adn.com | Church visits : Anchorage City Church…Charismatically Quiet

Church visits

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

Contributors

Chris Thompson

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.

Anchorage City Church…Charismatically Quiet

Posted by Chris Thompson

Posted: August 4, 2008 - 11:02 pm

City Church - Sign on Side of Church - (Main Sign Missing)I’ve long intended to attend Anchorage City Church. I was intrigued during my Abbott Loop visit when Dick Iverson mentioned he needed to finish his sermon as he was due to speak at City Church that day at 12. The City Church main webpage used to descirbe what one might expect during a visit. However, it had been removed prior to my visit. A charismatic church experience was suggested in the previous verbiage on the website. Not having a charismatic background, but prepared to be a witness in worship, I was traveling blind. I arrived at 11:50 A.M. July 27 for the 12 p.m. service.

No Welcome
Walking in the front door, expecting to be greeted by the dozens of people sipping coffee and chit chatting in the foyer, I finally realized something. This church was going to be no different in this respect than most of the other Anchorage churches I’ve visited over the past 6 months. No greeting or recognition was given. No one was handing out bulletins at the door to the worship room. I found a seat in the back to facilitate a quick exit should it be required (my normal habit during church visits). The worship venue resembled a gymnasium and had many flags hanging down from the ceiling. Dual large screens were hanging above the stage to facilitate display of song lyrics, and as it happened that day, a wonderfully entertaining children’s ministry video. As 12 o’clock neared it was obvious that less than half of the seats would be filled.

Strong Beat
At 12 p.m. the nine person band and musical group assembled commencing to play and sing. I found the music quite loud and in praise style. Over the course of the service the band played about 40 minutes which I personally felt was a bit long. The bass volume was so intense I felt it in my chest more than any other service I’d attended in recent memory. I wondered if this would present a medical challenge for a person with heart issues. As noted in previous posts, I’ll be posting well-researched information about the use and misuse of religious music and musical beat in a future blog.

Although City Church is charismatic, there were just a few evidences of it. Charismatic worship is often accompanied by speaking in tongues, raised hands, “holy laughter”, dancing, and other manifestations. Clicking on the bolded charismatic words in this blog entry will take you to a explanatory Wikipedia entry.

Visitors in a Box
My favorite part of the program is always the “Meet n’ Greet”. (Just kidding here.) This is the moment most churches, in my experience, try to get their members to extend themselves to each other and outsiders. Most everyone around me seemed to do their best to avoid me, greeting the ones they did know, despite the pastor’s request to welcome someone “you don’t know”. I extended welcomes to others around me and finally gave up due to low interest, which is a term for when a person turns their back to you when you head in their direction. City Church also has this wonderful moment (I’m also kidding here.) when visitors are asked to stand and make themselves known. The visitors are recognized and are told to go to the information counter at the end of the service. I dropped by to pick up a bulletin but the sole person attending the booth was so busy with another she didn't seem to notice I was there so I left.

Unusual Start to the Sermon
The pastor, Dick Irwin?, (remember, I didn’t have a bulletin), finally came out to center stage with two questions, “How is everyone? Groovy?” and sat down on a stool behind a stand for his notes. He stayed there for the entire time of his remarks; another FIRST for this church visitor. I only learned the title of his talk because during the offering, which you took to the front of the church to deposit in attended offering containers; sermon notes were offered on the stage. The title was CONFLICT: Keeping God’s Purpose in Mind. I will not describe the sermon. You can listen to the 10 a.m. version of it here. Irwin closed by inviting people up front for prayer groups and it was over.

Suffice it to say, Anchorage City Church was not a great experience for me. A very casual church that outwardly appears to love the Lord, but they also seemed to be a contradiction in terms, somewhat closed, and clearly not welcoming to visitors.

