Most churches don’t like questions, we do.
Most churches don’t like for the members to question anything. You can be removed from the church just for the simple act of questioning their doctrines or disagreeing with them. They want you to accept what they tell you believe without questions. They want to tell you how to act. At Celebration, we are different. We want you to question everything. We want to help you discover what you truly believe. We want you to discover the truth. We want to give you the tools to make intelligent choices about what to believe. Spiritual beliefs (or a lack thereof) are very personal. Only you knows what feels right to you.
Why do you go to church?
Like most people, you probably attended the church your parent(s) attended. Perhaps you went willingly, perhaps you went begrudgingly, perhaps you even liked it. Perhaps you are still going there today. Have you ever stopped to seriously ask yourself why you were/are there? If you go to church regularly, do you go out of habit? Do you think others will think badly of you if you stop going? Do you go to see your friends? Do you really feel a closer connection to God there?
How many religions have you been exposed to?
How many different religions have you been exposed to or studied? One? If you’ve only studied one religion from one church, how do you know that the doctrine you’ve been told to believe in is right for you?
What is the fastest growing religion in the USA?
Do you know what the fastest growing religion is in the United States today? It is the group that is called “none”, meaning that people are not affiliated with any particular religion. A lot of those people believe in something, or even God, but because they didn’t feel an affinity for the one church they knew, they left. Rather than trying to find a different church or a different religion, they just became disillusioned and left. We believe this is a frightening statistic. With so many people leaving the church, we are ending up with a world full of lonely, disconnected and depressed people. People are losing faith not just in God, but also in humanity. People are losing hope. People are feeling a sense of despair rather than joy.
What do you believe?
At Celebration, we aren’t going to tell you that you should believe in anyone or anything. There is no right or wrong belief system here. You can believe in anyone, anything, or nothing. It is your choice and it is up to you to decide what works for you. We want to give you the tools to help you decide what is right for you to believe in. You can ask questions in a safe and welcoming environment to help you decide. Are you interested in learning about other religions? Before you say no, how do you know some other religion isn’t right for you if you don’t even know what they believe?
Please keep an open mind.
If you’ve never met people from different faiths from yours, never read their books or attended their churches/services, what are you basing your opinions on? At Celebration we encourage you to be truly open minded to giving all people a chance. People are a lot more similar than most people realize. At our core, everyone just wants to be loved, accepted, and get through their lives with as little stress as possible. At Celebration, we encourage you to be receptive, meet some people who may be different from you and listen to them for a few minutes. You may be surprised that you like them and even agree with them. You may discover a new faith or religion that is right for you. Or, you may discover that religion has no part in your life. At least you’ll be operating from your own informed point of view and not someone else’s.
How about people who are different races or live a different lifestyle than you? Do you shy away from them or judge them? Do they make you uncomfortable? Once again, if you haven’t had a lot of interaction with people who are different from you, how do you know you don’t like them? We can’t guarantee you’ll like everyone you meet at Celebration, but all we ask is that you don’t judge too quickly, keep an open mind, and give all of us a chance.
Is anything missing from your life?
Many times people feel a void in their life, something is missing, but they don’t know what. If the void is big enough, they may try to fill it with something harmful or self destructive. Many times, this is why people turn to alcohols, drugs, food, gambling or any number of other destructive behaviors.
We would like to help you find peace, joy, and a renewed sense of optimism in your life. If something is missing from your life, let’s fill it with something positive.
Would you like to learn something new?
In addition to messages from our pastors, we have guest speakers that present a wide variety of thought-provoking, uplifting, and heart-warming subjects. Our presentations are brief and are similar to TED talks with three major exceptions:
- Since we are a church, our subjects are not limited to technology, entertainment or design (TED). We have no boundaries or limits on our subject matters.
- Obviously, we do not exclude religion or spirituality. We encourage speakers from different faiths, religions and viewpoints to openly discuss a myriad of topics.
- We allow questions and answers following the speaker’s presentation. Questions are always encouraged at Celebration. We want you to be curious, ask, learn and grow.
Do you like variety?
Not only do we encourage diversity, but we like to offer variety in everything we do. We have different discussions, musical genres, theme parties, and even locations. We like to get out in the community and discover different places together. We are always looking for ways to give back to the community.
Let’s gather together; let’s discover something wonderful.
At Celebration, we are encouraging everyone to gather TOGETHER — all ages, nationalities, races, religions, sexes and sexual orientations. Let’s create a community of people who can gather together in a spirit of harmony and fellowship. Let’s show the outside world that not only can we get along, but together we can be a force for change. Please join us and become a part of our movement. Let’s discover something wonderful together.