Church" (WCC) which has ministered to our family for years through sports, home school activities, & AWANA. We dearly love the people and these programs, and here is our honest experience from the Sunday morning we visited...
We arrived at one end of WCC's expansive building, and walked right in without a "How-dee-doo." Now, experience has proven that I don't need 7 people to say "Hi" when I walk in, but I think that greeters do have their place in welcoming people and making sure they know where they're going.
Thankfully, a friend had told me ahead of time where and when the middle school students meet. We dropped off our middle school student and hiked to the complete other end -no kidding it is about 1/5 mile! We headed down one hallway to drop off our preschooler, back out to the main hallway and down to the children's area where we encountered the first person available to ask a question. We were pointed upstairs where one daughter went down the hall to be met by several children who knew her, and they were all so excited! Our other daughter went into to a large room, and the volunteers put her in a group with one of her friends. That was very nice.
Thankfully, a friend had told me ahead of time where and when the middle school students meet. We dropped off our middle school student and hiked to the complete other end -no kidding it is about 1/5 mile! We headed down one hallway to drop off our preschooler, back out to the main hallway and down to the children's area where we encountered the first person available to ask a question. We were pointed upstairs where one daughter went down the hall to be met by several children who knew her, and they were all so excited! Our other daughter went into to a large room, and the volunteers put her in a group with one of her friends. That was very nice.
William & I were finally on our way to our church service. It had taken 25 minutes to deliver our children, and consequently, we had missed most of the music! Outside of the sanctuary was a area with benches full of people. William thought that they were waiting to be let in like they did at our old church. Nope. They were just watching church on the TV outside of the sanctuary. When we got in, I understood why...
That place was cram-packed full of people! Most people that we saw in there were in their 50's and 60's in dresses and suits. We were escorted by an usher about half-way to the front and stumbled over the people on the end to get to some open seats where we all sat butt cheek to butt cheek.
The pastor at WCC is a gifted teacher. He was working through the book of Esther verse-by-verse. I was thankful that he concluded the message with some practical points because he was in the middle of the story, and I think that an average Joe off the street would have been totally lost to start any story in the middle like that.
Looking around the room, I wondered, "How many smaller, life-changing churches could be filled out of this crowd?"
There are only 15 minutes between each of the Sunday morning services, so the massive crowd poured out like molasses as the next herd of worshipers pushed its way in. By the time we got to one end of the building to meet our oldest daughter, she was worried that we had forgotten her. After we collected the younger 3, we hustled toward to the other end to meet our middle school son on his way to find us since he'd been waiting for a long while.
While trekking to and fro, we observed that the people were focused in getting to where they needed to be and didn't interact with us or anybody else. We also passed dear friends that we've know for years who didn't think to help us because they didn't realize that it was our first Sunday visiting since they'd seen us there so much for other activities!
Our middle school student was overwhelmed by the numbers of students. His small group was NOT the small-sized group that he needs to thrive... The girls were ecstatic about meeting up with their friends that they knew from our other activities and were very happy. William & I found no evidence of how to get into an adult Sunday School class, we saw nobody to ask, and hadn't been invited by any friends. It was strange and disappointing.
Having plugged in to programs at this church, I was really hoping that it would have been the place for our family. I would love to be able to sing in a choir, play in the orchestra, and have more fellowship with families like ours who home school and have tender hearts for orphans & adoption, but we need to be in a church that is receptive to visitors and even...seekers.
We had put off visiting this church for about 12 years because we feared its size and a possible disappointment. Sadly, our experience was worse than we feared. You've got to really want to be at WCC to make it happen.
Looking around the room, I wondered, "How many smaller, life-changing churches could be filled out of this crowd?"
There are only 15 minutes between each of the Sunday morning services, so the massive crowd poured out like molasses as the next herd of worshipers pushed its way in. By the time we got to one end of the building to meet our oldest daughter, she was worried that we had forgotten her. After we collected the younger 3, we hustled toward to the other end to meet our middle school son on his way to find us since he'd been waiting for a long while.
While trekking to and fro, we observed that the people were focused in getting to where they needed to be and didn't interact with us or anybody else. We also passed dear friends that we've know for years who didn't think to help us because they didn't realize that it was our first Sunday visiting since they'd seen us there so much for other activities!
Our middle school student was overwhelmed by the numbers of students. His small group was NOT the small-sized group that he needs to thrive... The girls were ecstatic about meeting up with their friends that they knew from our other activities and were very happy. William & I found no evidence of how to get into an adult Sunday School class, we saw nobody to ask, and hadn't been invited by any friends. It was strange and disappointing.
Having plugged in to programs at this church, I was really hoping that it would have been the place for our family. I would love to be able to sing in a choir, play in the orchestra, and have more fellowship with families like ours who home school and have tender hearts for orphans & adoption, but we need to be in a church that is receptive to visitors and even...seekers.
We had put off visiting this church for about 12 years because we feared its size and a possible disappointment. Sadly, our experience was worse than we feared. You've got to really want to be at WCC to make it happen.
I really wish that more churches could serve both well!
Philippians 2:2-4 (NIV)
...then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Wow. I knew it was a big church, but I had no idea HOW big. It sounds exhausting!
ReplyDeleteI wish we still lived there. We would start a home church.
ReplyDeleteI am unsure why churches can not do both, or seek to do both. It would be common sense to grow people in the faith, and then keep them around!!!
ReplyDelete