On Mother's Day Sunday (5-5-2013), instead of driving to my church for the past four years, I walked across the street to go to try out another church. It was a United Methodist Church, so I didn't know what to expect.
Here are some differences I noticed from my old church and the Methodist church:
1. Most of the congregation was white--at my old church, it was mostly Korean.
2. There were pews instead of chairs.
3. There were Bibles and hymnals in every pew, while at my old church, the Bible verses and song lyrics were displayed on a powerpoint projector.
4. They had an offering plate instead of an offering bag with handles (with the offering plate, you can see what others gave)
4. The worship was more traditional--one person playing an organ, compared to my old church, it was more contemporary with drums, guitar, etc.
It was a lot bigger than my old church too--they actually had multiple pastors (one associate pastor was a woman) and more than one service. What disappointed me though, was that instead of having a sermon, they actually did a kid's musical--because it was Mother's Day. The kids were cute and everything, but it seemed inappropriate for a Sunday service. A church is supposed to be for worshipping God, not for entertainment, right? But I did get this nice coffee tumbler and a light bulb from the welcome bag. And a woman introduced herself and talked to me after service, which was nice of her.
And then this past Sunday the 19th, I went to my roommate Melissa's church. I've heard about this church because many of the people that I knew from my college ministry go there. It was also very different from my old church because
1) They met in a high school auditorium instead of having their own building
2) The two pastors were both Asian, but the congregation was of different races
3) It was a bigger church, and they had more missionaries they supported. Also, the pastors got paid about twice as much as my old pastor.
They didn't serve a free lunch, but they had a bahn mi fundraiser for missions, so I bought some and ate them with my roommate and her boyfriend. No one that I didn't already know from the church really talked to me or anything.
I guess I'll keep going to different churches and see how other churches are and how they worship. It's kind of fun actually.