Whittier Hills Baptist Church
January 11th, 2005Scriptural View: 5/5
Beliefs: 4/5
Community: 3/5
Preaching: Topical
Worship: Choruses and Hymns
Service times: 8:00, 9:30, & 11:00 AM
Website Review
Site Usability: 3/5
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 3/5
Review: I attended a service during Christmas time of 2004. The time of worship in song consisted of singing a couple Christmas carols and a few worship choruses. This was followed by a time of prayer and then an offering..
At the beginning of the sermon time the minister announced that some people in the earlier service had responded to the day’s message and become Christians. He pointed to a cross on the podium where he was standing which was backlit with soft lights. He said the cross was lit up today because people had come to Christ. The preacher’s sermon initially was introduced as an expository exegetical sermon from the book of Hebrews. However, during the message we turned to one passage after another as he tried to tie it all together. There was no main thrust to the message except that in the end he encouraged people to respond to Christ as saviour. The preacher offered himself to pray with whoever desired prayer at the end of the service in the front.
As I walked out of the building I was greeted by a number of people. There was a wall covered with a world map you see as you leave. On it were the pictures several people who were living as missionaries in different parts of the world. Outside there were a couple small booths giving out information about how to get more involved in the church and one booth was giving out free coffee.
As I sipped my coffee somehow I got involved in a conversation with a group of people. A couple of them were church members who said that they get the most out of going to this church by being a part of one of the mid-week bible study fellowships called “life groups.” They told me that a few of the professors from Talbot Seminary lead some of the lifegroups which has really helped their study of God’s Word to be profitable.
If you were going to be part of one of the lifegroups I would recommend attending this church. The Sunday morning service was quite traditional even though it is called one of their “contemporary” services. The congregation did not seem very diverse culturally. It seems they put more of their mission focus abroad. Their doctrinal statement is strongly evangelical and well-worded, but the sermon on this Sunday was weak exegetically.