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jasonb82abn
Guest
Jmj
Greetings folks! I’m asking for some help in this post. My best friend is having a little trouble finding a new church to attend after moving to a new city. I’ll start by giving you some background, so any help you might offer will be better informed!
She was raised in a pretty conservative/fundamentalist type of Baptist church in Northern Iowa (parents are very EX-Catholics.
) But, for the last several years, she has been going to a very contemporary Baptist church in Cedar Falls, IA (Prairie Lakes Church.)
Prairie Lakes Church USED to be called “First Baptist” until somewhat recently, when they built a new center and moved their congregation out towards the edge of the city. The worship-style there (I’ve been several times with her) is very contemporary and I think the church has and will continue to be benefited from the larger worship center (styled sort of like a concert hall) and new technology: large projection screen TVs, great sound system, an impressive light show, and an overall very high-tech auditorium/stage for their weekly Sunday performance-style services. Additionally, their head Pastor (John Fuller) is an EXTREMELY (notice the caps!) gifted speaker – very charismatic, intelligent, and friendly.
Now, after a recent move to Iowa City, IA… she is having trouble finding a church on par with her last one.
I have to admit, quite frankly, that I am hoping (in part) that her experience may lead her to see that her need to even GO “church-shopping” is actually part of the problem. And that maybe, her frustration will lead her to see that her looking for a church based on the worship style and strength of the pastor is somewhat superficial… and that maybe she will start asking those tough questions… like, “What should really be important to me?” I feel a little guilty for harboring these kinds of feelings though, I want to be charitable and my main concern is (definitely) that she grows in her faith and grows closer to God… but I am also sort of hoping this difficulty may be part of the road that will lead her “Rome-ward.” After all, I doubt an entertaining concert-style worship service and a Dale Carnegie type of pastor is really what the Body of Christ is about. But, I digress.
The issue she is having is that all the Baptist churches she has looked into (in her new city) have not made her feel comfortable, or their worship service was not “even close” to what it was like at her old church (Prairie Lakes Church.) So, she’s considering leaving the Baptist “denomination” for a church called “Parkview Evangelical Free Church.” After having been to a service, she described it as “similar” to what her old church and worship service was like. I made the journey to attend a service myself… and though it was not as large, technologically “enhanced,” or endowed with a pastor as personable as John Fuller – the overall feel was very much the same… as was the service format (in my opinion,) of the first 2/4’s being singing, the 3rd quarter being a general Protestant bible-study, and the final quarter being more singing (from my recollection.)
So, what advice can I give someone who is definitely not interested (at all) in Catholicism - about church shopping? And my main and most important question… what is(are) the difference(s) between contemporary Baptist churches and churches belonging to the Evangelical Free Church of America denomination? I have Frank S. Mead’s “Handbook of Denominations in the United States.” But what it says about the EFCA is very limited and is almost exactly what is on the EFCA’s website. Are there any doctrinal (major or minor) conflicts between these two traditions - Baptist v. EFCA? Please, any EFCA members, Baptists, or anybody else who is familiar with both… please let me know what the low-down is on these two different Christian traditions.
Sorry this was so long!!! Sincerely.
May the Lord be with you all!
Jason
Greetings folks! I’m asking for some help in this post. My best friend is having a little trouble finding a new church to attend after moving to a new city. I’ll start by giving you some background, so any help you might offer will be better informed!
She was raised in a pretty conservative/fundamentalist type of Baptist church in Northern Iowa (parents are very EX-Catholics.
) But, for the last several years, she has been going to a very contemporary Baptist church in Cedar Falls, IA (Prairie Lakes Church.)Prairie Lakes Church USED to be called “First Baptist” until somewhat recently, when they built a new center and moved their congregation out towards the edge of the city. The worship-style there (I’ve been several times with her) is very contemporary and I think the church has and will continue to be benefited from the larger worship center (styled sort of like a concert hall) and new technology: large projection screen TVs, great sound system, an impressive light show, and an overall very high-tech auditorium/stage for their weekly Sunday performance-style services. Additionally, their head Pastor (John Fuller) is an EXTREMELY (notice the caps!) gifted speaker – very charismatic, intelligent, and friendly.
Now, after a recent move to Iowa City, IA… she is having trouble finding a church on par with her last one.
I have to admit, quite frankly, that I am hoping (in part) that her experience may lead her to see that her need to even GO “church-shopping” is actually part of the problem. And that maybe, her frustration will lead her to see that her looking for a church based on the worship style and strength of the pastor is somewhat superficial… and that maybe she will start asking those tough questions… like, “What should really be important to me?” I feel a little guilty for harboring these kinds of feelings though, I want to be charitable and my main concern is (definitely) that she grows in her faith and grows closer to God… but I am also sort of hoping this difficulty may be part of the road that will lead her “Rome-ward.”
After all, I doubt an entertaining concert-style worship service and a Dale Carnegie type of pastor is really what the Body of Christ is about. But, I digress. The issue she is having is that all the Baptist churches she has looked into (in her new city) have not made her feel comfortable, or their worship service was not “even close” to what it was like at her old church (Prairie Lakes Church.) So, she’s considering leaving the Baptist “denomination” for a church called “Parkview Evangelical Free Church.” After having been to a service, she described it as “similar” to what her old church and worship service was like. I made the journey to attend a service myself… and though it was not as large, technologically “enhanced,” or endowed with a pastor as personable as John Fuller – the overall feel was very much the same… as was the service format (in my opinion,) of the first 2/4’s being singing, the 3rd quarter being a general Protestant bible-study, and the final quarter being more singing (from my recollection.)
So, what advice can I give someone who is definitely not interested (at all) in Catholicism - about church shopping? And my main and most important question… what is(are) the difference(s) between contemporary Baptist churches and churches belonging to the Evangelical Free Church of America denomination? I have Frank S. Mead’s “Handbook of Denominations in the United States.” But what it says about the EFCA is very limited and is almost exactly what is on the EFCA’s website. Are there any doctrinal (major or minor) conflicts between these two traditions - Baptist v. EFCA? Please, any EFCA members, Baptists, or anybody else who is familiar with both… please let me know what the low-down is on these two different Christian traditions.
Sorry this was so long!!! Sincerely.
May the Lord be with you all!
Jason
