Week Two: First Assembly of God

Cedar Rapids First Assembly of God

This week in my Year of Churches I went to an Assemblies of God church for the first time. I don't know a lot about the denomination, except that they are Pentecostal. They believe in a distinct "baptism of the Holy Spirit" (separate from water baptism, which is only symbolic for them), the evidence of which is shown by speaking in tongues (glossalalia). I'm really thankful that it doesn't appear to happen during their worship services, or at least it didn't when I was there.

The church building itself is an imposing concrete building. It's massive! Inside there was a narrow gathering space, definitely too small for the amount of people there. On of the space were the entrances to the sanctuary/auditorium. The other side had long hallways leading off of it towards classrooms, a smaller sanctuary/chapel, a gym, coffee shop, etc. There was a lot going on in that building.

I was greeted when I came in and given a small bulletin that looked a lot what I got last week at Veritas-full color and professionally designed. I am not going to get over how much it must cost to create and print those things alone.

The sanctuary looked like a larger version of the auditorium I was in last week at Veritas. Two things stood out. A lot of the rows had boxes of tissues under the last chair. Either there was a lot of crying, a lot of stuffy noses, or both. Maybe it was just a courtesy thing. Also, the drummer was imprisoned inside a plastic cage, maybe to help temper the sound?

The Service

Free the drummer!

The sanctuary was around 80% full by the time everyone was inside. Once again, there were very few kids. Elementary aged kids and younger were in their own areas. I think they even had an area for babies. I'm torn on this. On the one hand, it's really neat that the littles are able to have things fun for them and at their level. On the other hand, it almost feels like they aren't part of the "real" community. They get their own separate church services and sermons while the adults get theirs. It's just strange to me to not even see them. I personally prefer it when the kids at least start with the larger community before being dismissed to their own age-appropriate activities. At least that helps cement for everyone that this is one community.

The service started with three songs. The worship team sounded lovely and they were very earnest. Most of the people seemed to participate in the singing, and many raised their arms and swayed. The people closest to the stage seemed really into it. The head pastor came onto the stage and helped rile people up so more. During prayer it was common for people to yell "Amen!" or clap or cheer with something that spoke to them, which was common throughout the rest of the service.

The head pastor encouraged everyone to greet people, and to especially say hi to people you've never met or those who may be new. This greeting lasted several minutes and was probably the most enthusiastic (and sincere) as any I've ever seen. The congregants didn't just greet the people next to them; many left their seats and went around the sanctuary greeting people. The pastor also gave a shout out to newcomers and visitors in his opening remarks. 

There was also a collection taken up before the sermon. All of the ushers were men. It made me wonder if it was exclusively a guy thing or if men just seemed to sign up more than women. They passed around metal bowls for people to put in any offerings. People were also encouraged to put "Connect" cards into the metal bowls as they came around. These cards had different boxes to check for first-time visitors, people wanting info on baptism, to get more involved, etc. There were also little prayer request and praise report cards on the backs of the chairs. I'm assuming those were supposed to go in the offertory as well.

The Sermon

After that was a sermon by one of the other pastors (I would later learn there were five pastors). It lasted around a half hour and was on overcoming failure. He used Peter as an example of getting back up after failing. I'd give more info, but there honestly wasn't a lot of substance. It was delivered well and was engaging enough (I was never bored), but I kept waiting for him to move on. Basically, God wants us to get up after failing and not lose faith when we fail or life doesn't seem to right. It was very feel-good and felt more like a self-help talk than anything else. 

Again, there was a lot of clapping and verbal agreements during the sermon. The pastor would even encourage people to engage in it. That's definitely a big part of their culture.

He did say he was going to do something different and invited some people up to the front of the space. I forget what he called them, but they were basically going to pray with and over anyone who came forward and needed prayer after the service ended, especially people who were having trouble with failure. I thought that that was a sweet thing to offer to people. 

After the sermon he led a closing prayer and then the service was over. The music team started playing and singing a song again, but everyone just left instead of participating. I noticed this last week at Veritas too. It felt rude to leave while that was happening, so I stayed until they finished the song.

After the Service

I've decided that if churches have a guests' area then I'm going to check it out. In the gathering area (which was very crowded) I found a guests' area with "VIP" signs hanging above it and manned by a young adult man and woman. There were very excited after I told them that I'd never been there before. I got a packet of information and could choose between either a powerbank or coffee mug as their gift to me. You can never have too many mugs, and it is a really nice one. They also invited me to a monthly  newcomers dinner held at the head pastor's house. Very friendly and welcoming. I mentioned that I was just going around and checking out different churches. They suggested that it's best to go to a new church for a few weeks before passing judgement on it or deciding whether it would be a good church home, which I thought was a fair statement. 

One thing I noticed when looking through their website and the materials I was given- there was never a spot where they shared what they actually believed. The woman at the guests' center said they really love Jesus, but other than that I couldn't find anything. That could be on me. I did ask them a generic, "Tell me about your church" question, but never anything more specific than that.

This church was super welcoming and seems to have a heart for reaching outsiders. In the opening announcements the head pastor even encouraged women to take advantage of their "early-bird" pricing for a women's event in October to pay the way for a friend to go. It was a nice experience, but it does cater to a really specific type of spirituality. I have no idea if the sermons are usually so light or if it was just that week's topic.

