Todd Hiestand

What Kind of Church is This?

March 15, 2005

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I’m doing some office work today at our building and a guy came in to see if we wanted to buy some property…we didn’t. As we spoke for a few minutes, he asked the obvious question of “what kind of church is this?”

I am still often stumped by how to answer this question. The terms we use are often loaded with baggage or mean nothing to the average person at all. I could say we are an “evangelical church.” This could mean absolutely nothing or it could lump us in with the religious right. I can’t say we are a “baptist” or “pentacostal” or “presbyterian” or “evangelical free” or “lutheran” or any of those terms…we are kind of a mix of all of them in terms of the people that call themselves part of our community.

Really, we are a group of people that following the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. How do you explain that in way that doesn’t sound “cultish…” or maybe I don’t need to worry about that. either way, as a pastor i get asked that question a lot and if a have a few minutes to chat with the person, i can give a pretty decent answer that i feel captures the essence of who we are. but a quick answer? i am still a little stumped with that one…