REVIEW: Rochester WCG
John S. filled out a review recently about his experiences at Rochester Worldwide Church of God. I was unfamiliar with the Worldwide Church of God denomination and checked it out online. I was surprised to hear they began right here in Oregon (my backyard)!
In this review, John is a guest speaker at the church, so it’s an interesting perspective to hear from someone in that position. Kind of like a review I did as the preacher: “Reviewing the Pew!“
Thanks John!
Church Name:
Rochester Worldwide Church of God
Rochester, MN
Date Attended:
November 5, 2006
Overall Rating:
8 -Â ”I took notes through the sermon. Great worship! Very exciting!”Was the building easy to find? If you drove, was it hard to find parking? How about the exterior or interior signage what would you do differently?
The building was easy to find, but I didn’t know where to park until a member flagged me down and pointed the way. There was no sign to indicate there was a church meeting in the building. When I got into the building, there were no signs telling me where to go. I heard voices up a flight of stairs and followed them. That’s how I found the service. I had to ask someone where the bathroom was…Did anyone approach you and speak to you before the service got underway? If so, how did you feel about that? Can you share their name(s)? Did you know them before your visit?
Lots of people talked to me, it was great. But yes, they already knew me.As you observe the people “doing their church thing” what goes through your mind? Are you able to understand why they do what they do? Do they seem sincere?
The people in worship were great. Some were really into it and raising hands and stuff. Others were more reserved and solemn. But nobody seemed uncomfortable with anybody else. That was really cool.What do you think about the rituals (the liturgy or the program)?
The Communion was moving and very meaningful. The service started about 15 minutes after the program said it would start, and my wife and I were wondering if we had gotten the time wrong and arrived too early. Minor, but still sort of confusing.Check out the church program/bulletin. Is there anything in it you find confusing or offensive? If this were your “business,” how would you improve this communication piece?
Someone arrived late who had something to do with the service, so the order of service got switched around some, so the program ended up not being very helpful. But each part of the service flowed just fine to the next, so it wasn’t a big deal. I would have liked it if the program/bulletin (or some other piece of paper) could have shown me more about what the church is about, and what programs I can get involved in.What did you think of the music? Did you enjoy any of it? Was it boring? Write down the feelings you had while watching or participating.
The music lyrics were on a cool video screen with moving video on it. That was cool and dynamic and energizing. It was pretty good music, but it was a little hard to hear. The acoustics of the room were not the best, and the microphones on the worship leaders didn’t project their voices well. I don’t know if turning up the volume would have helped or not. Also, I was very conscious of hearing myself sing. It’s nice when other people are at least as loud as I am!What did you think of the prayers? As you listened to the prayers, what did you learn about the people, either good or bad? Did they “major in the majors” or get lost in the minors?
Hmmm…I’m not sure I noticed. But they seemed pretty focused on Jesus and loving God and all that. So I’d say the prayers were just fine.Did the speaker or pastor seem likeable? Weird? Is she/he a person you’d enjoy having coffee with? If not, why not?
(Since the speaker was me, I’ll not say anything here. But I do like having coffee with myself)Did you bring any adults or children with you to our service? If so, ask them about their experience. What did they tell you?
I brought a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. We got approached as the service was beginning, and a very nice elderly woman told us she’d like to watch our kids for us during the service. That was REALLY nice. My wife doesn’t get to really participate in worship services much, because of kids.ÂIf I didn’t know the lady, I might have been uneasy giving my kids away without some good assurances of background checks and other things that would affect my kids’ safety under her care. The kids REALLY enjoyed themselves. They re-joined us after the service and showed us pictures they’d drawn and they had stories about Jesus to share with me. That was OUTSTANDING. And then the kids had fun playing with other kids after the service. My
kids enjoying a church is one of my NUMBER ONE critieria for picking a church, and these guys did really good in that area.
How was your experience at the church overall? Did you enjoy it? Would there be any point in you going there again?
It was really quite good. Very friendly people. The worship was reverent without being stuffy. A very warm and pleasant potluck afterward, with good conversation. Though the music/worship part was hard to hear, I would certainly like to visit again.If this church expects to attract people like yourself, what do you suggest they improve that you haven’t already mentioned?
The “childcare” was certainly a big deal for me. I would suggest they make it seem more professional than just a nice lady offering to help us. And again, some assurances and information about how the church has taken steps to make sure my kids will be safe and well taken-care-of.
