Church of the Nazarene: At First Glance

I showed up right at 10:30 for the only Sunday service this particular church offered. (Well, they do have something called “intergenerational learning” at 9:30, but that seems to be the time small groups meet.)

This church reminded me of a church I attended as a kid (Assembly of God). Not the beliefs, I haven’t really begun to research the doctrine of the Nazarene Church. But the atmosphere, the building, the people, the music…it felt familiar and foreign all at once.

The building itself looks a bit like a converted gym. It has carpet and a large glass window, but the markings on the carpet mimic a basketball court. This was the first church I’ve attended this year that had chairs instead of pews. And there were hymnals buried in the pouches on the back of the chairs, but no one used them. Instead the words were projected on a screen behind the worship team.

Yes, there was a worship team. Two men and two women led the church in “contemporary” music. The songs selected weren’t exactly new, at least not since the ’90s, but they weren’t hymns. The worship team stood on an elevated stage, while the pianist and small orchestra were on ground level. Ok, it was just a handful of instruments – flute, trumpet, trombone – but it was more music than I’ve heard in a church in awhile.

The Church of the Nazarene does seem…