I am worshiping with established Redwood City churches in order to learn what they are already doing. My hope is to imagine a faith community that is different from these churches in order to engage people in God's mission who are not already so engaged (the unchurched or dechurched); I don't want to cannibalize existing churches. My posts on my local church visits will be descriptions, not evaluations.
Redwood City Church #11
Denomination: Non-denominational
Facility: Traditional church building
Location: West Redwood City
Pew Bible: New International Version
Theological House: Conservative Evangelical
Worship Services: 1 on Sunday mornings
Worship Style: Blended
On a Sunday morning in late August, I worshiped with almost 50 others (about a third seniors and a half dozen children, mostly Anglo with several Asians) in a traditional worship space that had room for many more. The first thirty minutes of our time together consisted of a number of praise songs (soft rock), a time to greet one another (friendly folks), a spontaneous prayer, and the taking up of an offering. A sermon followed, preached by a white, fortyish man in a coat and tie; he stood behind a pulpit, his face buried in his notes. Somehow, he managed to preach for forty-five minutes on just three verses! The passage (from Matthew) had at least as much to do with the resurrection of Jesus as with the death of Jesus, but the preacher focused almost exclusively on the latter. The message concluded with video clips from The Passion of the Christ set to an old Michael W. Smith song. The bulletin invited me to come back in November for the "Fall Israel & Bible Prophecy Conference."
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