Comment by: Peter Walker
1 11/10/06 6:21 PM | Comment Link |Interesting. This is such a small thing, and yet I find myself wishing the same thing, time and time again. I want a church to tell me who and what they are AND show me… not just one or the other.
Consistency in practices and communiques tells an awful lot about a church’s behavioral spirit in RELATION to its beliefs.
Comment by: Peter Walker
2 11/10/06 6:23 PM | Comment Link |Oh, John, while you’re “here,” can you tell us a little bit about your message that morning: what was the focus? What did you say? (at least, an overview)
Pat yourself on the back, we don’t mind!
Comment by: Todd
3 11/10/06 7:16 PM | Comment Link |Greetings,
Thank you so much for this! What a wonderful service Peter and also to you John, thank you so much.
I certainly appreciate the comments and direction that you both have offered.
The Worldwide Church of God has gone through tantamount changes and now as each individual church in the denomination discovers it’s identity within the body of Christ and its gifts within the community of believers I think that we have found ourselves “inside looking in”. Maybe that is a hard statement to decipher but we were so exclusive in the past and now we have become inclusive but assume that when you walk into our shell you understand everything that we understand.
I too love the comment about what the church is all about and what programs a person can become involved with - trust me, I will be brainstorming for ideas on this one. I certainly appreciate any advice or ideas that you might be able to share in this area.
John’s message was exciting and full of hope. He spoke about spiritual gifts in the sense of being a superhero aiming to save the world, all because of the love that He has for us and everyone else on the planet.
I sincerely appreciated the time that you took to review the Rochester WCG John, as I did the time that you took to come and visit us in Rochester. I, we, look forward to another time together. Thank you too for your care and devotion to the body and service to the Lord God Most High.
Thank you Peter for your service to the body and for your warmth and encouragement that is very visible in your words.
Peace.
Comment by: NCxian
4 11/11/06 9:10 AM | Comment Link |The comments about having something in the bulletin that tells about other programs gives me an opportunity to say something that I have been milling around in my mind. If I have actually posted it somewhere, I can’t find it, but forgive me if I am duplicating. Or consider it a “heads-up” about something I think we need to bear in mind.
The format of ChurchRater is somewhat based on the “attractional” model of outreach. That model assumes that the major “entry point” to a church community is a visit to a worship service, including lots of folks who just make a “cold call”. Thus, our worship services need to be friendly to that first time visiting stranger.
I think the current conversation (and perhaps research) suggests that attracting people to a church service was a good plan when most of the US population was “churchy”–likely to wind up in a church some day, because we were all pretty much “ethnic Christians”. And I am not suggesting that our Sunday morning service should not be open, friendly, understandable, and so forth. What I am saying is, a lot of what we focus on here is going to be relevant as we try to reach the remaining folks who are “churchy”, but not so relevant to reaching “unreached people groups” in our community. It would be nice if there was someway to church-rate based on a more wholistic view (although I can’t think of anything to offer).
I think the interest in “more about what the church is about” in the bulletin is a clue about the need folks have to understand the probably 70-90% of corporate activity undertaken by a local Christian community that doesn’t happen on Sunday morning.
I don’t say this to be critical but just an observation: I think it might be easy for folks who plan and conduct Sunday morning services to think it is overly important in church life. I’m not so sure . . .
Comment by: benjamin ady
5 11/11/06 1:36 PM | Comment Link |I *love* a couple quotes from the “what we believe” section of this church’s web site:
and
It’s megarefreshing to see a group of Christians who are willingly to publicly say “it’s not all black and white, and we don’t know for sure about some things, and that’s okay!
Comment by: Peter Walker
6 11/11/06 10:05 PM | Comment Link |I agree Benjamin.
NCxian - good questions. I’m reposting your question as a unique post…
Comment by: John Stonecypher
7 01/5/07 4:59 PM | Comment Link |Wow, it was 2 months ago that I did the ChurchRater survey, and I wasn’t sure it ever actually got posted. Now I return and find this conversation going on! Fun.
Todd (one of the pastors at Rochester WCG) summed up my sermon pretty well in his comment above. Todd, you da MAN.
Oh, and Benjamin, thanks for your kind words. Our church has a proud history of being both overly-dogmatic and profoundly wrong. :-) We like to think we’ve grown out of that somewhat.
Comment by: Helen
8 01/5/07 7:48 PM | Comment Link |John, thanks for coming by.