Church visits

Visiting: As a student of religion, I've seen how various factors in a church visit affect spiritual growth and religious attitudes as one searches for a church home. I visit churches to observe, firsthand, how they present themselves to visitors. My visits, with a few exceptions, focus on Christian churches. This blog contains accounts of those visits, and related posts. I look for the following in my visits:
• Friendliness and warmth
• Genuine welcome, true Christian hospitality
• Effective, well-delivered bible-based main teaching
• Music deepening the worship, not just entertainment

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.

Archive

Anchorage Grace: 2nd Visit Disappoints - 11/22/2009 5:36 pm

Missing Comments? - 11/21/2009 6:45 pm

Why Are Churches Not Sharing Speaker Names/Topics in Advance? - 11/15/2009 6:47 pm

Central Lutheran: Warm and Caring - 11/3/2009 10:10 am

Anchorage Bible Fellowship: Not as Hidden Now - 10/28/2009 11:11 am

Anchorage Bible Fellowship: Hidden on Elmore - 10/18/2009 1:51 pm

Church Experiment Reduces Sanctuary Noise - 10/11/2009 9:59 am

St. John UMC: Evening Service Option #4 - 10/4/2009 5:03 pm

The Power of One - 9/26/2009 10:24 pm

ChangePoint: Evening Service Option #3 - 9/19/2009 8:59 pm

Cornerstone: 2nd Visit - Still Solid & Welcoming - 9/12/2009 10:21 am

Looking for a Service in Anchorage: A Drive-by Account - 9/5/2009 1:51 pm

Anchorage Church of Christ: Good Service...Welcome Needs Work - 8/29/2009 10:59 am

He’s Just ‘Alright’ - 8/21/2009 11:00 pm

Trinity's Community Caring Extends to Children With Special Needs - 8/14/2009 10:47 am

St. John UMC: A Bright Light In Special Needs Leadership - 8/6/2009 2:20 pm

Abbott Loop: 2nd Visit - Not Much Change - 7/31/2009 2:41 pm

Sunday Evening Church: Trinity Presbyterian's '7:07' - 7/23/2009 10:46 pm

Saturday Evening Church: Faith Christian Community - 7/17/2009 6:20 am

First CME: Underattended Gem on 36th - 7/9/2009 11:22 pm

Chapel of the Cross: "B Team" but Friendly - 7/3/2009 4:12 pm

Life Church: Lively & Honoring Fathers - 6/26/2009 5:08 pm

full archive »

Today is Ash Wednesday-The Beginning of Lent

Posted by Chris Thompson

Posted: February 25, 2009 - 5:00 pm

Comments (0) |

According to Wikipedia, Lent, in some Christian denominations, is the forty-day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where according to the Bible he endured temptation by Satan. Different churches calculate the forty days differently.

The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Western Christianity, for the most part, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.

Many Anchorage churches observe Lent with Ash Wednesday services. Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the "faithful" as a sign of repentance.


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