INTRO to visits with different denominations

Firing up the blog for a look at different denominations 

I've been visiting different kinds of churches, once a month, for a year now. A few friends have read these reports as they come out, but I'm thinking it would make sense to post my observations and impressions here in case anyone else is interested or curious as to what's going on in Champaign-Urbana (mostly) churches. :-]

I'm not really shopping for a new church or denomination, so what's my motive? I was born and raised American Baptist. (Please do not confuse with Southern Baptist, quite different!) I was happily Baptist the first thirty years of my life and greatly respect the ABC to this day. In the early 80s, however, the Vineyard movement reached Indianapolis where we lived. Once I experienced Bill Jackson's teaching and Vineyard worship, I was all in. Even after Jax moved west and we relocated too, the Vineyard has  remained our tribe through the following decades. So from all the variety of Christian expression through different denominations, I had solid knowledge of only these two. Ok, I should include a third, Steve's family church, the Apostolic Christians. I've gotten to know that culture fairly well from many visits and personal interactions. 

Even with knowledge of three, I realized there were multitudes of people in the US worshiping the Christian God, relating to Jesus, in ways I had no experience with or understanding of. How do they worship? What are their priorities? I set myself a project, on a very limited scale, to find out. I decided to visit a different kind of congregation once a month to see what goes on. My purpose is not to evaluate or pass judgement, but only to observe. Of course, my perceptions are colored by beliefs and past experiences.

These are all posted with March 2022 dates, but they were written over the past year and a half. The dates of attendance, starting mid-Covid, are posted in the articles.

~Wesley United Methodist, UIUC 
~First Mennonite, Urbana
~Episcopalian Chapel of St John, UIUC
~City on a Hill Church of Christ, Peoria

~Christian Missionary Alliance, Champaign
~Living Stones Church, Kona, Hawaii
~Church of Christ Scientist, Champaign
~Greek Orthodox, Champaign
~Unitarian Universalist, Urbana
~Church of the Brethren, Urbana
~Apostolic Christian, Washington, IL
~St Thomas Catholic, Philo, IL
~Champaign Church of the Nazarene

~Eastside Church, nondenominational