Charity Baptist Church, part 1

Forgive me now, I am going to write a post about my home church. I don't intend for it to be a criticism of the church, the pastor, or the congregation. However, I feel it is important for me to identify some of the areas in which the church could improve just to clarify my thoughts on the subject. Part of this is an assessment of the type of church that Charity is. The other part is to identify some changes that need to take place. Let it begin...

In the King James version of the Bible, the word charity is used frequently where most modern translations use the word love. There is nothing wrong with either word; they just come from two different time periods. Since the name of this church is Charity Baptist Church, you can already begin to guess that it is more traditional than contemporary. That assessment is correct. Why is the church traditional? Look at the congregation!

I estimate that over 50% of the congregation is over the age of 50. Fifty years ago was somewhere between the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Fifty years ago the concept of Praise&Worship was not even in the minds of mainstream Christianity. And fifty years ago the song verse that said, "...red and yellow, black and white, they're all precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world..." was not considered to be ethnocentric and politically incorrect. It is now.

Since over 50% of the congregation is over the age of 50, much of the church decisions are made with the mindset that links back to the "good ol' days." Every Sunday the service opens up with the hymn "Majesty" (and no, I don't mean the song by the English group, Delirious?) and it ends with all four verses of the invitation, "Have Thine Own Way."

EVERY SUNDAY.

There are two Sunday School classes for people aged 18 and over: the Senior class, which is currently studying prophecy, and the Couples class, which is currently watching a video series about the Holy Land. There is nothing geared towards college students (in a town with over 7,000 students on campus), young professionals, young families, young etc... You get the point.