Mega Mega Churches

On the last Sunday of 2019, we decided to try a new church closer to my (somewhat new) apartment.

For the last six months, I’ve been floating unattached to a church. As much as I love my previous church, the 30 minute commute is a bit much for me. I know some people will see that as a non-existent issue, but when you consider the fact that I don’t like getting up early, I don’t like dealing with traffic, and I don’t like the anxiety of finding suitable parking that limits the potential of a careless person hitting my car, it becomes easier to convince myself to stay home.

But all in all, my mom convinced me to try this church 5 minutes down the street. First and foremost, it’s a big church. Auditorium style with two floors that I could see. The parking lot sits at the base of this massive building. Thankfully, the parking process was simple enough. They seemed to provide a lot of parking but we still had to park on the grass. Secondly, I didn’t realize how massive the black population was in this area.

During my search for a church, I came across many churches with nationalities and races that span across the globe. While this church was no different, it was evident that the predominate attendance included Caribbean or African american descent. Anyone who’s attended a black church knows that this dictates how intense this experience could be.

We sat near the back so I could have a wide view of the sanctuary. Although service started at 10 am, people continued to drift in until 11 am. It was beautiful to see so many people in one space worshiping together. The pastor even walked through the crowd to get people’s testimonies from the year.

While there was plenty good about this mega church, I have to point out why I probably won’t be going back in person.

I have a limit on how long I can sit in a church service. I’m the type that loves a couple songs, a good prayer, the lesson, and the benediction. Short sweet and simple. This was not short, sweet, and simple. After two and a half hours, people started to slowly drift out of the doors. Due to our sitting position, escape wasn’t as convenient.

When we finally started making our way out of our row, it was complete rush hour traffic. Bottle-necking at the stairs and then again at the stairwell. Getting to the car and then waiting 10 minute to pullout in between pedestrians and traffic to only get directed to the wrong exit and having to circle around the block.

I’m honestly exhausted just talking about it.

Overall, I truly liked the warmth and love in that space. But I already know I can’t to commit to something that chaotic on a weekly basis. If I decide to tune into a service, it’ll definitely be online.