Generation Church
Is this a common experience? I’m a Christian who has been to a few churches in my time and never experienced this.
My family visited generation church for my kids’ baptism (their dad attends) and were immediately flanked by someone who felt both like an aggressive salesperson and security guard. We get into the auditorium and immediately I get a bad feeling; my head hurts and I feel nauseated but I’m not there for me so I keep going.
Once we were seated everything seemed okay— they put us up front as family members. Worship started which was deafening. Everything is still going alright at this point aside from feeling off, my younger kids are vibing; it’s important to note that we weren’t warned at all by the army of ushers and “staff” before being seated BY THEM that kids might be a problem. We wanted them present for their siblings’ baptism and thought they’d start with it so families could then put their kids in the classrooms if needed— this has been my experience for other churches.
Little do we know the baptism is at the end of service, so we’re in for the long haul. Service starts and less than 5 minutes in, the pastor calls gay marriage “gay mirage” and jokes at the expense of the catholic faith. Then he speaks about sex for about thirty minutes and it wasn’t purely biblical— I had not been prepared to give my kids ages 6-13 the sex talk after church and field a lot of questions, and thank heaven my youngest doesn’t understand anything. It did not improve. Sure it included bible verses but the message wasn’t anything that left me feeling enlightened.
My toddler is in a great mood and is making some quiet happy noises and we are being looked at by the row in front of us, likely the only row that heard it. Then one of the “staff” rudely said that we needed to take the baby out. Not asked. Ordered. My spouse did, only to be yet again aggressively greeted by security who told them noise in the lobby would interfere with their recording and took them to another building where the patrons glared anytime she made any noise. Mind you, this is not in the auditorium anymore. He’s moved again, same result. So he spends an hour in the heat being followed by security until it’s time for the baptism when they deign to let him back in.
The baptism itself is quick and painless, like an assembly line of professing your dedication to Jesus. It all ends and they make one last sales pitch to join. I tell the “staff” she made me feel unwelcome and she then FOLLOWS me to explain she wasn’t trying to be mean but there were rules (which I as a visitor COULDN’T know and WASN’T told). I repeated that she made me feel unwelcome and did come off as mean, that I would not return but forgave her indiscretion.
I felt like a weight was lifted the moment I left this place. I’m a firm believer in God, I have felt His presence in other churches but I can only describe the feeling here as wicked. Seems others have had pieces of this experience based on reviews that the church argumentatively replied to. I don’t think I can bring myself to go back to this church ever again.
On that note, any churches out there with the opposite vibe that are nondenominational and in east Mesa?