So a little bit of my own church history: I went to the local Alliance Church in my hometown from when I was very young until about three years ago. At that time, there were some things going on in the church, conflict issues and other things that I did not pay attention to at my rebellious age. We then went to the Alliance Church in the next town, and I continued to go there right up until I started the Kalèo program.
Looking back with the knowledge that we gained through our Church Ministry course, I can definitely see many things that I appreciate from the Churches that I have been a part of.
When I was growing up in the Hythe Alliance Church my parents ran the Awana kids club, and as I grew older I started helping counsel in that. Upon reflection I have noted that it was really cool how the Alliance Churches from Beaverlodge and Hythe worked together, sharing responsibilities and areas of focus. Both had young children's groups, but Beaverlodge Alliance focused much more on high school and junior high youth groups, and that was an interesting thing that I noticed.
I also really love how it is such a small town church, everybody knows everybody else and that community aspect is really cool. It is awesome to be able to see someone from Church during the week and interact with them outside of the Church setting. I have found that those sort of interactions really help build those friendships that are much deeper than those based on solely the Church environment.
That being said I still find The Meeting Place as an absolutely amazing church, I am just reflecting on the positive differences that one can see when they compare the different communities side by side.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10
Jordan, thanks for sharing your observations and reflections!
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