Except for volunteering at Helping Hands Pantry, I don't get out much, so I've been going to my old church for the past year, but in a limited capacity. Sometimes I participate in the plays, but I modify my dialogue so that I convey ideas in secular language. I'd prefer to take part in secular plays, but it's all pretend, and I figure most of the audience is made up of existing church members, or cultural Christians who only go to church on Easter and Christmas. It was actually at one of the plays that my closeted Atheist friend suggested going to "The Circle", a bible discussion group that isn't afraid to go off the rails, ask difficult questions, and talk about controversial ideas. I still haven't heard anything that's convinced me to be a Christian again, but some of the discussions we've had have been quite interesting, and I've learned about fascinating perspectives that I didn't even know that some Christians had.
Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems like RSDAC is less rigid and more friendly these days. Also, Helping Hands Pantry, where I volunteer, is a food bank that was started by a member of RSDAC, so I would say that the church has improved with regards to community service. I have no idea what the situation is with the youth, but I can take a pretty good guess. The youth now meet in a room in the basement of the new fellowship hall, and it looks like a night club. There's a stage, tables, multiple video screens, an audio control board in the back, a small kitchen next to the east entrance (towards Buena Vista), and a connected patio area. I'm pretty sure the youth have been thoroughly bribed to stick around with their new room.
The central meeting room on the ground floor of the new fellowship hall seems to be made (at least in part) for praise concerts, as it has generous seating, a stage, and projector screens. Honestly, I can think of no better analogy for the partisanship of RSDAC than the original church building and the new fellowship hall. I had heard that a group had been trying to split off and start its own church for years, and I'm convinced that the new fellowship hall is that church. If you demolished the original church building and left the new fellowship hall standing, you'd still have a pretty good-sized church, complete with a central meeting area, sabbath school rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, tables for potlucks, a baptismal, and an elevator for handicap access. read more
