Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

I am not starting this thread to be controversial or confrontational. I am certainly not saying that every church should be like the church I attend.

I have always felt that churches have different "personalities" and that is a good thing. One church may appeal to an older demographic based on the music (think traditional and Southern Gospel here) while another appeals to a much younger generation (think louder and contemporary).

That is just one example of how churches can be different and reach a different segment of people. There are other factors including just being a traditional church building, dress expectations ,etc that can make people not want to visit or be a part of a church.

A lot of the younger generation are moving away from traditional concepts of church in both dress and look of the building in an effort to reach those who are turned off by traditional church. My church is one of these.

I am pasting a link below to an article in our local newspaper about our church and it's community outreach project for October. We do something different each month.

The article also talks about our church quite a bit, has a picture of our sanctuary (we have 3 services in there each Sunday), and a picture of our pastor.

Our pastor is a former UPC Youth Pastor who started this church about 3 1/2 years ago with a handful of people. We now run between 350-410 over our three Sunday services. The church is not a wealthy church though because it has a lot of college students and lower income folks in it.

I just thought it would be interesting to share with a lot of traditional Pentecostals a kind of church they may not have seen before (and many will be horrified at! LOL)

http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...=2012310190046

Re: Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

This is one church that my husband and I could attend. It certainly is very untraditional.
But both of us would fit in that church well as we are oddballs in the traditional sense of pentecostalism.

Why would I like to attend this church? Well, it seems that because there is no emphasis on a monetary return for themselves, but it seems to fall in line with this scripture:



Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

(James 2:18)

That scripture intertwines with this man's statement:

“We do these things almost as an obligation to the community. ... There’s no (monetary) return on it. We do it because we believe that’s what Christians are supposed to do,” Trimble says.


I can be a part of a church that has $9 chairs and support beams instead of padded pews and chandeliers, who feeds the homeless and ministers outside of the bars. :nod

Re: Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

One thing I really appreciate you my pastor is his work ethic. When he started this church he was working two jobs to support both his family and the church plant. It was only about a year ago that he became full time with the church. When he counsels people to work hard he is speaking from experience!

As far as the $9 metal folding chairs go I feel a burden to raise money for some padded chairs! I am way too old to sit in a metal chair for more than five minutes!

Re: Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

One clarification I would like to make is that in the article it is mentioned that my pastor does not have a degree from a seminary. That is true but he is an educated person with a Bachelor's degree in English. He taught school at one time.

Re: Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

The Holy Spirit can and does teach people...straight from the Bible and while in prayer.

Re: Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

Looks like an anything goes type of church.

Re: Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

Not at all. The Bible is taught very strongly.

You're got to be kiding.

Re: Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

LOL!!! You know they are not. One of the reasons I hesitated posting this article was that I knew there will be a barrage of ridiculous posts by people who think "anything goes" if you don't preach the OP laundry list of do's and don'ts.

Re: Non Traditional Church Pastord By Ex UPCer
 

atmosphere reminds of my church. Started 17 yrs ago with a a hand full of people ion rented halls, set up and tear down after each service.

Today we are in 65,000 sg ft of paid for building with two sunday services that total 1200

A sunday night service for high school and college age replete with their style of loud music.

Sounds like this guy is on the right track

check us out at www.calvaryqc.org