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Our Visit to Oikos Fellowship...
As I said last Friday, my wife and I headed up to Bellingham,WA to get some relaxation in for her birthday. Since we were up there, we decided to visit Oikos Fellowship which is pastored by Pete Williamson. I thought I would just share our time with everyone and what we came away with.
We decided to take a look at the church on Saturday to just make sure that we could find it on Sunday morning, as I hate showing up late to church, so I figured that we could make sure that we didn't by running by the day before. As we pulled up you could tell that the church must have been the old "First Baptist Church," or something of the sort, as the building had old wooden architechture, no stained glass and the sign outside was made of wood with a little "roof" on top of it. It didn't take CSI to figure out that this church had been around a while. What was great to see was the new more modern sign inside the old sign, that was black with modern letters that simply read, "Oikos Fellowship". Gone were the days of the sign reading, "Prayer is the Ultimate Wireless Connection" or "The Rapture: Separation of Church and State".
The next day as we entered into the building we were greeted by the young folk at the door and took our usual "visitors" seats in the back of the room so that we wouldn't be a distraction. Actually, I did this on purpose because, this sounds weird, I didn't want people to waste their time on us, when they needed to be encouraging one another and also meeting actual guests that were checking out this church to be their new fellowship. Of course this never works at a welcoming church as we were still greeted and welcomed by those around us, which was cool to see the church welcome new people.
The church met in a small "sanctuary", where the inside had obviously had some work done to it, and it looked very nice. Nothing in the room was going to take your eyes off worship, but the room was very warm and felt like a place of worship (whatever that means). The band began to play and right away Stacy and I looked at each other and were marveled at how well they sounded and how much the attention was not on them, but on the worship. Very encouraging to see from a group of young people. The worship in song was a mixture of old hymns to more modern songs, where both focused on the worship and glorification of the Trinity.
Pastor Williamson wasn't preaching today, as you could tell when he stood up to encourage with the reading of the word, because he brought the reading of the word as any pastor would that truly loves its proclamation: with zeal and honor.
After we sang, read from the word, sang the doxology, and sang some more, Mike came and brought the word to us. Mike focused in on Psalm 46 and it encouraged me to see a young man so in love with God's greatness and concerned with our desires and where our comfort lies. Mike seemed very comfortable in the pulpit and we were encouraged by the word of God through Mike and in the end, what I was able to glean from the Scriptures was just an awe for my omnipotent God who is my "refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
After the message we took communion, sang some more and then we were dismissed. I have to say that for a smaller church, they seem to really be ready to take on their community and try and help out the spreading of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was good to see a church so focused on the glorification of Christ and not on themselves. It was good to see the room filled with young people sitting under the preaching of the Word of God, filled with compassion and zeal.
I now have another church that I can be praying for. I have a pastor that I can encourage with prayer, and when I think of Bellingham, WA I know that the gospel is going forth and the kingdom is being represented well.
So, I thank Oikos for allowing us to worship with them, and look forward to that day that I worship with these fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for eternity, when we all sit under the throne of our great King, worshiping and enjoying Him forever.
We decided to take a look at the church on Saturday to just make sure that we could find it on Sunday morning, as I hate showing up late to church, so I figured that we could make sure that we didn't by running by the day before. As we pulled up you could tell that the church must have been the old "First Baptist Church," or something of the sort, as the building had old wooden architechture, no stained glass and the sign outside was made of wood with a little "roof" on top of it. It didn't take CSI to figure out that this church had been around a while. What was great to see was the new more modern sign inside the old sign, that was black with modern letters that simply read, "Oikos Fellowship". Gone were the days of the sign reading, "Prayer is the Ultimate Wireless Connection" or "The Rapture: Separation of Church and State".
The next day as we entered into the building we were greeted by the young folk at the door and took our usual "visitors" seats in the back of the room so that we wouldn't be a distraction. Actually, I did this on purpose because, this sounds weird, I didn't want people to waste their time on us, when they needed to be encouraging one another and also meeting actual guests that were checking out this church to be their new fellowship. Of course this never works at a welcoming church as we were still greeted and welcomed by those around us, which was cool to see the church welcome new people.
The church met in a small "sanctuary", where the inside had obviously had some work done to it, and it looked very nice. Nothing in the room was going to take your eyes off worship, but the room was very warm and felt like a place of worship (whatever that means). The band began to play and right away Stacy and I looked at each other and were marveled at how well they sounded and how much the attention was not on them, but on the worship. Very encouraging to see from a group of young people. The worship in song was a mixture of old hymns to more modern songs, where both focused on the worship and glorification of the Trinity.
Pastor Williamson wasn't preaching today, as you could tell when he stood up to encourage with the reading of the word, because he brought the reading of the word as any pastor would that truly loves its proclamation: with zeal and honor.
After we sang, read from the word, sang the doxology, and sang some more, Mike came and brought the word to us. Mike focused in on Psalm 46 and it encouraged me to see a young man so in love with God's greatness and concerned with our desires and where our comfort lies. Mike seemed very comfortable in the pulpit and we were encouraged by the word of God through Mike and in the end, what I was able to glean from the Scriptures was just an awe for my omnipotent God who is my "refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
After the message we took communion, sang some more and then we were dismissed. I have to say that for a smaller church, they seem to really be ready to take on their community and try and help out the spreading of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was good to see a church so focused on the glorification of Christ and not on themselves. It was good to see the room filled with young people sitting under the preaching of the Word of God, filled with compassion and zeal.
I now have another church that I can be praying for. I have a pastor that I can encourage with prayer, and when I think of Bellingham, WA I know that the gospel is going forth and the kingdom is being represented well.
So, I thank Oikos for allowing us to worship with them, and look forward to that day that I worship with these fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for eternity, when we all sit under the throne of our great King, worshiping and enjoying Him forever.
2 comments:
Nice read Seth. Thanks for sharing your visit with us. It is always encouraging to visit an out of town church and find that their teaching and preaching is authoritative and Christ honoring.
thanks for the free press...I'd love to hear your feedback on the sermon.
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