I grew up going to a small non-denominational Evangelical church in Massachusetts. I have never really been to a church that belongs to a certain denomination. For most of my life I did not understand the meaning of an Anglican church or a Lutheran church. I assumed a few things about churches in specific denominations, but I never experienced them first hand because everyone I knew went to a non-denominational church. So, being a freshman at a Christian university in a different state, I have been presented with different people, different churches, and different opportunities to be a part of these churches. One of the denominations of churches that I went to for the first time recently was a Baptist church.
I was invited by one of my professors to help out with worship at his church, a Baptist church in Indiana. I was excited to go to a Baptist church because I hear a lot of people talk about Baptist churches and never had context for it. I had the expectation that it would be familiar, that I wouldn't feel totally uncomfortable, but that it would be different; and it was. The church seemed to be held to a pretty strict time limit. Like everything had to be done within an hour. Some of the biggest differences I noticed were that the congregation was mainly older people, few songs were sung and they were done shorter, the sermon was fairly short with not much reference to the Bible, and the whole service was less produced (which I found really wholesome and encouraging). While the service structure and components were very familiar to me, the thing that made me feel most out of place was that congregation was not very activley engaged. I come from a church where we raise our hands during worship, most everyone sings along, during the sermon there would be "Amens" said throughout the congregation, and opportunities for prayer throughout the service. It almost felt wrong to do any of those things at this service. That is something that I'm just not used to, and I feel is restricting while worshipping throughout the service.
Even though there were moments in the service when I felt uncomfortable or was unsual to me, there were parts of the service that I really enjoyed. One big part of the church that I found really encouraging was the fellowship of the congregation. They had doughnuts before the service and lunch at the end where fellowship was inspired. It was evident to see that the fellowship that was created within the church was more than just a Sunday morning connection but a genuine love for each other. Their faces were raidiating with warmth and friendliness when you talked to them. You could see their love for their pastor, who happens to be an intrem pastor for the church while they look for a new pastor. That concpet is new to me as well. That, throughout the denomination, there is a system of pastors who help out the other Baptist churches in their area. I think that shows the characteristic of the people in the Baptist church, people who help each other and seek to nurtue others in the congregation.
Overall, I had a great experience at this Baptist church. I appreciate the loving nature of their church and how they do not worry as much about the experience or production of the service as other non-demoninational churches I have been to. I am really grateful for the opporunity I was given to go to this Baptist church and gain more context for the kinds of churches in America.
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