As this journey to explore the local church continues, I constantly find myself having to entirely reevaluate what I post and why I post it. I want this to be something exciting, yet, perhaps, challenging as well, but I can't let myself fall to the temptation to write what I know will gain me readers over what I believe is truth or what I feel called to really convey. Last week was the first time I posted against a local church in any way. While along the way there have been preference issues on my part, I hadn't had to point out sound biblical err until last week. And while, without a doubt, all these churches are doing something right and are, in fact, a beautiful, unique part of the body and bride of Christ, there will inevitably arise issues that I cannot in good conscience ignore. I promised to bring as an accurate picture as possible—based on one short experience—of these churches into this celebration of the body of Christ, a body that consists of human beings, rendering it entirely imperfect, albeit beautiful. That being said, welcome to week five of 15 Churches in 15 Weeks.
Making our way through the snowy landscape in out little Chevy Cavalier, Hannah and I, along with one of my good friends, talked about what to expect. Anyone who lives in the Greater Akron-Canton Area has some sort of preconceived notion about Faith Family Church. For those of you who don't, perhaps you have visited the area sometime in May for Malone University's graduation ceremony at the airport-esque church located just off I-77 north of Canton. In short, Faith Family embodies everything that is mega-church.
I cannot do justice to how welcomed we felt! Clear out at the end of their driveway—a solid quarter mile walk from the building itself—we were smiled in by the first of the welcome brigade; from being coaxed into the perfect VIP—first time visitor—parking spot and ushered into the VIP room where we got briefed about the goings-on and given a free mug,to the smiles that graced our entry all the way to our seat, we knew that we were a welcome, valued part of Faith Family's mission.
Shortly after being seated, the welcome package came on-screen, explaining what to expect from the service and making a few incognito announcements. A time of worship followed. Any time I'm worshiping in a setting like this, my heart is immediately redirected to and taken up in the text of Hebrews 12:22-23, where the writer describes the Holy Gathering to which we have been invited. Thousands upon thousands of voices, all praising God in unison. Professionally orchestrated lighting, stellar video cuts of the band, soaring vocals, a choir; all designed to create a worship experience unlike any other.
Pastor Mike Cameneti takes the stage, and within minutes the congregation hears about how effective Faith Family is being in the community. From the booming prison ministry to their founding of Turnaround Community Center, a not-for-profit organization downtown Canton that provides meals, clothing, and advocacy services to those living in poverty here in the city (more here). Faith Family also raised $42,000 dollars last November to buy body armor for the Stark County Sheriff Dept. It goes without dispute that Faith Family is concerned about the Kingdom and making a difference here in the Canton community.
Several of the unfortunate stereotypes surrounding mega-churches were validated in the sermon, however, as Cameneti talked the congregation through how to prioritze relationships properly. Using sporadic biblical support, he championed our relationship with God as priority number one, which makes sense, but in doing so, I got the impression that to him, this meant involvement at a local church—specifically, his—and incidentally juxtaposed this with an obvious disdain for the arising model of missional communities—or house-churches. There wasn't an incredible amount of depth to the sermon itself, but he spoke truth, nonetheless. Cameneti taught on paddling children, loving a spouse, honoring your parents and loving your children, to name a few. Family is not just a part of the name; it's an unmistakable part of the DNA of this church.
Faith Family appears to be an extremely tight-knit, full-sized, Kingdom-oriented body of believers, and while my impression of the teaching was that it didn't go as deep as it could have, they offer dozens of opportunities to connect and go deeper in small groups and are clearly making a lasting impact on this community. While the mega-church may not be preferable to some, they are, without doubt an invaluable part of the body of Christ. If next spring, 18 tornadoes rip through Stark County and leave hundreds displaced and disoriented, Faith Family will be leading the charge to aid those in trouble and to provide a home-base of relief efforts. We, the local church, are, together, a gargantuan, imperfect, minuscule, preferable, thriving, dissipating, living and breathing organism; the body of Christ.
If you had been a "seeker" instead of a truth knowing saint, would the welcome time made your coming a good decision for the day, or caused you increased nervousness for your having come?
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying your adventure through your eyes as a believer. But, I ponder if I were a stranger to Christ and the goings on of the churches visited where would I feel most comfortable taking baby steps to Jesus?
pappaw
I thought this was a really good post. I feel you do a really good job of "reporting" what is happening at each church - being as unbiased as possible while keeping your eye on Truth. I was wondering what this post might entail and was pleasantly surprised at your findings. I have really enjoyed loved reading your blog. (I attend LoveCanton with Corey E.)
ReplyDeleteI don't think any church will ever meet the needs of everyone in the community, as to why we have so many different "styles" of churches within a denomination and even as many denominations as we do have. I think there is a place in every community for these "mega-churches" who are able to accomplish things for the community that say a smaller church like the one you went to last week might not be able to do. I usually tend to see these mega-churches as seeker friendly churches so it is interested in the viewpoint of Pappaw :) as this could be intimidating to someone who doesn't want to be noticed or whatnot.
ReplyDeleteThat's all actually ironic, because I do my best to be as invisible as possible in the churches we go to, but Faith Family literally made it impossible. I'm almost eager to go back and see if I can slip in entirely unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteThe greeter's weren't IN YOUR FACE or overbearing. I don't think it would have been intimidating or made me nervous, but that's all coming from one who has been the church my whole life and am comfortable talking the church talk. Good thoughts, all!