Church review- Wellspring
I have thought about doing something like this for a long time. And here is the start of it. So many things in life get reviewed. Movies, books, TV shows and job performances to name a few. But what about churches? That is something I thought would be helpful. So I am going to give it a whirl.
I still plan on attending my home church, Solomon's Porch most of the time, but every few weeks i would like to check out somewhere else.
The tricky thing is to try and not sound too critical. It is not my intention to rip any church, well, unless something is seriously wrong there. But i will try to be nice. My desire is to be more informational on the type of style the church is.
Yesterday I visited Wellspring church, which is on Bauer Rd in Hudsonville. They have a pretty nice website and their beliefs are pretty standard.
The first thing that strikes you about Wellspring is how incredibly long their driveway is. I think it goes back for about 16.4 miles. Hopefully one of their congregants has a snowplow company...
The inside of the building is GORGEOUS. I have never seen a church with such an opulent lobby. Leather couches, a primo looking coffee shop, the place is amazing. And I am not really one to notice decor. Honestly, my first thought was "how much did this cost???". Not as a judgmental thing, just honestly wondering.
There were about 500 or so people in the auditorium/sanctuary. The music was kickin' when we got there. (A few minutes late...) It was like a concert. There were about 12-15 younger people (early 20's) in their "praise team". All very nicely dressed. The young men all had suit and ties on and many of them had vests under the suits. I expected them to break out with Justin Timberlake's Suit and Tie song. But for Jesus.
"As long as I've got my suit and tie and my savior..."
The auditorium is painted with dark paint on the walls and most of the lights are out. They have a mini light show going during the faster praise songs. The music is very contemporary, as you might imagine. Singing "How great thou Art" would seem weird with a light show.
A number of people had their hands lifted up during worship, which I like, cause I am used to that.
The worship seemed to last for about 40 minutes. A little longer than most churches I have attended, but the congregation was quite participatory. They did sit down after every song which was kind of weird, because everyone would start standing up halfway through the following song. It was almost somewhat Catholic-ish
except for the aforementioned light show and the absence of the kneelers.
On a separate note, I don't know that I have ever been in a church where so many of the people were so, well, good looking. It's like the church where all the pretty people attend, so naturally I felt a bit out of place.
During the main part of praise and worship, a young man led worship. He had a fantastic voice and was very into it. This next part will sound like a criticism but I mean it as an observation. The young man was on a stage set a bit in front of the stage where the musicians were. There was a spotlight on him the entire time which I found disconcerting. They are obviously going for more of the concert feel, and they achieved that. The music was all excellent and quite rock-sounding. Again, I like this, but it isn't for everyone.
The congregation was comprised of many young people, which I think is fantastic. We didn't really get a chance to be greeted by anyone because we got there late and left right after the service was over. In subsequent church visits I will have to make it a point to stick around afterwards to try to get a feel of how they treat visitors.
The senior pastor delivered the sermon and it was based on Exodus 19. The style of preaching felt like it was coming from a strong baptist background. The style is what I would call a "fire and brimstone" type. A few themes of the message were that we need to clean up the trash from our lives. God set a perimeter around Mt Sinai when Moses went up to receive the 10 commandments. He informed Moses that if the people crossed the line they would be killed. There was a sort of correlation made to today. We need to be clean and holy as well. Not because God will kill us, but because that is what he wants.
The doctrinal slant seemed to be coming from the concept that we are all wretched beings with out Christ. I would imagine there is a general strong message that emphasizes how we are sinners steeped in sin and how destructive that is. There were at least 3 references to young women sinning by wearing clothing that was too revealing and how that causes men to stumble.
Again, not agreeing or disagreeing, just trying to convey the feel.
The one thing that made me a little uneasy was when he stated that if you come against the senior pastor you are coming against God. There is truth in that, but carried too far it can be a very dangerous theological peg to hang your hat on.
The service was about 2 hours long. There was also a short "skit" introducing a community wide event taking place next weekend.
