CHURCH VISIT - ASSEMBLY OF GOD

This is my third blog post in a series I am doing on our experience visiting churches of various denominational labels, sizes and different styles of services. It is not my intent to be critical, but rather to be real and honest in our experiences. We have established criteria we are looking for at all of the institutional churches we are visiting.  I do not intend to mention the church specifically by name.

I have blogged in the past about Christians who have left and are leaving the institutional church in large numbers. They are leaving for their own spiritual welfare. Most still love God but have become disillusioned or fed up with the institutional church today. I believe this is a timely series. May it open our eyes and our hearts to a deeper personal relationship with Jesus.

CHURCH CRITERIA

~DENOMINATIONAL LABEL - Assembly of God

~TYPE OF SERVICE
   *Traditional "Classic"

~SIZE OF CHURCH - Large church overall with three Sunday morning services. However, the "Classic" service was sparsely attended.

~FRIENDLINESS - The greeters as well as some of the church folks were very friendly and welcoming

~AVERAGE AGE OF CONGREGATION - 60-65 for this service

~DRESS ATTIRE - Casual to dress

~GREETING - There was a short greeting time at the conclusion of one of the songs

~MUSIC - A praise team/choir comprised of 21 people led the music. A band consisting of a piano, bass guitar, drums and a small brass section.

~BALANCE OF MUSIC VS WORD -  There was a good balance of music and Word.

~TECHNOLOGY UTILIZED - Power Point projector with three screens.  Pastor utilized tablet for his message.

ALTAR CALL/INVITATION - None given.

~ACTIVITIES/PROGRAMS OFFERED - Cell groups, Missions Week coming up and church cleaning day.

~BIBLE VERSION USED- ESV. Pastor did share a couple of Scriptures from the KJV during the message, as well.

~PREACHING STYLE-  Conversational while sitting on a stool.

~USE OF SCRIPTURE - Pastor utilized a good amount of Scripture in his message.

~RELEVANT MESSAGE - I found parts of the message to be somewhat relevant given today's society and church.

~LENGTH OF SERVICE -  1 hour 5 minutes.

~OBSERVATIONS/COMMENTS
~As mentioned previously, this is a large church overall with three services on Sunday morning. The "Classic" service we attended appears to be geared more toward senior citizens with traditional hymns and older choruses. This service started at 8:15 am and was done by 9:20 am. I find it a bit unusual for a Pentecostal church to have such a short service and no altar call. There were 40-50 attendees.
~Pentecostals are also known for having the spiritual gifts in operation. There was no indication of that in this service. That is not to say these spiritual gifts are not on display there, We just did not see them today.
~I am uncertain if I found the pastor boring or if I was just tired, but I found myself dozing off during the message. That's all I'll say about that.

Be watching for my next blog post.

Until next time... enjoy the journey!

Ray