It's awesome to feel home when you're at church!

Hubbie and I were born and raised Catholics... we go to Christ the King on Bedford Way (Oildale area).  We've been going there since we got married (2000) and lived close to that Church.  Always felt so welcome and Monsignor Frost is awesome!  We moved closer to OLPH and St. Joseph's Catholic Church and have tried going there the first couple of months we moved to our home but felt that something wasn't right.  We didn't feel like part of it and the community.  Until one Sunday we decided to visit Monsignor at CTK... the moment we walked in the Church and heard Monsignor celebrate the mass, we looked at each other and smiled... we were home!!!  It's not a very big church but it has grown since we've been going there. 

It has taken me a while to get used to the large feeling on Sundays.  I noticed that most people just go into church, worship, and will smile, but not really say hi to you unless you meet in a bible study or at a table...that was strange for me.  I grew up in a church where we had greeters at the door that shook your hand and smiled every Sunday, the little ladies served coffee outside after church, and yes, we sometimes got our business explored one too many times....I also have grown to like the large feeling and anonymity of a big church.  However, I think it's important to have a tight knit group of church-going friends who will be there to support you - no matter what happens!  I really felt connected and accepted in the women's bible study I joined with my sis-in-law this summer.  It's been awesome!  And from the first moment, I felt welcomed and accepted.  No matter where you worship, it's important to have that support and a community to support you!  :0)  Great topic Kevin! 

We go to Riverlakes too. I'm probably weird, but I like the big church feeling (although we do know a few people there now)--growing up in a small church/small town and knowing everyone and all of their personal details drove me crazy sometimes. I sometimes like the anonymity of a large church. It's nice to meet new people almost every time you go.

i love valley baptist!

We visited Riverlakes when we were first looking around in Bakersfield.  Because of the size, I think Sunday mornings are the wrong entry point for people who come from smaller church experiences... or at least for us.  We felt lost in the crowd and few people made an effort to say "hi."  We felt like nobody noticed we were there.  That's not an overall judgement.  Can't make one of those from a one-morning sampling.  I know it is a great church because I have talked to people from there (now including you!).  Had we not found something that grabbed us somewhere else, we probably would have come back to Riverlakes.  It might have just been God leading us to where he wanted to use us at CCV.

But we even get that at CCV.  I consider CCV a very friendly place where visitors are made to feel extremely welcome, but there are always those few that for one reason or another get overlooked, and then we feel terrible.  I'm sure that's what happened on our RCC visit.

We attend RiverLakes Community Church on Calloway....also a huge church, but very inviting and family oriented.  We moved to Northwest Bako after living on the east side of Bako for all of our lives....it was a nice change.  We love it in our new neighborhood and the feeling of community is totally different.  I got involved in a Beth Moore bible study on Tuesday mornings with my SIL at RCC (Riverlakes Community Church) and the thing I noticed from day one was the variety of women represented and how accepting and open they were.  I instantly felt comfortable and welcome!

I was raised in a much smaller church (like 200-300 members) and it was a change of thinking for me to move to a church that was so big and contemporary...at first, it was a struggle.  Not anymore though - I love it there and consider it our home! 

I get caught up in being selfish sometimes with the kind of church I want.  I like knowing every single face that comes through the door.  Gives it that family feel, but at the same time, we should be doing our best to get more and more faces through the door.  I grew up in a church of about 400-500 people.  I didn't know everybody's name, but I knew faces.  When we moved to Bakersfield, we came to CCV and it was a bit smaller than that.  We loved it from day one, felt like family and never looked at another church.  Now there is an awesome new pastor at CCV and the church is growing, with visions of attendance in the thousands and building new, bigger buildings.  That is awesome!  But some of the family feel is lost, at least on Sunday mornings.  We are also in a small group that meets weekly and I guess when you're in a bigger church, the small group is where you maintain your family feel.

Now we are helping with Kaleo Fellowship, which didn't even exist a year ago.  So "small" is an understatement.  They are growing too, slowly but surely.

I definitely like the family feel, though.  That's the right feeling you should get at the church.

VCF sounds good!  I mean, they all do, but I like your description.

Vineyard Christian Fellowship- a come as you are, crazy, whacked out doin' the stuff Jesus did church.  We have a lot of fun.  We are all family there.

I attend a synagogue.

VBC here also :)

Life Journey

I love what we're doing lately. Looking at church as community participation, instead of one person presenting. So we're totally redoing the way we celebrate together every week. It's called Life Journey 2.0 (v. the 1.0 version which was the way it used to be done). Anyways, we have found home there. We moved across the country & a lot of the bigger churches were overwelming. I think the move was overwelming in & of itself. So coming to Life Journey where the community was smaller was refreshing. And I also love the feel of the community... a real dressed down feel. LOVE IT! It's just what I need right now.

And that, sir, was a rant. :)

I attend Valley Baptist which is off of Fruitvale, and is a huge chruch! About an average of 3000 attendees through there morning services on Sunday.