Review Christian City Church AVL

This week Christian City Church or C3 AVL moved to the YMI Cultural Center. What a intimate place for a church to meet. The building has hard wood floors and the architectural features are divine. You could do so much in a building like that for ambiance. I think one service with just lots of candle light (if the building owners allowed) could be quite the worship experience.

The experience starts as you are walking down the street. Men are posted at the crosswalks with neon vests on to assist with crossing the street. (Note: We arrived early and parked on College Street near Diana Wortham Theatre and walked down to find the location and then walked up Eagle Street and ate at Barley's before going to worship)

There are signs that direct you to the building. The building is multi-levels and in a beautiful location. The pastor introduced himself as Dean (but didn't reference that he was the pastor) as we were walking into the building. There were many levels of people introducing themselves and making everyone feel welcome. There were treats in the back (the teens were going for the m & m cookies) including cheese, apple slices, etc. We didn't grab a bite since we had just eaten, but what a nice thought especially for those arriving from work.

They didn't start on time but the music started about 7:05 and worship began about 7:08 (sorry, having been on a church staff and this being one of the things we worked on that is a pet peeve of mine to value peoples time and start when you say you will start). The worship was edgy. It was very well done. They use all original music (or they did last night). And it's free to download.

I knew it was a spirit filled church because the person that told us about it told me. I was raised Pentecostal so I did go in with some preconceived notions that I tried to not think about. That is a post for another day.

The worship was great. People felt free to express themselves; however, no one was running up and down the aisles or drawing attention to themselves. Personally, I think it would have been more intimate if the lights were dimmed; however, I'm not sure that building would allow for light dimming. Worship lasted 30 or 40 minutes (I didn't time it) and you stand the whole time. Someone behind us was praying in the spirit rather loudly for the whole worship time and it was distracting.

Then they went into a time of communion. The pastor said he wanted their first time in their new gathering place to have communion and share the meal together. It was a nice experience. Again, lighting would have carried the mood much more. Now I realize why John Adair, Youth Director at Covenant Community Church is such a stickler for lighting. It matters.

At 8:00 the pastor started his sermon. For me, the service could have ended after communion and been done right. Since the worship leader spoke for a few minutes about Moses and the men going up to see God on a mountain and related it to worship. And the pastor had told of his recent trip to Spain, Rome and London and explained about the experience he had in the Sistine Chapel the word had been given already.

However, the sermon was for us. His sermon was about what they want C3 to be. What kind of church they want. He spoke from Acts. He said the church can be a great place of healing or a great place of hurt. That many people walking through their doors will have been hurt by a past experience with a church. And he cannot promise that they won't have an experience at C3 that will be hurtful. But he talked about taking a season to get over the hurt and then finding another group of believers to journey with. It was a message I needed.

I won't restate his whole sermon (and did I mention he's Australian) but the other thing that was refreshing was him talking about being People of the Table. He referenced the times of Christ and how Jesus was always up for a party. Jesus went to the Wedding in Cana, he told Zaccheus he was going to his house, etc. He said we will gather on Friday nights and then people will have each other over on Saturday night. Yes, each others homes. That is why you have a home is to share it with others.

The sermon lasted about 40 minutes then they replayed a song from the worship time. He prayed for needs from people raising their hands while all eyes were closed and heads bowed. Then he dismissed.

People again were friendly.

Mike said it isn't fair to blog about a church from your first experience. But I think the first experience makes an impression and it is important to work through the question is this the church for our family.

Will we go back? Yes. We decided to check it out again. Next time we'll take Brooklyn.

Addendum: sermon and look for the file asheville 5.mp3