Visit: Large Conservative Church
Last week, Amanda and I visited First Baptist Church on Park Street. I wrote a lot more about the fact that Charlottesville has two churches called First Baptist, and the parking lot and stuff, but it somehow got lost in the sinews of the Interwebs. I will, however, try to recreate what I said about the screens.
First Baptist is a large, fairly conservative church. They are in the Southern Baptist Convention and appear to be proud of it. Friends, I am not a big fan of the Southern Baptist Convention. I think some of what it has done in the last decade or two has led conservative Christians down a dark path. Since going to college, one of my main prerequisites for a church was that it not be in the Southern Baptist Convention. This is probably a big reason I ended up at a militantly liberal church in Chapel Hill - I admired that it had been kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention. Point is, I am not a big fan of the Southern Baptist Convention. But since First Baptist is a big, fairly well-respected Baptist church on a nice street in town, Amanda and I figured we'd give it a try.
The sanctuary has lots of screens. There's a huge projector screen on the front wall, along with smaller but still massive flat-screen TVs mounted in various locations so everyone can see. The huge screen is blocking the baptismal pool and two stained-glass windows, so - GET THIS - some wise Baptist took a photograph of the wall when the screen was not there, and when the screen is not showing words, IT SHOWS A PICTURE OF WHAT'S BEHIND IT! I thought this was phenomenal. Oddly, the TVs also showed this picture, although they were not blocking miniature baptismal pools and stained-glass windows.
The service began with a video about debt, which sort of played like a commercial for the church's financial management ministry. Not worshipful, but probably useful for some. After we got into a more worshipful state through a litany, hymns, and prayer, the pastor initiated the Greeting, during which everyone was asked to tear off a piece of the bulletin to place in the offering plate recording their attendance, and then to greet others. For years, I have felt that these greeting times are nice but break the worshipful mood, but this one was over the top. The ritualistic ripping of paper distracted from the mood if it didn't kill it, and then we nervously said hello to the people near us, who of course had no idea if we were visitors or members, because it is such a large church. Then we sat down. But it continued. Apparently each person was supposed to say hello to all of the 900 other people there, or at least it felt like there was time to do so.
First Baptist is a large, fairly conservative church. They are in the Southern Baptist Convention and appear to be proud of it. Friends, I am not a big fan of the Southern Baptist Convention. I think some of what it has done in the last decade or two has led conservative Christians down a dark path. Since going to college, one of my main prerequisites for a church was that it not be in the Southern Baptist Convention. This is probably a big reason I ended up at a militantly liberal church in Chapel Hill - I admired that it had been kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention. Point is, I am not a big fan of the Southern Baptist Convention. But since First Baptist is a big, fairly well-respected Baptist church on a nice street in town, Amanda and I figured we'd give it a try.
The sanctuary has lots of screens. There's a huge projector screen on the front wall, along with smaller but still massive flat-screen TVs mounted in various locations so everyone can see. The huge screen is blocking the baptismal pool and two stained-glass windows, so - GET THIS - some wise Baptist took a photograph of the wall when the screen was not there, and when the screen is not showing words, IT SHOWS A PICTURE OF WHAT'S BEHIND IT! I thought this was phenomenal. Oddly, the TVs also showed this picture, although they were not blocking miniature baptismal pools and stained-glass windows.
The service began with a video about debt, which sort of played like a commercial for the church's financial management ministry. Not worshipful, but probably useful for some. After we got into a more worshipful state through a litany, hymns, and prayer, the pastor initiated the Greeting, during which everyone was asked to tear off a piece of the bulletin to place in the offering plate recording their attendance, and then to greet others. For years, I have felt that these greeting times are nice but break the worshipful mood, but this one was over the top. The ritualistic ripping of paper distracted from the mood if it didn't kill it, and then we nervously said hello to the people near us, who of course had no idea if we were visitors or members, because it is such a large church. Then we sat down. But it continued. Apparently each person was supposed to say hello to all of the 900 other people there, or at least it felt like there was time to do so.
The music was interesting: There was probably an average or above-average quantity of songs, but they were grouped into only a few bunches. So it was two hymns, then some other stuff, then two boppin' praise-&-worship songs, then the sermon, then two more hymns. There was a full orchestra to help out the organist (who was one of Amanda's music teachers in elementary school). The music dragged on a bit: the hymns, though I liked them OK, were a little slow, and the boppin' songs were mind-numbingly repetitive, as boppin' songs tend to be. (I had not heard them before, and by the time they were finished, I was content not to hear them again.) And oddly, the congregation didn't seem to be singing much. But they did applaud a little after the boppin', after a "Praise the Lord!" urging from the Worship Pastor. Oh, and the offertory was sung while standing, using words on the screens, which was different, but it was helpful to be standing already when I had to walk down the pew to pass the plate.
