The Sunday Morning Experience – Bellaire UMC
I’ve been looking forward to attending Bellaire for awhile now. This is Jessica’s church in Houston and she has told me many things about it. From what Jessica has told me I knew I could expect a fairly traditional United Methodist worship service. So I was looking for what this church does that was beyond the norm. Like Karen the Greeter for example. I have this vision of Karen entering the sanctuary like a trained hunter. She glances the room, carefully picking out her prey. By this I mean, she comes in and automatically looks for faces she doesn’t know. She makes an effort to try and meet everyone she can in the few minutes prior to the service starting. She also positions herself in the foyer outside the back of the sanctuary, near the visitor’s information table, to greet people as they leave.
I don’t know if Karen does this as the church’s official greeter, or if she is just one of those people. Either way, it was nice. In fact a handful of people made an effort to greet us and thank us for visiting, but Karen was the only one who attempted to have an actual conversation. The level at which we were greeted was just right. I’ve been to other churches where they attempt to single out visitors and make a big deal out of it. I’ve been to many churches where visitors go unnoticed. Bellaire struck a good balance between the two.
One note of criticism1: The sanctuary seemed to have very poor acoustics and featured a very outdated sound system. It seems as though the sanctuary wasn’t built to carry the sound of a choir very well. And the sound system was small and looked as if it were 30 – 40 years old. I bet the regular attendees never notice what they are missing. But I believe I know what a good sound system makes worship sound like, and this was far from it. This church could use a big step forward in terms of technology. Not just their sound system, but also their small screens which use PowerPoint to lead worship, and even the lighting system in the sanctuary could use an update. This seems to be a healthy church with a pleasant, friendly congregation, and despite their lack of new technology, it’s a church I look forward to visiting again.
- Actually, two more notes of criticism: At one point we sang the song, We are the World. This is not okay. Churches need to not sing this song. Ever.
