Bob’s thoughts:
This church was like many small, country churches that lack signage…if you don’t see it on this floor it must be on the other. A simple color scheme of blue walls and white ceiling left the real focus for me on the large wooden cross.
This would seem to be an internal church and I did not see evidence of mission, but I did sense a strong prayer ministry. This is a small church but it is family. We were greeted and warmly welcomed. People were pressed into service as needed: the young lady who took up the offering had great expressions, and she and a set of twins came forward to sing. I wish we could have heard them better, but appreciated their willingness to serve.
The Sermon wove around the tests that we take, and making choices. The Pastor asked for questions/comments after the Sermon.
We were privileged to visit a while after the service for a social time and came away feeling very connected to these people. I have added some names to my personal prayer list, and was pleased to lift this Pastor and church in prayer.
This is a pretty little country church with a strong family atmosphere. The time for Joys and Concerns was more like a conversation, and by the time the service ended I felt as if I had worshiped at someone’s home.
Not surprisingly there was no signage, but really not much need either. The facility is modest; I enjoyed the lace curtains in the Sanctuary. The arrangement of the pews was unique: toward the front there were four rows of pews facing each other on either side of the center aisle, then further back three rows of pews were angled just a bit on each side of the aisle.
The congregation was very friendly…nearly everyone introduced themselves and greeted us.
Following the expressions of Joy and Concern, everyone stood and held hands in a Prayer Circle for the intercessory prayer followed by the Lord’s Prayer.
The Sermon, “Putting Up With Tests,” was based on 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 and Matthew 22:34-46. The Pastor spoke of the various types of tests (school, SAT, essay, beta test for computers, purity tests for gold/diamonds, strength/endurance, having your mettle tested [as did Abraham], tests of faithfulness [as with Noah and Abraham]). She stated that God doesn’t allow us to be tested for the purpose of making us feel like failures…that we are tested by our own choices. I interpreted this to refer to how we choose to deal with the trials and tests in our lives – whether we opt to withdraw from God in the midst of our tests or we allow our tests to draw us closer to Him. At the end of the Sermon the Pastor then asked for thoughts or questions on the topic.
We were invited to participate in a time of fellowship following worship, and it was a blessing to have an opportunity to get to know some of the people.
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