Continuing with the Baptist stream, I attended First Baptist this morning. This is located at the far east end of the city, and I understand that it has been around for about 12 years.
In short, I really liked it. It reminded me of Erindale Bible Chapel, the church we attended when we were living in Mississauga. The architecture, the relaxed, warm feel to the service, and the sense of family that the congregation exhibited all seemed pleasantly familiar. I get the feeling that this is a group of people who genuinely enjoy getting together for worship on a Sunday.
Musically, the service was a mix – we sung some hymns to the accompaniment of an organ, interspersed with a couple of songs led by an enthusiastic praise band.
It’s no secret that I don’t usually enjoy sitting through sermons, but I did appreciate this one. Not least, because the topic of the sermon was grace. For some reason, this is a subject that we talk about surprisingly infrequently.
The speaker took half an hour or so to talk about several of the people that Jesus showed grace to: Zaccheus, the woman caught in adultery, the Roman centurion, and Simon Peter after his rejection of Jesus. It’s interesting to me how Christ’s grace to these people both challenges the assumptions of those around him, but also led directly to transformation in the lives of the recipients.
In the words of the song we sang at the end of the sermon, “your grace has found me just as I am…, forever I am changed by your love.”
I liked this church, and I’d be happy to recommend it to anyone living in that part of town.