Church Review: Highway Church – Not a cult!
On December the 21st the husband and I visited another local church. (photo from www.faithmatters.org.nz)
The Highway Church is large and set well off the road. There are a lot of trees (not evident in this picture) and land around it and it has very little signage. The first time I drove past it I joked that it was probably a cult or commune of some sort. Where everyone lived onsite and worked the land and shared all they owned etc.
On further investigation, this has proven to be untrue.
According to the stuff archives it is an old homestead turned into a school, which explains the size of the buildings and the land around it. See article here at www.stuff.co.nz. It was turned into a full time church building in 2012.
Our experience was very positive. We were chatting with a lovely lady as we took our seats, and she took us on a wee tour of the buildings and told us some of the history before the service started. But it didn’t feel pressured, planned or un-natural. We just struck up a conversation with someone and she wanted to show us the place.
It was incredibly informal. I don’t know if this was due to the fact it was a Christmas type service or if it is always informal but I really liked it.
It was a very small gathering, there were only 16 people apart from ourselves and this probably contributed to the informality. It felt a bit like a large life-group*1 meeting of friends rather than an official church service.
They seemed to be bible focussed and thought the scripture was important (big tick from me) and they had a lot of fun (big tick).
However they all were older than us, with the average age (scientific system of guessing) of around 55 possibly. There was not a lot of diversity (in age and ethnicity) that I could see, but then 16 people is not a large sample size. I do like a church with lots of viewpoints.
There was no sermon to speak of, the main service was a big group activity with most of the congregation*2 decorating the Christmas tree and explaining the history of Christmas and the meaning of the decorations. The pastor read a passage from the bible. 3 people spoke on what Christmas means to them and there was a wee skit.
The music was a bit off key at times, but as I am learning, that is normal (and maybe I was just spoiled at the churches I have been to in other places with professional standard musicians). There were a few moments with one song where I was transported and shut my eyes and could really feel the presence of God, bringing me peace and calmness, which was lovely.
As a church it was informal, friendly, bible-based and ran on the lines of a gathering of friends who happen to love God. I think we will visit again, I think I could be comfortable there.
KG
*1 Life group = small gathering of Christians in someone’s home to talk about God and drink coffee (cookies optional).
*2 Congregation = churchy way of saying the people who are part of the church or in the church
For more information on definitions see my Christanese Definitions page here.
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