United Church of Christ

This Sunday (Jan. 30th), I visited the United Church of Christ at 825 Middlefield Drive. This church was formed in 1957 as the result of a merger between two longstanding churches in Petaluma - the Congregational Church (at 5th &B), and Grace Evangelical and Reformed Church (which met at what is now the Grace Building at 17 Keller Street).


The pastor, Blythe Sawyer, went to seminary at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. She has pastored the United Church of Christ for six years now. She is the mother of two sons, 4 year old Elan and 8 year old Isaiah. The church has about 160 members and has an average weekly attendance of around 80.

It is part of the United Church of Christ denomination, which formed when the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed denominations united in 1957. Although the name Church of Christ is often associated with the Restorationist movement associated with Thomas Campbell and Barton Stone, and though the Congregational Christian Churches do have some roots in the Restorationist movement, the United Churches of Christ through its merger, has more of Reformed tradition with influences from Lutheranism. Thus the worship service has a strong liturgical influence, something not found in most churches that flow from the Restorationist movement.

First Presbyterian Church - New Member

I was received as a member at First Presbyterian Church of Petaluma this Sunday (Jan. 23rd). As I mentioned in my Introduction, I chose First Presbyterian as a home church while I continue on my journey to visit all the churches in Petaluma.

As I will be attending First Presbyterian in the future, I will write more about this church in upcoming posts. One item I will briefly mention in this post is that they have been in Petaluma for 127 years, since 1883 (it will be 128 years sometime this year in 2011, but I am not sure of the exact date).

It felt good to become a member of First Presbyterian. It has been a while since I was formally a member of a church. The members of the congregation were very welcoming. My lovely wife, Lori, and my good friend, James Crowell, came out to see me accepted as a member, which made it special.

The pastor, Rev. Dave Weidlich, delivered a sermon on leadership, since the church was accepting new elders and deacons.

(I later wrote about their pastor, their local history, and their church government.)

Village Baptist Church

I visited Village Baptist Church this Sunday (Jan. 16) pastored by Dr. Emmanuel O. Akognan. They meet in Suzanne's Dance School at 532 South McDowell in Petaluma. The Petaluma church is an outreach of Village Baptist Church in Marin City, which Dr. Akognan pastors. He conducts services in Petaluma at 9 a.m., and then drives down to Marin City to conduct the 11 a.m. service.

Rev. Akognan told me Village Baptist has been in Petaluma about 11 years, and has met at his house, and at the Petaluma Community Center. They moved into Suzanne's a couple years ago.

Pastor Emmanuel preached a challenging and lively sermon on the 7 tests of a Christian. The largely black (African-American) congregation responded to the sermon and the lively worship with enthusiasm. I had a good time.

For those who know Rev. Fred Small, Emmanuel is his son-in-law. Emmanuel is from Nigeria. He received a Doctorate in Ministry from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary.

The Petaluma congregation is small, with about 20-30 in attendance. (I don't how large the Marin City congregation is, but it looks large from their website.) Rev. Akognan told me they have started an outreach to expand the Petaluma congregation. I was blessed from the visit.

Update #1

Introduction

I am on a spiritual journey to visit all the churches in Petaluma, California, where I live. I believe God has me on this journey for a time to more fully experience the Body of Christ where I live, in all its flavors and traditions.

I am not doing this to look for a church. When you are looking for a church, you visit churches with a specific purpose in mind, to evaluate whether the church you are visiting is what you want in a home congregation.

Instead, I am enjoying meeting the many Christians throughout the Body of Christ in my community, and enjoying the flavor and tradition of the congregation I am visiting. I am also finding this to be an expanding and challenging experience for me.
When we attend the same church for many years, which I have in the past, we tend to think of the Body of Christ in terms of the congregation we attend, and we tend to think the tradition at our church is the correct one. As I visit the various church congregations, I am exposed to how flexible the Body of Christ is, and I am stretched myself, which requires me to become more flexible.

That doesn't mean I accept anything and everything. I am an orthodox Christian, and I still seek orthodox Christianity. So I am not including non-orthodox churches in this journey. Yet, within orthodox Christianity, there is still a wide range of traditions.

I plan to write about this journey in the blog. Each week, I will visit a different church, and try to write about it in here. I plan to alternate between a liturgical church and a non-liturgical church.

I also plan to have a home church to check in on about once a month to have some continuity and a regular fellowship base. I have chosen First Presbyterian Church for this. I also play in the Guitar Mass about once a month at our local parish, St. James.