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Assemblies of God by John Kolodziejczak |
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I chose to go to an Assemblies of God church. Being liberal myself I thought that maybe my wife and I would enjoy it. When we arrived there we were welcomed at the door by one of their greeters. This was nice. The person asked us where we were from and what we did. They seemed interested in what we were saying and were happy to see us. We then went to the nursery to drop off our children and were greeted by a very nice lady who told us how the nursery worked and where we could go to Sunday School. It was nice to be able to drop off our children so that we could focused our attention towards God. We then proceeded to Sunday School. There we met many people who welcomed us and who seemed to be glad that we had come. During the discussion in the class the teacher asked me my opinion. So I gave it and it met with hostility. Apparently there was a right answer to the question and I did not get it. I preceded to ask questions about how my opinion could be wrong, but that met with the same hostile resistance. I figured it was a good time to shut my mouth and luckily it was time for church. We were met at the sanctuary doors by another happy face (one not from my Sunday school class.) This face gave us a bulletin and a newcomers card. We found a seat and proceeded to read the bulletin to see if there were any activities that they offered that we might enjoy attending. They began the service with Praise and worship. People started singing, clapping, and dancing all over. They were in the aisles, in the pews, and even on the pews. Just two songs into the service and some people began falling out and some were speaking in tongues. The pastor then came up to the front and said he felt God moving and that he needed to pray for someone. He then proceeded to call out ailments that people had and had people coming up to the altar area from all over the sanctuary. People were falling out, crying, laughing, whooping, hollering, and all kinds of other weird things. After about twenty minutes of this the pastor brought the crowd down and began his sermon. He spoke about the healing blood of Jesus. It had to deal with the fact that Jesus' blood that flowed from the cross is the most potent healing agent. When the service ended we went to get our kids and as we left the pastor was at the door and he shook our hands and asked us if we enjoyed the service. All in all the people we met were nice and the service was interesting to say the least. They seemed interested in us being comfortable with the service without changing who they were to please all who came in the doors. They knew what they believed and they were not afraid to share with anyone who wanted to know more about it. We will probably not go back to the church again but I do not think that will stop them from being who they are and it will not stop me from being me. |
| Created by Laura Ellen Shulman |
Last updated: March 2003
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