
Searching: I’ve been looking for a church that projects relevance to my stage of Christian development. In this quest I have visited and worshiped with many streams of religious persuasion. Assuming this may be an issue for many in the Anchorage area, I offer in this blog brief accounts of my visits. The criteria I use in evaluating my visits are:
• Did the church project friendliness and warmth?
• Did I truly feel welcomed?
• Did I relate to the main teaching and was it delivered effectively?
• Did music merely entertain or did it deepen the worship experience?
Map to churches I have visited.
My email: churchvisits@gmail.com
Chris Thompson, an amateur biblical scholar and student of religions, is a member of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society for Biblical Literature (SBL). He enjoys AAR/SBL where he studies, first hand, with worldwide religious scholars. A management consultant, skilled in all aspects of 360-degree feedback programs and human resource management systems, he practices these skills as Workforce Consulting. He lives in Anchorage.
ON THE WEB
Google map with visited churches
As I visit churches, I'll post their locations on this map.
Shocking Beliefs of the Unchurched - 11/30/2008 12:01 pm
Great Land Christian Church - What a Great Experience! - 11/20/2008 10:00 pm
Crosspoint: Room for Improvement - 11/16/2008 4:17 pm
A Church Visit Reader Shares Their "Looking for A Church" Story - 11/10/2008 10:02 pm
St. John Orthodox - A Spiritual Treat - 10/31/2008 3:54 pm
Guest Blog - Chris Walker's "10 Tips for Greeters" - 10/23/2008 12:57 pm
Christian Courage, It's Still Alive! - 10/12/2008 2:58 pm
More Changes Coming to ChangePoint - 10/3/2008 7:06 am
Guest Blog -Top 10 Church Website Design Mistakes of 2007 - 9/28/2008 6:01 pm
Muldoon Assembly: Friendly, Programmed - 9/19/2008 11:12 pm
Why I've Run From Churches - Guest Blog - 9/16/2008 6:58 pm
Christian Church of Anchorage...An Invitation, Refusal, and Later Visit - 9/3/2008 1:38 pm
Podcasts/Godcasts...The Darker Side Pt. 2 - 8/30/2008 12:33 pm
Christ Community Church…A Somewhat Closed Experience - 8/21/2008 9:55 am
Can a Podcast be a Godcast? Part 1 - 8/16/2008 7:47 pm
Youth Lead Sunday Evening Service…A Pleasant First! - 8/12/2008 4:09 pm
Anchorage City Church…Charismatically Quiet - 8/4/2008 11:02 pm
But what about theology? - 7/30/2008 1:42 pm
Holy Family Cathedral: Warm, Friendly and Catholic - 7/26/2008 9:50 pm
Foreign missionaries to the U.S. or even Alaska, can it be true? - 7/22/2008 2:46 pm
First church I've visited not using musical instruments, but they can sing! - 7/16/2008 10:39 am
Protestantism Declining, Catholicism Steady, and No Religious Affiliation Rising According to Pew Forum Report - 7/10/2008 4:33 pm
1 July 10, 2008 - 1:46pm | ofredrick
Criteria for choosing a church
I have followed your blog with interest, and want to question your criteria for choosing a church. I am involved with many ecumenical ministries around Anchorage and know people from most every church that you have visited to date. To those church members, their church is their community of faith, where they gather, worship and work together to live out their beliefs in the world. Their crabby greeters, cumbersome website, and parking lot activity does not make one church more relevant than the others.
The great number of traditions in Christianity reflect the diversity of beliefs and practices in the church today. It would be inappropriate to call any fully right or fully wrong, but instead understand our commonality as we are united under Christ's redeeming love.
But what about theology? With your background, I would expect that you have formed strong beliefs about worship, study, community and service; about the authority of the Bible, the ordination of women, abortion, homosexuality, dealth penalty, and social justice issues. Would you be able to abide in a community that is very 'welcoming' and the pastor greets you in the parking lot, if that same pastor later preaches a different view of your core beliefs?
I would expect that your beliefs will limit which of these churches you would truly be willing to make your community of faith. I would also expect it would be easier to visit only those churches that reflect your thelogy - a theology that is preached, taught and has shaped the community in how they worship, serve and fellowship together.
But that would a much less interesting blog...
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