There were a lot of kids, which is usually a good sign of a family-friendly place. I bet they have a lovely playground. Only a handful of itty bitties came forward for the children's message, though. Maybe it's limited to preschoolers so as not to overwhelm the speaker with squirmers.
During the pastoral prayer, some folks came up front and kneeled, and there were a few upraised hands during songs, so some of the congregants embrace a more participatory worship style. The pastor seems to be a nice old man (with a booming voice - a bit like a televangelist), but it's hard to tell much else from one sermon. He had props: plaid shorts and a shirt that, apparently, he wears during his downtime at home. There wasn't a scripture reading before the sermon; it was integrated into his 35-minute message. I was impressed that he hardly looked at his notes the whole time. I got tired of his yelling style of speaking and didn't get the main idea of the sermon other than to take joy in God - a nice reminder, but not helpful in evaluating the church's position on much of anything. He did say that, 9 out of 10 times, the answer to anything is in the Bible, and I got the impression that First Baptist is a little more literal on the Scriptures than I believe is appropriate.
I just want to say that 35 minutes is too long for a sermon. I learned in engineering school that most people have an attention span of up to 25 minutes, but even that has to be broken up somewhat. The service at First Baptist began at 10:45, which we figured was so they'd get out before the Presbyterians down the street and snag the best tables at Applebee's. But no. They begin at 10:45 so they can have an extra 15 minutes and still end a little past noon.
Sorry for all the complaining, but one of my pet peeves is when a pastor cuts off the invitational hymn after a verse or two because nobody has come forward. The bulletin indicated we'd be singing two hymns during "A Time to Decide," and after he cut us off during the first one, he made a comment about not wanting to draw it out and force anyone to make a decision. I respect that. And although I was ready for the service to be over, it seems like cheating to cut out music like that. It's as if he wanted a few more minutes of yell-preaching and made an on-the-fly executive decision to remove some music. What if I had been looking forward to singing "Satisfied with Jesus"?
One final personal complaint: First Baptist uses altogether too much Comic Sans. Not in the bulletin (thankfully), but on the screens and the web site. I know I sound like a diva, but come on, it's Comic Sans.
The pastor's name is Lindsay. The back of the bulletin has an invitation for guests to "meet Lindsay in the parlor to receive your gift for visiting us today." Small problem: Guests do not know where the parlor is. This is, as I have said, a large church. There are multiple buildings. I wasn't sure I needed my gift, but Amanda is a sucker for a freebie, and I was somewhat interested, so we looked around for a while before giving up. We did get a nice e-mail from one of the pastors with info about a home group Bible study for young adults and a college-age Sunday School class. And we're on their e-mail/mailing list for a six-month free trial period. (Thanks, torn-off part of bulletin!)
The church's vision is "Love God, Love Others, Serve Both," which is included on a lot of its materials. I like this vision; it's well-focused and valuable for keeping such a large congregation centered. In principle, it has its priorities straight, and I think First Baptist is making a positive contribution to Charlottesville. But overall, Amanda and I agreed that it's not the place we were looking for.
If I thought I had a substantial number of people reading all the way to the end of this, I'd ask for a vote of which church we should visit next. Maybe next time.
If I thought I had a substantial number of people reading all the way to the end of this, I'd ask for a vote of which church we should visit next. Maybe next time.
Labels: church
posted by Peter @ 17:07
3 Comments:
Hi Peter - read this after seeing your note on fb. And for some reason I recall another comment you had on fb about showing up for choir practice and no one being there, so I thought you were already active at one of the churches here. Just thought I'd comment b/c I am Baptist and have similar opinions. Those TV screens would have made me mad, and my husband probably would have been less pleasant after such a long service. :) We go to Cherry Ave Christian Church - I like it fine, the people are nice but there are not many our age there, in the traditional service anyway. They have a contemporary service as well, but I am pretty old school about my hymns and I like to sing from the hymnals. And have the notes in case it is one where I'm not sure about the tune. Sometimes they still have us sing one w/ the words printed in the bulletin though. And it's usually one I don't know, but that's OK, it doesn't bother me much. I chose this church b/c it is non-denominational (my Peter is Catholic but not practicing Catholic stuff - I could never get into that as a country baptist girl) and close to our house. We also started going when I was expecting the girls (congrats to you and your wife BTW!). We go to the 10:45 service (and it ends before noon).
We go most Sundays but are not really active otherwise - the girls are able to start Sunday School when they turn 2 in Oct. So we will probably be doing that. We always sit in the back, but there are some other regular attenders that do the same and it's always nice to see them (and not quite as awkward as it could be during that greeting time). Let me know if you'd like to visit.
Hey now, I like Comic Sans!
Thanks for the info about Cherry Ave... I looked at the web site and found little, if any, Comic Sans, which is always a good sign.
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