West Huntsville Church of Christ

For the first church that I went to, I picked the one most closest to my place. The West Huntsville Church of Christ is located at 1303 Evangel Dr. Huntsville, AL 35816. Its is a pretty big church. At the max it probably seats 700-800 people. From my understanding is that this church is like the campus church of UA Huntsville. The church is an predominately Caucasian church. They have two church services, one at 9 a.m.(the one I went to) and a 5 p.m. service.

Welcome/Friendliness: Upon entering the church I was greeted at the door by two men. They gave me a pamphlet called, "The Messenger". It had what was going to happen during the service, weekly events, sick and shut in's, etc. The first part of the service was a welcoming of newcomers to the church. Out of the 300+ people that came to church that morning only 5 people stopped and welcomed me there. Upon leaving the church, 4 people welcomed me back. Points: 5/10

Dress Code/Attire: I came dressed some khaki's and a polo shirt. Boy, was I under-dressed! Everyone had a suit and tie on. The women wore long dresses. There isn't a "come-as-you-are" vibe about this church. Understanding the culture of the church makes the dress code sensible. They must take God very seriously here.
Points: 3/5

Things to do for the children: There was no children's story. There was no children's church. During the service you just heard 5-6 little babies cry during the service. Very distracting if you want to actually focus your mind on the service.
Points:0/15

Songs/Band/Special Music: There are no pianos, organs, band at the church. The entire congregation sang acapella. I have never been to a church that had no musical instruments. The congregation sang 6 songs. "Blessed Assurance", "Abide with Me", "Alas did My Savior Bleed", "It is Well With My Soul", "Burdens are Lifted at Calvary", and "O How I Love Jesus". Honestly, it was nice to hear a congregation sing without a piano. The bad part about that is there was this guy sitting next to me who was singing very loudly... like he wanted everyone at the church to hear his voice.
Points:15/20

Scripture Usage: Wow, the service was filled with the use of scripture. I found myself having to stop writing at jot down scripture it seemed every 3 min or so. The Scripture they used was as follows(very long list):
1 Chron. 16:18, 1 Cor. 11:23, 2 Cor. 9:6-8, Isa. 6:1-8, 2 Tim 2:1, Rom 12:1, 1 Cor. 13, Gen. 41:51, Rev. 1:5, 1 Tim 3:15, Philp. 3:13, Ps. 51:10, Ps. 127, Eph 6:5, Gal. 6:2, John 13:34, Heb. 10:35, 1 Cor 10:13, 2 Pet 1:5, John 10:10, Ps. 85:10, Gal. 5:19.
Points:20/20

Sermon: Since it was Independence Day, the minister started out with a quote by John Quincy Adams. The quote spoke of Independence Day having everything to do with religion and not really liberty at all. That was very weird I must say. The crux of the service was about Peace. There was a case study done at Duke that wanted to quantify what people found peaceful and how people can attain peace. There were 8 steps and the minister went over all 8. The are found below:

1. Got to avoid resentment & suspicion
   
2. Don't live in the past
3. Don't waste time & energy fighting conditions you cannot change
4. Force yourself to stay involved in the world
5. Refuse to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal
6. Cultivate the "old-fashioned values"
7. Do not expect too much of yourself
8. Find something bigger than yourself to believe in

I found it very interesting that the preacher talked about how his church is a "New Testament Church". Also what interested me is that after church they have their "Sunday School". Overall the sermon seemed like it was thought up probably on Saturday. To me he let Duke University Psychology dept. create his sermon.
Points:17/25

Appeal/Benediction: The Appeal to me didn't sound sincere. There wasn't a point during the service that might have led you on the path to want to become a member of the Christian faith or even a member of that church. Once again, the sermon was one a case study done at Duke. The benediction said nothing of significance due to the construction on the sermon.
Points: 2/5

Extra Credit: The Pews were very comfortable. +2 Points

Total Points: 65/100 Grade: D

It might seem like a bad score but a big deal was the lack of involvement with the children in the church. They had nothing to do but be a nuisance to their parents and the people talking. Before one of the prayers, one of the associate pastors didn't pray until a child calmed down.
*Note* This Church has communion every Sunday. They only take up one offering per service.