You Choose A Church for Hemant

Posted by Jim Henderson on: 02.25.2006 /

Comment from: This weekends Churching

Maybe you feel like this person and have some suggestions for other churches in the Chicago area you would like Hemant to survey. Send us the names and add the links if you can. We will definitely use some of your suggestions…

Why are you guys sending Hemant to so many of the same kind of churches? Park Community, Willow, and Parkview all fall into the “seeker sensitive” megachurch category. (I know Park isn’t technically a “megachurch” yet, but according to the people I know from there, they are on their way.)

Wouldn’t it be more useful to send Hemant to a wider variety of churches? Why not send him to an emerging church likeSojourn, or a social justice oriented intentional community like Reba Place, or uniquely ethnic Catholic church like St. Sabina, or to a brand new church plant like Via Christus, or a mainline liberal church, or a pentecostal church, or a traditional Baptist Church, etc.

I think this is a great project and I’m reading avidly, but let’s get some variety for goodness sake! What good is it to send Hemant to a bunch of churches that share similar philosophies, theologies, and styles?

13 Responses to "You Choose A Church for Hemant"

  • Comment by: Steve

    1 02/25/06 11:32 AM | Comment Link |

    I think this is a great idea. I realize it’s probably beyond the scope of the mission, but I would even be interested in having Hemant report on various services from other religious groups.

    For example, I have been in a mosque only as a tour. What is a service in a mosque like to an outsider? I think that would be very interesting.

    My brother attends a pentecostal church, so hearing hemant’s views on that would be interesting too.

  • Comment by: Mark

    2 02/25/06 11:55 AM | Comment Link |

    Chicago has an Ethical Society and Universal Unitarian, those are my requests. I think he’ll find those are very liberal churches.

  • Comment by: peter

    3 02/25/06 2:50 PM | Comment Link |

    i’d love to see some variety as well.

  • Comment by: Rick

    4 02/25/06 7:55 PM | Comment Link |

    I am in favor of all other suggestions except UU church. No offense Mark. The reason why I say this is because UU churches have a large percentage of members that are already skeptics. A service at UU church would be one step away from Secualr Students Association (SSA) meetings. I don’t know about Chicago, but the UU church in Birmingham is almost 70% skeptics.

    I have been to plenty of their services and found them to be very close to SSA meetings, with the exception that they are a lot more formal than student meetings.

    If Hemant has been an active member of SSA in the past and if their chapter interacted with other progressive groups on campus, chances are high that he will find nearly the same people in UU church. This, I am speaking from my own experience.

    But if Christians want to know about experiences in UU church, I think it would be a good idea to include it in the itenarary.

  • Comment by: Fish and Bread

    5 02/25/06 11:37 PM | Comment Link |

    Why not try an Episcopalian parish? They’re often both liberal and liturgical, which makes them the opposite end of the spectrum from the type of churches that have been visited thus far.

  • Comment by: Mike Clawson

    6 02/26/06 1:42 PM | Comment Link |

    Or a charismatic Anglican church like Church of the Resurrection or Church of the Great Shepherd could be interesting.

  • Comment by: Char

    7 02/26/06 1:58 PM | Comment Link |

    Another “variety” of church would be one that meets in a school, like LifeSpring Community Church. They don’t have the trappings of a traditional church.

    I love to see Hemant’s comments on either LifeSpring or Via Christus - both churches I’ve been to that don’t fit either a traditional or mega church model.

  • Comment by: Mark

    8 02/27/06 5:24 AM | Comment Link |

    No offense taken Rick. It was to show the xians here what a liberal church is, that’s all.

  • Comment by: Michelle L'hommedieu

    9 02/27/06 12:23 PM | Comment Link |

    Come visit our church! New Hope Church would be a great place for you to. We are a midsized church with contempoary music & life applicable messages. Our Pastor is very down to earth and has a way of teaching that meets the needs of everyone who walks in the doors; young & old; Christian and Athiest. I would be very interested in your take on how we “do church” in Effingham. Thx. Michelle

  • Comment by: Heather

    10 02/28/06 8:19 AM | Comment Link |

    A recommendation for a penecostal church for Hermant to visit is Living Word Christian Center. They believe in “faith healing”, as Hermant has called it. Their web address is http://www.livingwd.org.

  • Comment by: Ir

    11 02/28/06 9:42 AM | Comment Link |

    Living Word may also be ‘less white’ than the other churches Hemant has attended.

  • Comment by: CR

    12 03/9/06 11:20 AM | Comment Link |

    Just saw the article in the wsj. Why not try the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of the fastest-growing Christian denominations in the US? They have a dozen or so congregations that meet in Chicago, and more in the surrounding areas. You can find the one closest to you at http://www.mormon.org. Just click the “Worship with us” link to find a worship service. Let me know if you’d like to meet someone there to answer any questions or anything like that. There is a lot of basic info at mormon.org and lds.org.

  • Comment by: miriam

    13 07/30/06 2:00 AM | Comment Link |

    god does not believe in athiests, just becus you say you dont believe in him.he made you……amen