this church is the most amazing church I have ever attended and will ever attend. Once you get to know the people they are ON FIRE for Christ. That being said you might be wondering why I gave it one star. Reason is... no where on their site does it say this, but they believe that every single human who has accepted the holy spirit is capable of and should aim for speaking in tongues/private prayer language. It's not mentioned online, it wasn't mentioned at the members meeting we attended when we joined, it wasn't mentioned in any of the sermons, small groups, friendships, or in any way during the 8 months we poured our hearts into this church. we were even leaders in the Junior High within a month of joining. We loved this church and the people here are the most genuine people I have ever EVER met. Anyone who says otherwise has not actually taken the time to get involved in these peoples lives. I grew up methodist and my husband baptist, so speaking in tounges being a gift everyone is given is simply something we don't believe. we researched it to the ends of the earth and no one at celebration church was able to answer our questions. But I am not upset with what they believe, they have every right to believe as they see fit. I am upset that no one told us and that it isn't even on their website. I felt like we got sucked in and they waited until the LAST moment to tell us so that it would be easier for us to just go ""well these are great people, maybe this is real"" instead of being told up front and being allowed to make a choice based on that.
when we left we wrote a heartfelt letter to our deep, close and personal friends in the youth ministry. for some reason it was seen as attacking and they were ADVISED by a LEADER OF THE CHURCH to IGNORE us. Last time I checked, when someone was rude to Jesus he didn't just walk away, he showed love and compassion. I apologized but was still sent confrontational emails by people. it was just about the must gut rending, heart breaking experience of my entire life. I felt like my best friends had turned on me. I felt like they were treating me like I was Judas... and again even Jesus was kind to him.
With ALLLLLL of that being said, I want to say that no one is perfect. I feel like everyone got their feelings hurt and hearts broken in this situation so I do my best to not blame any one for any of it. I know God brought us to Celebration to change our lives and he did just that.
this church really does have some of the more on fire people you will ever have the privilege to serve with. They care deeply about serving and volunteering and helping and doing for the Kingdom. They are NOT a church of idle seat holders, they are a church that is vibrant and doing things to impact the Kingdom.
I wrote this review so that those of you who don't believe in every single person speaking in tongues would know about it in advance, since they don't seem to want to post it on their website. This church is Charismatic, borderline Pentecostal. Pastor Joe and this church is actually HEAVILY affiliated with charismatic/pentecostal movements. if you believe in these things, and you want a church that is on fire, YOU MUST GO TO THIS CHURCH! YOU MUST GET PLUGGED IN! THIS CHURCH IS AMAZING! I just felt someone should be honest about their beliefs.
Pros: if you believe as they do this is the church for you!
Cons: misleading
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