To summarize, this was a a church that had a seeker friendly feel, but had kind of an old school "punch you in the mouth Gospel". With a ton of young people.
I still plan on attending my home church, Solomon's Porch most of the time, but every few weeks i would like to check out somewhere else.
The tricky thing is to try and not sound too critical. It is not my intention to rip any church, well, unless something is seriously wrong there. But i will try to be nice. My desire is to be more informational on the type of style the church is.
Yesterday I visited Wellspring church, which is on Bauer Rd in Hudsonville. They have a pretty nice website and their beliefs are pretty standard.
The first thing that strikes you about Wellspring is how incredibly long their driveway is. I think it goes back for about 16.4 miles. Hopefully one of their congregants has a snowplow company...
The inside of the building is GORGEOUS. I have never seen a church with such an opulent lobby. Leather couches, a primo looking coffee shop, the place is amazing. And I am not really one to notice decor. Honestly, my first thought was "how much did this cost???". Not as a judgmental thing, just honestly wondering.
There were about 500 or so people in the auditorium/sanctuary. The music was kickin' when we got there. (A few minutes late...) It was like a concert. There were about 12-15 younger people (early 20's) in their "praise team". All very nicely dressed. The young men all had suit and ties on and many of them had vests under the suits. I expected them to break out with Justin Timberlake's Suit and Tie song. But for Jesus.
"As long as I've got my suit and tie and my savior..."
The auditorium is painted with dark paint on the walls and most of the lights are out. They have a mini light show going during the faster praise songs. The music is very contemporary, as you might imagine. Singing "How great thou Art" would seem weird with a light show.
A number of people had their hands lifted up during worship, which I like, cause I am used to that.
The worship seemed to last for about 40 minutes. A little longer than most churches I have attended, but the congregation was quite participatory. They did sit down after every song which was kind of weird, because everyone would start standing up halfway through the following song. It was almost somewhat Catholic-ish
except for the aforementioned light show and the absence of the kneelers.
On a separate note, I don't know that I have ever been in a church where so many of the people were so, well, good looking. It's like the church where all the pretty people attend, so naturally I felt a bit out of place.
During the main part of praise and worship, a young man led worship. He had a fantastic voice and was very into it. This next part will sound like a criticism but I mean it as an observation. The young man was on a stage set a bit in front of the stage where the musicians were. There was a spotlight on him the entire time which I found disconcerting. They are obviously going for more of the concert feel, and they achieved that. The music was all excellent and quite rock-sounding. Again, I like this, but it isn't for everyone.
The congregation was comprised of many young people, which I think is fantastic. We didn't really get a chance to be greeted by anyone because we got there late and left right after the service was over. In subsequent church visits I will have to make it a point to stick around afterwards to try to get a feel of how they treat visitors.
The senior pastor delivered the sermon and it was based on Exodus 19. The style of preaching felt like it was coming from a strong baptist background. The style is what I would call a "fire and brimstone" type. A few themes of the message were that we need to clean up the trash from our lives. God set a perimeter around Mt Sinai when Moses went up to receive the 10 commandments. He informed Moses that if the people crossed the line they would be killed. There was a sort of correlation made to today. We need to be clean and holy as well. Not because God will kill us, but because that is what he wants.
The doctrinal slant seemed to be coming from the concept that we are all wretched beings with out Christ. I would imagine there is a general strong message that emphasizes how we are sinners steeped in sin and how destructive that is. There were at least 3 references to young women sinning by wearing clothing that was too revealing and how that causes men to stumble.
Again, not agreeing or disagreeing, just trying to convey the feel.
The one thing that made me a little uneasy was when he stated that if you come against the senior pastor you are coming against God. There is truth in that, but carried too far it can be a very dangerous theological peg to hang your hat on.
The service was about 2 hours long. There was also a short "skit" introducing a community wide event taking place next weekend.
To summarize, this was a a church that had a seeker friendly feel, but had kind of an old school "punch you in the mouth Gospel". With a ton of young people.
No comments:
Post a Comment