Church Review: Hawera Salvation Army
Last Sunday the husband and I went to the Hawera Salvation Army church.
When I suggested we check it out the husband asked “Isn’t it for old people?” and I am afraid that is the perception the Salvation Army church conjures up.
There were several things I really loved about this church, but a few I didn’t.
Things I loved:
• Church motto: “We aim to introduce people to Jesus while meeting the needs in our community without discrimination”
• Incredible work they do
• Relaxed atmosphere
• Friendliness
Things that put me off:
• Uniforms
• Music was a little out of time and hard to follow
• No one our age or younger
The church motto was something I loved so much, they aim to meet the needs of the community without discrimination. I truly believe the purpose of a church is to meet community needs especially for those most at risk or most unloved. Yet so often you find churches who say the right thing, but deep down believe that disabled, special needs or hard to love people are just too much effort. The Salvation Army reaches out to those who are rejected and unloved, and I love them for it.
The Salvation Army does incredible work with addictions, education and disaster relief work to name a few. Check it out at www.salvationarmy.org.nz. It is so good to see people putting Jesus words into practice and loving their neighbours.
The service was very relaxed with no rigid structure to follow, so it’s easy for new comers to fit in without stress. The people were very friendly and easy to talk to.
However there were a few things that made it unlikely that we will be making this our home church.
The uniforms were a bit odd, I feel (rightly or wrongly) that the uniforms are a little old fashioned and while they may be FANTASTIC for when the Salvation Army is working in the community, it felt strange in church on a Sunday. I think that over the last 50 years the perception of the military has changed and now the quasi-military uniforms send mixed messages.
The music was a little out of time and quite hard to follow at times. The pianist was brilliant, but the music team as a whole was not very cohesive. I am probably a music snob (as I used to be on the music team in the very olden days) and these people were very enthusiastic about their singing but I just couldn’t lose myself in the music which is something I really enjoy doing.
The other main reason I just don’t see myself joining this church is the age range. As the husband said before we went, it does seem to be more older people. I didn’t see anyone who looked to be our age, and there didn’t appear to be anyone younger than us either (unless they were children with their parents).
So all in all, they were lovely people with a passion for God and doing his work, but it didn’t feel quite right for us. We will keep on looking.
KG
Comments