I have a warm place in my heart reserved for the Alliance Church. I spent many Sunday's in the Saskatoon Alliance Church and had many friends during my college years. When I moved to Prince George in 1991 this was one of the Churches I was going to check out, however I promised my uncle Elmer that I would give my Mennonite heritage a chance and went to Westwood first. Westwood won over my heart and at the time it was really focused on children's ministry so it was an obvious choice for a growing family. Now 34 years later I had never dawned the door of the Alliance and I thought it was about time.
On the surface what attracted me to the Church was it's central location. I also appreciated the timber framed entrance way they had completed several years ago. (I am a big lover of large timbers) Due to the circumstances I brought my truck and a 12 foot trailer. I thought I would stick out like a sore thumb but around back they had two pull through stops on the west end of their Church. Here I could hide my messy truck and trailer.
It had the feel of a typical "seeker friendly" Church. What was really nice is that I had a friend who attended the Church and he happened to be walking in the front at the same time as me. He introduced me to his wife and daughter. They were long standing members of the Church. I was greeted at the door by a couple of members who made me feel welcome. I sat at the back and tried to be as inobtrusive as possible. I was extremely impressed with the number of young people and families. I had chosen to go to the early service at 9am and I guess when you have young kids you are up anyway so you might as well just pack up the kids and head to Church. The kids looked very relaxed and many of the younger ones wandered up to the front of the Church and danced while the singing was happening. As with many Churches the songs change all the time so I was not familiar with the music but the choruses were repetitive and simple to follow along.
It was communion and although it was not exactly clear when I was to partake in the elements I went up to the front and just watched others around me trying to determine what to do and when. The pastor gave a sermon and discussed his vision of growing the Church. He talked about growing to two services and wanting to expand even more. (My personal pet peeve is that we should be using large structures like Churches in the community and they should be full 7 days a week) If the Church does not have its scheduled events then it should be offered to the community at cost or less if it is a deserving group. At this part of Prince George there is no community hall. The last community hall was torn down years ago to make room for a dental office. (but I digress)
All in all this was a highly positive experience. The Church gave you an opportunity to get a new comers welcome package that contained a gift card for Starbucks which was a very nice touch. The materials contained within provided a bit more information about the services available in the organization. The other nice touch, that some people might find obtrusive but I loved was the senior pastor contacted me the next week to touch base and get some feedback and see if I needed any other information about the Church.
