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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #12: Focus on God, Not the Minister

Make Sure That What Draws People to Your Church Is What Matters Most With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #12. This United Methodist Church drew me. I wanted to make a return trip, attending for a full […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #11: Charismatic Lite

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #11. At this charismatic church, most of the attendees were middle-aged adults. The few youth present weren’t engaged in the worship or the message, as they measured time until they could […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #10: The Gift that Reflected Badly on the Giver

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #10. We attended this aging Baptist church on Fathers’ Day; they had a gift for all the dads: a book. Although I appreciated a free book, needing to go forward to […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #9: A Potluck Builds Community

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #9. In a word, the potluck at this church was epic. Between the delicious food and making connections, it remains a significant memory of our journey. Sharing a meal helps build […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #8: It Only Takes One Person to Make a Difference

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #8. My memories of this church are positive, and I want to revisit them. I even recommended it to someone who was looking for a church. However, her experience was disappointing. […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #7: A Bivocational Minister

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #7. Churches typically spend the majority of their money (at least half, often quite a bit more) on staff compensation but not this church. The pastor of this church is a […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #6: A Pleasing Present and a Bleak Future

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #6. There are many positive aspects of this church, but with an aging congregation, their future is bleak. Caught in time, circa 1960, their service would have been nice then, even […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #5: Intrigued but Frustrated

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #5. A church growth buzzword is seeker sensitive, that churches need to conduct services that are friendly to visitors. Our experience at Mass was the opposite: inaccessible and exclusive. It was […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #4: Focusing on What Matters Most

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #4. A few years ago we visited this church when ours closed because of bad weather. At the time, they held two services and were outgrowing their building. They purchased land […]

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Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #3: Pain is Real; Handle it Honestly

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #3. This church set a fine example in how they confronted tragedy in an honest way. I’m encouraged to see the church function as a church should, grieving together and supporting […]