Long story short - this church will probably get under a new believer's skin (my issues with The…read moreVillage):
Before going into the details of why I didn't particularly care for my experience with The Village Church of Irvine, I have to make the caveat that we Christians are a largely imperfect group of people who often poorly represent the faith to outsiders - someone famous whose name I can't remember once said "The church is a hospital for sinners not a museum for saints." I'm not writing this review with the presumption that I am morally perfect or would do a better job running a church, this is just my honest and transparent account of my experience at this church when I was relatively new to the faith.
In the interest of being transparent (which will hopefully help guide other new believers in selecting a church), The Village Church of Irvine was not a great or welcoming place for someone who is still grappling with their faith or learning what Christianity is really about - the pastors seemed to shout at or talk down to the congregation from the pulpit and used a harsh tone of voice, and one of them went out of their way to talk about their political stances and express opinions about the LGBTQIA+ community that seemed unnecessary. As someone who was always liberal and supported the queer community, I found some of those comments offensive, unhelpful, and polarizing. Ideally, a pastor's job should be to uplift the congregation during these trying times and provide hope and inspirational messages - this was not the vibe at the Village based on the sermons I attended.
Secondly, at the time I was attending this church, there was only one service time, and I believe that was at 9:30 AM - I believe this church didn't really understand how to appeal to people who are on the fence about Christianity and I'm glad that a new service time seems to have been added since then (so new believers can sleep in a little before driving to this church to get talked down to about how being transgender is wrong).
Third, and this was one of my biggest problems with this church - the lack of nonjudgmental, compassionate and insightful leadership within the community group I attended. There were a few times I was transparent with the leaders of my community group that I experienced past trauma or had certain antisocial tendencies, and they were genuinely at a loss for how to respond. It was almost baffling to them that anyone in a Christian community would be struggling with what I opened up about, and I felt discouraged from being transparent with them. Even worse, one of the leaders of the community group encouraged me to open up to one of the more senior members of that group, and that woman ended up telling me that my life was a "mess" and that getting married may never be part of God's plan for me. This woman also failed to apologize even though it was made clear to her that I was offended by these rude comments. The leadership and some of the members of the community group seemed to lack enough experience or training about how to deal with certain challenging topics, and I don't get the sense that people who experienced trauma would find them welcoming or spiritually encouraging.
I ended up joining Mariners, which offers a program that integrates new believers into the faith called Rooted. Listening without judgment and trying to show compassion for or curiosity about another person's experience, whether you are Christian or not, isn't really that hard, but it seemed very difficult for some members of The Village.
If you are on the fence about whether Jesus is the real deal, I really don't recommend coming to this church because I strongly believe this community (and the way the church is managed) would turn most new believers off of Christianity. I highly recommend finding a church with a program that introduces new believers to the tenets of the faith in a supportive, non threatening manner, and makes the faith more accessible.
If you're a new Christian (or someone who is curious about Christianity), please don't allow this church and some of their leaders to define what the faith means to you. Some communities just aren't particularly welcoming or proper representations of Christ.