Week 22 - Bethesda Church

www.bethesdanw.com

Tucked away in former state social services office space Bethesda Church holds their weekly "celebration service" and celebration is a good way to describe their gathering. The first 60 minutes was high energy music and singing, and, yes, even a little "dancing in the Spirit." 

As re-purposed office space the meeting room is utilitarian and functional. Black curtain screens are set up around the perimeter to create a little more intimate setting. Lighting is provided by strings of light bulbs hung from the ceiling around the room. Seating is for about 350 people and this week it was near capacity. The sound system was surprisingly well balanced for the space and a projection screen was used solely during the music time. Music was provided by five instrumentalists, including 2 vocalists. During the opening music hour people were invited and encouraged to come to the front and join in, easily over a hundred did so. 

All age groups were well represented, with plenty of families and young children. Children were encouraged to stay during the music hour and then given the opportunity to leave for the children's class time. Our direct interaction with others was pretty limited, said "hi" to a greeter at the door and visited briefly with one person sitting near us. No printed material was provided so it was difficult as a visitor to know what was going on and what Bethesda is about.

As the music hour came to a close two young people came forward to give testimony on how they saw God working through them; at a laundry mat and a local coffee stand. In addition an elderly congregant came forward to speak a "word from God" that she had been given. In preparation for the offering the congregation read aloud an offertory proclamation about God's greatness.

The message, by the husband and wife pastor team, was a topical study of "Blessing" delivered in a two-way conversation, coffee shop, format. Drawing from Genesis 1:28 and Galatians 3:5-9, 26-29 they took us through a discussion of what "Blessing" is and what this means for an individual. Some of their key takeaways included "sometimes we embrace things as normal when they're not," "the Blessing assures success in all areas of  life," "I'm not waiting on a move of God, I am a move of God," and "we are walking in the Blessing right now."

At the end of the service people were invited forward who needed additional prayer and ministering, many went forward. The rest of us were free to go and enjoy a potato feed fundraiser for the youth summer camp program. 

Week 1 - Vancouver Bible Fellowship

http://www.vancouverbible.org/

Our apologies to Vancouver Bible Fellowship, you were unknowingly our guinea pigs. Sunday was our first visit of the year and we were so far out of our comfort zone you can’t imagine. Not that visiting a new church is that unusual; just that we haven’t done it for over 20 years with the idea that we could end up at one of the churches we visit.

That being said we enjoyed our time at VBF. We were greeted very warmly by several people. Most went out of their way to come over and say “hi.” VBF is a smaller community so the fact that we were visiting couldn’t have been hidden if we wanted to. It doesn't help that we had the first (and only?) snow of the winter, making driving a bit dicey, likely contributing to a lighter attendance than normal. Of course this highlights an inherent flaw of our project; no single community can be adequately defined by a single interaction. We are under no illusion that we will capture the full spirit and character of each church with a one-time visit, however “52 church visits in 52 years” seemed a bit daunting.

The service was a typical format of an opening singing time, an offering, a little more singing, and then the message. One thing that stood out to Loren was how each portion of the service is referred to as an act of “worship.” In modern church parlance the term “worship” often refers exclusively to the music ministry of a church. Interspersed during the service were a couple of times of prayer and scripture readings. Another thing that we appreciated was the pleasant balance of the instrumental accompaniment volume to the voices of the congregation. The voices of those around us could be heard and not overpowered by the music. The focus of the music was on the songs and the congregants are equal participants. Simple and meaningful. Another feature of the service is that children participate in the first part for the music, prayer, and scripture readings. Just prior to the teaching portion they are invited to leave to participate in teaching geared for them.

The message was an in-depth, expository, treatment of 2Timothy 3:16-17. We were told by more than one person that the focus of VBF is the bible. This was very evident. Over the course of the message, that went about 40 minutes, we were taken through a word by word examination of the two verses. The pastor did an effective job of cross-referencing his talk with a number of additional passages from both the old and new testaments. The depth of his teaching leaves one with quite a bit to chew on and consider.

The meeting room was comfortable and inviting with seating for approximately 250 people. We appreciated the level of natural light provided by several stain glass windows, augmented with indirect artificial lighting. Very light and cheery with little in the way of additional trimmings. One thing missing, that has become a common fixture in many churches, was an overhead projector and large screen over the platform. While we noticed this, nothing was lost by its absence. The words to songs are provided in the service program and, if needed, free bibles are available.

So week one is in the books and despite our initial feelings of “what were we thinking” this was a fun experience and we got to meet new fellow sojourners. Thank you for joining us on this adventure and feel free to share your thoughts as we continue.