City Church - View from Minnesota

login or register to post comments

5 December 1, 2008 - 8:42pm | naniq

Beautiful article! It's just

Beautiful article! It's just what i needed to understand. Happy Day's

Radyo dinle

Radyo dinle, Radyo, Radyolar, Müzik dinle, canlı radyo dinle, kral fm, türkü dinle, süper fm, power fm, alem fm, power turk, power fm, best fm, kralfm, show radyo, radyosohbet.gen.tr, bedava türkü dinle, canlı müzik dinle müzikdinle

best fm dinle best fm dinle
kral fm kral fm
radyo d dinle adyo d dinle
radyo d radyo d
kral efem kral efem
bedava radyo dinle bedava radyo dinle
karadeniz radyo dinle karadeniz radyo dinle
yabancı pop dinle yabancı pop dinle
power turk dinle power turk dinle
alem efem alem efem
Türk Halk Müziği Dinle Türk Halk Müziği Dinle
arabesk müzik dinle arabesk müzik dinle
ankara oyun havaları ankara oyun havaları
türkü dinle türkü dinle
müzik dinle müzik dinle

Sohbet, Chat, Canlı Sohbet, Çet

sohbet, chat, canlı sohbet, çet, cet, sohbet odaları, sohbet siteleri, sohpet, islami sohbet, kolay sohbet, dini sohbet, cinsel sohbet, sohbetci gen.tr sağlık, Doğum Lekeleri, gebelik, cinsel sağlık, cinsel sağlık haberleri, kadın sağlığı

sohbet et sohbet et

kolay sohbet sohbet
sohbetci kolaysohbet

kolaysohbet kolay sohbet

Bebek ve Gelişim bebek

Aile Planlaması Aile Planlaması

Doğum Lekeleri Doğum Lekeleri

diyet diyet

4 November 29, 2008 - 12:30pm | denizerdogan

Sigorta Rehberi Sigorta

Sigorta Rehberi

Sigorta rehberi, sigorta şirketleri, ışık sigorta, axa oyak sigorta, anadolu sigorta, başak sigorta, hayat sigortası, zorunlu deprem sigortası, sağlık sigortası, sigorta, sigorta-rehberi.com

Başak sigorta Başak Sigorta
Anadolu Sigorta Anadolu Sigorta
Işık Sigorta Işık Sigorta
Axa Oyak Sigorta Axa Sigorta

Sohbet, Chat, Canlı Sohbet, Çet

sohbet, chat, canlı sohbet, çet, cet, sohbet odaları, sohbet siteleri, sohpet, islami sohbet, dini sohbet, cinsel sohbet, cokozeliz.com, aile planlaması, doğum lekeleri, aşk, aşk nedir, romeo, ssk, ssk sorgulama, bebek gelişimi

Sohbet sohbet
sohbet et sohbet et
prezervatif prezervatif
orgazm orgazm
ssk sorgulama ssk
toplist toplist
pagerank pagerank
MSN msn
Canlı Sohbet Canlı Sohbet
Çok Özeliz Çok Özeliz
Bebek ve Gelişim bebek
romeo romeo
Aile Planlaması Aile Planlaması
Doğum Lekeleri Doğum Lekeleri
Aşk Nedir aşk

Toki, Toki Konutları, Toki Evleri, Toplu Konut İdaresi

Toki, toplu konut iadresi, toki evleri, toki konutları, istanbul toki evleri, ankara toki evleri, adana, bursa, kayseri, sivas toki evleri

Toki Toki
Toplu konut idaresi Toplu Konut
Toki kredisi konut kredisi
Toki konutları Toki konutları
Toki evleri Toki evleri
Toki başvuru Toki başvuruları

