This church is amazing…read more
After spending 3 years in North Carolina I moved to RI. I visited multiple churches looking for the Christian fellowship that had abruptly ended with my move out of the "Bible Belt". My wife Googled "Christian Churches in RI" and came across Living Faith.
She emailed Pastor Victor, who seemed kind enough via email. We wanted a church that had opportunities during the week for fellowship as our weekends were rather busy at the time. We learned they had multiple fellowships during the week in multiple parts of the state. We watched 10 minutes of a random sermon from Pastor Charlie, and once I saw that it was his MO to preach from the Bible, not just give his opinion or feelings of it, we picked a Sunday, and went.
We just wanted to be around a group of people who love God and seek to do His will.
Upon arriving we were greeted by Victor, and he introduced us to his wife and "ridiculously adorable daughter" (his words, she was 9mo at the time, and he was right - she was ridiculously adorable). After the sermon, we met 2 other young married couples (with no kids), and one of the church elders - Tim, who invited me to dinner later in the week. Victor had carved out some time to grab a cup of coffee with us so he could get to know us better, and we were also invited to one of the home fellowships! It's funny thinking about that now, 3 invites from 1 event should seem like a lot, but people were sincerely interested in who my wife and I were, and they simply wanted to get to know us. Which was what we wanted too.
Anyway, at that service there were maybe 60-75 people... a couple of babies, some teens, single people, married people, and some people walking around with canes. Everyone was incredibly friendly, open, and welcoming.
We've been going to Living Faith for about 5 years now. The people we've met there have become some of our closest friends. Through our weekly fellowships we become even closer, which is just absolutely incredible.
So why the 3 star review? Because last week the guy in front of me wouldn't stop fidgeting, ugh, that's so distracting. And the girl to my right would not stop kept texting through the service and the haptic feedback on her phone was like a snare drum... they should really do something about that. . . I mean, shouldn't there be a limit to "all" are welcome?
Totally just kidding. I gave it 3 stars so you'd read the review! C'mon... admit it... you're "my people" if you read this far. 1 star and 5 star reviewers are often times extreme in their reviewing. 3 stars is right in the middle, there's good and bad, and that's an "honest" review (at least in my mind anyway). So if you want some dirt, how about this - despite the fact that I've been coming to this church for 5 years now, I still have to make an effort to keep Christ at the helm in my life. Same with some of the other people who go to Living Faith. I've even seen people who went to this church fall prey to sin and their marriage fell apart!
But that's just it, going to any church doesn't make you Christ-like.
In this building on Sunday, what you're going to find is a bunch of average (3 star) people striving to advance God's Kingdom not by our own wisdom or might, by the power we've received through our Lord Jesus Christ. We've all got various battles we're fighting (probably just like you), but we're all unified as one body of believers, who get together every Sunday to worship our God. It's pretty cool.
So come check out our church. Or don't. Honestly, it's not a church you should be looking for - but rather the power of the God to transform hearts and lives. What's so cool is at Living Faith, I get to witness that power every week.
If you come, try and find me to say hello! I'd love to meet you, hear your story, and introduce you to my wife, son, and ridiculously adorable daughter.