sunflowerlady Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 All in all, it went pretty well. It was a long drive, so that was a change for us. My dh is a Mr. Punctual, and hates being late. So, he was worried the whole drive whether we would make it on time or not. :001_huh: Really, if we were to arrive late, he wouldn't even want to go in. He is always about fifteen minutes early wherever he goes because he can't stand being late. We arrived about seven minutes early. It is a small church-really small. There were eleven people there including my family of three.:D They said there is another homeschool family who attends there , but they were on vacation. This family has six children. It would have been interesting to meet them. The pastor chatted with us before the service and the people introduced themselves. There was a small table in the back with Christian Liberty Press catalogs and also Vision Forum catalogs. I took a CLP catalog because I love homeschool catalogs and did not get one from them this year. The pastor said he was involved somehow with CLP, but I don't remember how. He also is involved with Whitefield College , which I think is a Christian college where students take courses at home. The service was different in some ways, but still fairly similar to what I am used to as a Baptist. They sang a few hymns that we were familiar with , so that was nice. I was afraid I would not know any of the songs. They also had a seperate book that was Psalms for singing. We did sing one of the Psalms , which they had accopmanying music. The pianist was not there, so they had taped music. They had prayer time which was quite long.;) We are not used to that, but it was fine. The pastor prayed for all the church needs, the nation, etc . The church supports Exodus Mandate ministries-they encourage Christians to homeschool. They also read a section from the Westminster Confession of Faith. The pastor preached out of the book of John where Jesus was praying for the disciples and other believers. The message was about sanctification. It was a good message. He taught how the Lord is the one who justifies us, and he is also the one who sactifies us. I recognized numerous references that I knew came from a Reformed view. Apparently, my study paid off.:) The service was an hour and a half long , which is longer than we are used to . Our church is over in exactly one hour. They did use a different Bible version, I think it was the NASB. We had our KJV Bibles, which is all we own. It was different, but some of the passages were fairly close. All in all, we did like it. We may visit again another day. Dh liked the sermon and so did dd and I. The pastor was nice and so were the other people. Dh commented that it was odd to him the way they did things differently. Not a complaint, but when you are used to church being a certain way, it is a change. From my point of view, the service was fairly similar to what we are used to. I was concerned I would not know any of the hymns, but I did. The main difference in the order of service was the longer prayer and the reciting of the Westminster Confession of Faith. Our plan right now is to keep attending our church and to visit a few other churches from time to time. That one is too far of a drive, and we just did not perceive from God that it was the church for us to attend more regularly. So we are in wait and pray mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Interesting. We attend a Presby church, too, but our service is a little different than what you described. Is the one you went to part of the OPC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Wow, to me "tiny" would be like 50 people, so...wow. That's small. I always wonder with teeny tiny congregations, who is paying for everything? Were they in a building of their own, or in a house? Who pays the pastor's salary. It was good to hear that it went well over all though. We visited a new church on Sunday too. It was a So Baptist and was pretty much what we expected. I had a wave of sadness come over me missing my current church, esp in the music area. I have always been one to love the music that fills the room and lifts your soul toward God. And our current church is blessed with some very talented singers. I really missed it. The church is in the process of voting for the new pastor, so they are in a transition and some things I have heard give me pause about it. I just didn't feel like God was saying "this is the place!" Next week we will visit one I am really excited about. It's also So Baptist, but Reformed. We've already listened to some sermons online and like it. It's 30 full minutes away and my Mr. Punctual will want to leave 45 minutes before to make sure we are there on time. His motto is "If you are not 10 minutes early...you're 10 minutes LATE!" :rolleyes: Good luck as you continue your search. Will you visit that baptist one you found next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Interesting. We attend a Presby church, too, but our service is a little different than what you described. Is the one you went to part of the OPC? Krissi - Can you describe how yours is different? I ask because I emailed the pastor of a church I found here but they are no longer meeting. He asked about what we are looking for and recommended an OPC church here locally. I just don't know what to expect. He thought we'd like it even though we definitely said we are credobaptist. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 My dh grew up Baptist but loves our Presby church and it's liturgy. We drive 90 miles one way. Ours is about an hour and a half too. Reformed. You must have been in a PCA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunflowerlady Posted August 24, 2009 Author Share Posted August 24, 2009 Interesting. We attend a Presby church, too, but our service is a little different than what you described. Is the one you went to part of the OPC? No, it was part of the RPCGA. We are planning to attend services at a church that is part of the OPC, so I would be very interested to hear how your services go.:bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Honestly, our service isn't much different than a Baptist church or non-denominational church. The service lasts about 60-70 minutes. We sing hymns and praise songs, no liturgy, our pastor gives a 1/2 hour sermon (very meaty and solid, but not terribly long), we do communion once a month. I grew up Mennonite Brethren and except for the Reformed Theology and paedo-baptism, I'm not finding things too much different. BTW, our church is part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtroad Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 We are PCA (left So. Baptist about 8 years back). We had to get used to the creeds and reading scripture aloud as a body... and the prayers are very long too! Our worship services usually last about 1 1/2 hours also! Now, it all seems normal. Didn't take long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.