Telefon Rehberi

Telefon rehberi, cep telefonları, nokia, samsung, iphone, telsim, turkcell, vodafone, sony ericsson, 118, 11811, bilinmeyen numaralar

telefon rehberi Telefon Rehberi
bilinmeyen numaralar Bilinmeyen numaralar
avea telefon rehberi Avea Telefon Rehberi
turkcell telefon rehberi Turkcell Telefon Rehberi
Vodafone Telefon RehberiVodafone Telefon Rehberi
telefon rehberi Telefon Rehberi
i mate i-mate
sony ericsson sony ericsson
samsung samsung
iphone iphone
motorola motorola
siemens siemens
lg lg

resimler, aşk resimleri
resimler, resim sitesi, resim siteleri, aşk resimleri, manzara resimleri

resimler, aşk resimleri, manzara resimleri resimler
resim resim

Key Ödemeleri, ssk, bağkur, emekli sandığı, key, key sorgulama

key ödemeleri, konut edindirme yardımı, key sorgulama, ssk sorgulama, bağkur sorgulama, emekli sandığı sorgulama, key

key ödemeleri key ödemeleri
konut edindirme yadımı konut edindirme yardımı
ssk sorgulama ssk sorgulama
bağkur sorgulama bağkur sorgulama
emekli sandığı sorgulama emekli sandığı sorgulama
key ödemeleri key ödemeleri
key listesi key listesi
key ödemeleri key ödemeleri
key ödemeleri key ödemeleri
key ödemeleri key ödemeleri
ssk sorgulama ssk
bağkur sorgulama bağkur

Araç sorgulama, plaka sorgulama

araç, plaka, araç plaka sorgulama, araç sorgulama, plaka sorgulama

araç sorgulama araç sorgulama
araç sorgulama araç sorgulama
vergi borcu sorgulama araç vergi borcu sorgulama
araç vergi sorgulama araç vergisi sorgulama
kasko sorgulama kasko değeri sorgulama
plaka sorgulama plaka sorgulama

Kamusalnet, ssk bağkur emekli sandığı, tc kimlik no araç sorgulama, plaka sorgulama

emekli sandığı sorgulama, bağkur sorgulama, plaka sorgulama, ssk sorgulama, ssk, bağkur, key ödemeleri

ssk ssk
ssk sorgulama ssk sorgulama
bağkur sorgulama bağkur sorgulama
emekli sandığı sorgulama emekli sandığı
araç sorgulama araç sorgulama
kurumlar vergisi kurumlar vergisi
adres değişikliği adres değişikliği
taşıt sorgulama taşıt sorgulama
e bildirge e bildirge
askerlik borçlanması askerlik borçlanması
katılım payı katılım payı
ne zaman emekli olabilirim ne zaman emekli olabilirim
ssk hizmet dökümü ssk hizmet dökümü

Saç ekimi, saç ekim, fue saç ekimi

saç ekimi saç ekimi

Araç Plaka sorgulama

araç plaka sorgulama, araç sorgulama, plaka sorgulama, araç bilgileri sorgulama, araçsigorta sorgulama, araç borç sorgulama

araç sorgulama araç sorgulama
plaka sorgulama plaka sorgulama

Forum, Forum Siteleri, Forum Sitesi, Frm

forum, forum siteleri, frmbu, cep forum, forum sitesi, crack forum, seria forum, oyun forum

forum forum
komik resimler komik resimler
fıkralar fıkralar
masallar masallar
eğitim eğitim
rüya tabirleri rüya tabirleri
frm frm

3 August 25, 2008 - 5:19pm | larsonlj

Warm Greetings

If warm greetings are what you are after, you must come to Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. I go to the 11 am service and we have the best greeters in town! Of course I am biased. We welcome you...

2 August 8, 2008 - 11:46am | bender_23

Hmmm

'during the offering, which you took to the front of the church to deposit in attended offering containers'

I'd be interested to know the reasoning behind this. It seems like something that would take more time than passing a basket while singing and also seems to be designed to point out who makes an offering and who doesn't, but maybe there's a reason that I'm missing.

I like that they had sermon notes, though. There have been many times that I liked a sermon but couldn't remembering the exact wording that I liked by the time the service was over. Usually it's something I wanted to share with others, so it'd be a good thing to have, though I think you could make it easier by having them at the back of church to be taken at the end of the service. Then again, it sounds like they need the same kind of thing for their bulletin.

August 8, 2008 - 12:17pm | stainedglass

Church visits

Contributors

Archive

Anchorage City Church…Charismatically Quiet