After
finishing my class on church ministry I feel a lot more aware of how the church
is intended to operate and how a lot of the churches actually operate. At the
same time I have been exposed to new qualities of the church while I attend
Warmland. No church is perfect so there are aspects of my home church that
Warmland does not provide and vice versa. What I miss the most about my home
church, North Country Community Church (NCCC) is how involved the youth are and
the leadership potential that they possess. I find that NCCC has more outreach
programs for the congregation to get directly involved with. What I probably
miss the most about attending NCCC is the fellowship that took place, I felt
very at home talking to anybody there. These qualities do not make one church
better than the other; they are just what I am used to and appreciate about my
church back home.
NCCC
has an outstanding youth group. Despite there only being four dedicated youth
members, they have proven to be an outstanding contribution to the church. It
is incredible how these young believers show such leadership and contribution
to the church. On a regular Sunday you will see youth holding each other
accountable to regularly contribute to their sponsor child, teach Sunday school,
lead worship, read scripture, or play during offertory. During a special service
such as Christmas Eve, the youth will usually put on a drama or play a special
song. All of this is on top of attending a youth Bible study every Wednesday and
youth group every Friday. These youth are preparing to one day be the sole
leaders of a church. I am proud to have once been part of that youth group and
even more proud to spend my last year there as one of the youth leaders.
There
are many opportunities for people to get involved at NCCC. There are of course
many of the “regular” opportunities such was worship, greeting, sound, Sunday school,
youth group etc. What makes NCCC different are the programs they support. An
amazing program was birthed from NCCC called “Rising Above”, which serves the
community by providing help to the people who can no longer provide for
themselves due to continual loss of jobs, addictions or the like. The church is
presented with many opportunities to practically support this program by
providing prayer partners, helping with building projects or simply connecting
with the participants as some choose to attend church. Another program that I
loved being a part of was “loaves and fishes”. Every Sunday our church would
provide a meal and clothing for the homeless. These are rare opportunities that you cannot find in every church. I feel
that these opportunities really helped me create a sense of identity with the
church.
Another
part of my church back home that I miss is the fellowship. Every church has
fellowship but each is unique in its own way. I feel that Warmland has great fellowship;
I just have a hard time comparing it to back home. I attended NCCC for ten
years and knew everybody very well; I could have a conversation with anybody in
the church and was always one of the last to leave. I’m still getting know everybody’s
name at Warmland so have not been able to take part in fellowship on the same
level as I could at home. NCCC has a time set aside for people to greet and say
hello to someone you have not yet said hi to. Warmland does not regularly do
this, last Sunday they attempted it but it ended up taking too long and being a
distraction so it probably won’t happen very often. I enjoy it when people
intentionally take the time to get to know everybody; it makes it feel more
like a family. Being away from my home church really makes me appreciate some
of the things that I took for granted while attending there.