Next Week's Plan: First Church of Christ, Scientist

A Year of Churches & Veritas Church

A Year of Churches

I've decided to do try something that I've wanted to do for a while. Each weekend for the next year, I'm going to try to attend a different church or place of worship. I've always been amazed by the variety of religions and opportunities for worship found in the Cedar Rapids area.  This isn't a unique idea. If you search "52 Churches in 52 Weeks" you'll find several people who have had the same idea, although we all seem to want to do it for different reasons.

Veritas Church

This week I had intended on attending an Assemblies of God church. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sleep again last night. Once 3:00AM rolled around I said screw it and turned off my alarm, hoping to get some sleep. It turned out not to be a lost opportunity, however. After googling for churches with Sunday night services near me, I came across Veritas Church. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures today, but will hopefully be able to drive past the building sometime this week and get a picture of the buidling.

Veritas is a relatively new church to the Cedar Rapids area. According to the history section of their website they are an outgrowth of Veritas Church in Iowa City, although the Cedar Rapids location is now it's own autonomous church. It seems like they might have some connection to Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa, as both of the Veritas churches run their own Salt Company college ministries (anyone who went to ISU will recognize that name). Their beliefs seem like pretty standard nondenominational/evangelical fare. I've seen that same type of wording used on different websites, but I'm not sure where it comes from.

 

First Impressions

The church is located in downtown Cedar Rapids. Other than the name on the door, there is nothing about the building itself that says "church."  I got to the 4:30 service about 15 minutes early. There were two friendly young adults outside who held the doors open for everyone who came. They were very friendly and welcomed me to the church.

When I first entered I was unsure of where I should go, but then noticed a large sign with directions to the different parts of the building. It didn't take long for me to realize that the auditorium is where I needed to go. To the left was the kids check in area. A bit forward and to the right was a large information desk. The entrance to the auditorium had a basket filled with pages people could write sermon notes on, as well as a small bulletin. 

Full color bulletin. I wonder
what their printing costs
are each week?

Back of the bulletin.

The auditorium was filled with people chatting. I quickly realized that there was a cafe around the corner from the door I entered in. About a quarter of the attendees came in to the auditorium with a coffee or iced drink. About half of the people there came in with their own Bibles. The congregation skewed younger, although all ages were present. There were very few kids or babies in the auditorium. I assume most of them were at their own kids' service.

It was a very open and inviting atmosphere, all things considered. It is odd to me personally to drink coffee during worship, or even to call the worship area an auditorium (although that's certainly what it looked like). 

The Serivce

A 2-minute countdown began on the two large screens on the stage, which signified to everyone that the service would start soon. A band and choir were on stage by the time the two minutes were up, and promptly started an opening praise and worship style song. That lasted maybe 10 minutes, after which a sermon was given. 

The Sermon

They were on a series called "Arise" and were going through the book of Jonah. This particular sermon was based almost entirely on Jonah 1:4-6. Emphasis was placed on the fact that the pagans were praying to their gods and in need of help, while a prophet of God was sleeping when they asked him for help. He used that to talk about the need for Christians to truly see and be aware of people in their hardships instead of sleeping like Jonah, and of the importance of being right with God in order to be a blessing to others. The message was presented very well and lasted maybe a half hour. People seemed to be mostly engaged. Those that had their own Bibles were following along in them, and the verses were projected on the screen as well. I believe he was using the Revised Standard Version of the Bible as it matched my Bible word for word.

Baptisms

I was fortunate enough to be there on a day they were doing baptisms. After the sermon, video played featuring the testimonies of those about to be baptized. Afterwards, the children from the kids' area were brought in to watch and people were invited to gather around the large metal trough filled with water. It was also projected onto the screens so everyone could see. 

The band and choir played during all of the baptisms. As each person sat in the metal trough, the person baptizing them appeared to talk with them for awhile, although I'm not sure about what. After they were done talking the baptizer would quickly lay the person back into the tub and pull them up again. It was very neat to witness such a special event in the lives of so many people. According to the pastor, 40 people were baptized between all three of the worship services that day. Quite impressive!

Ending

The service closed with more praise and worship and a short prayer. The congregation sung "How Great Thou Art" a capella, which was quite lovely. I noticed that there was no collection during the service, but rather a "Tithes and Offerings" box on the door leading out of the auditorium. There also wasn't any sort of communion, although their website states that they believe in doing it. It must not be done every Sunday. The total service lasted about 75 minutes.

Final Thoughts

The service was lovely. The music was exceptionally well done. I'm always a little wary with praise and worship style music. It can be so geared towards hitting people on an emotional level that it verges on being manipulative. But it didn't seem to reach that point here. I was impressed with the sermon. Despite it's length it never seemed to drag, and the pastor did an excellent job both explaining what was going on in the text and applying it to our modern lives. He even brought up the Septuagint!

I am used to ritual when I worship, so it was kind of jarring for me to not have any formal beginning or ending to the service, or any formal prayers or gestures. It was also very laid back. Almost everyone, including the leadership, were in jeans. That's great for me, as it made it really easy to just show up "as I was." It was a little strange watching someone in jeans baptizing people, but I suppose I'm so used to vestments that anything casual is bound to look out of place.

All in all, a very positive experience!