My husband and I are converts (8 years now) from evangelical Protestantism to Catholicism.
My husband grew up in the Assemblies of God, and several of his family members are still involved with this church.
I can’t speak for the other denominations of Pentecostalism, but the Assembles of God, along with many other evangelical non-Pentecostal denominations, encompasses a person’s entire life.
A person who attends the large AG church in our city can literally spend every waking moment, and even the sleeping moments, from birth to death, immersed in their church!
There is a huge thriving daycare which is very affordable because many of the employees consider this part of their ministry and service to God. There is a school that begins at age three and goes all the way through high school, and it is a darn good school with high achievers in academics, athletics, and arts. There is a college on the church campus. Children can attend Sunday school and various clubs from a very young age all the way to middle school. At middle school, the child begins attending the huge and very exciting youth group, which has something going on almost every night. Once the child grows up, they can get married, have children, and remain incredibly active in many different ministries in the church. Or they can seek and find employment at this church–there are a lot of jobs available with such a huge campus, including working in the very nice coffee shop! And of course, this continues all the way through old age, when they can move into the beautiful retirement center and eventually the nursing home on the church campus.
The only thing the church DOESN’T have on their campus is a cemetery!
For the people at the AG church, many of them have all of their friends through the church, and almost all their social activities take place with these friends, and often these social activities are done at the church campus.
Sound fun? It is fun. I have to admit that just yesterday, I was driving by my Catholic parish and thinking, “Wow, I never do anything with anyone in my parish, and other than going to Mass and practicing the organ, I really am not that involved with the parish at all.”
Yes, the ministries and social activities are available in our parish, but it seems to me that Catholics don’t feel any kind of obligation or desire to get involved on a constant basis, and they certainly don’t live their entire lives in and around their church and with church friends. This is a very different mindset than the typical Pentecostal or Evangelical Protestant, who is thrilled to be part of the fellowship in their church.
In fact, “fellowship” is one of the main reasons people are Protestant, and “lack of fellowship” is one of the main reasons people leave Catholic churches.
Now I’m not just talking about socials and banquets–I’m talking about an “immersing” of your entire life in the life of the church and being involved with a large number of the church members and attendees on a regular, often daily basis. THAT’s life in the Pentecostal and Evangelical churches.
I hope I am explaining this adequately. Unless you have lived it, it’s kind of hard to understand the appeal. It’s really very nice.
I play the piano for various church events, especially Masses, and my husband is an usher. That’s pretty much it–we do our little part and that’s all. No “Super Catholic” or hyper-involvement like we had in the evangelical Protestant church–back then, we were involved in our church 5-6 days/evenings a week, and did very little outside of the church (until we started getting involved with figure skating).
I think a lot of people are looking for a true “community” to be part of. I know that conservative and traditional Catholics often scoff at the idea of the “community” model of parish life. But it really is very very nice and satisfying and fulfilling to have a whole ton of friends that you see several times a week, and several very enjoyable ministries in the church that keep you busy and active. I really miss that, and I think it’s one of the big reasons why so many people are drawn to the Pentecostal churches and the various Evangelical churches, especially the non-denoms. It’s a great big life that feels good and lifts up your soul.
Sometimes my tone gets overly judgemental.