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!