We have been a part of the church for more than a decade. I don't like to say "attend" because…read morebeing a part of a local church body is how we follow Jesus, whereas "attending" kind of implies that "going to church" is simply something an activity you add on to your daily life. You worship together with other believers, you serve each other and serve the community, you care for and get involved in one another's lives. That's what a "church" is supposed to be. Orlando North has been the place we've found to be able to do that.
Orlando North itself follows the reformed theological tradition. It's not mainline Protestant but it's also not charismatic or pentecostal.
Whenever people talk about a church, there's a temptation to start "grading" it on its various aspects. No matter what church you're involved with, you're not going to think everything is exactly the best in the world. But it doesn't have to be. What it does need to be is a place where you can serve Jesus and worship with other believers - a place that both equips you to do that and gives you the opportunity.
The children's ministry are headed by Zach and Laura, who have a love for kids and an enthusiasm for teaching kids and young people about Jesus that is palpable. Orlando North has cycled through different "curriculums" - GUTS, Orange - but I believe what they've settled on in the last few years is a good one. But no matter what, the people are what make the difference, and Laura/Zach are great ones.
I did want to touch on a couple of elements that someone else brought up ( I don't know them, and I have to acknowledge from the outside that people see what they see, so whatever they said was their interpretation of what they observed).
I was bothered by the bigotry-LGBTQ comment because I've never observed that. There are a lot of "culture war" arguments that have seeped into the American Church writ large. Yet, even in the middle of a time where many churches in our country are fracturing and dividing because people can't agree about politics and these kinds of issues, one of the refreshing things about Orlando North is that the church body seems to make an effort not to divide over these things. Everyone has their own views and there's diversity of opinion in all things here. Politics and social issues are no exception - we have people who will be voting for Trump in Nov '24 and people who will be voting for Biden in Nov '24. And they know who the other is and it doesn't matter to them. You don't see the church dividing over it, because everyone realizes that no matter if you disagree with another Christian, what we agree on is most important and it overrides everything else - that Jesus is Lord and we are serving Him by serving the world.
So, with the respect to what they believe they observed, I suspect that they were bothered by, as they put it "they believe in the one-man-one-woman theory" (since they mentioned that specifically). And yet, that "theory" been the historic orthodox Christian position on such issues for more than a millenium. Orlando North doesn't preach fire and brimstone about it. They hold it as a statement of faith along with other things. I suspect that someone who strongly disagreed about that would assume that a church that holds to the traditional orthodox view is "homophobic". And that's really too bad, because that's a view that really contradicts the actual nature of how the church body of Orlando North treats people no matter what their sexuality is or their views are on other things.
I was also bothered by their comments on the 2017 beach retreat (which feels weird commenting about, seven years on), and about the role of the pastor's wife. I do know Melanie has filled many positions in the church, yet it's very common in churches for church staff to be paid to fill multiple roles. Somebody has to do that work. I don't know if they were bothered by her being paid to provide professional services, but for me, having been in churches my whole life, it's better for a church to pay someone than to require professional services for free. And 7 years on, Orlando North now has other people that fill that role. Specifically regarding the '17 Beach Retreat, again, I don't know why the person interpreted whatever they saw in that way. My wife and I have been to every beach retreat the church has done since before 2015, and I don't remember that retreat in the way they were describing, at all. Rob would never preach such a message, and I hope that with the passing on time, that person has been able to form different memories about the church than those things they cited. If not, then we failed them as a church body.
So, to wrap all this up, Orlando North seems like a great place to worship Jesus and follow Him along with other people seeking to do the same thing.
