Parkside Community Church
We're the new church in the neighborhood!

What to Expect
As friendly as most churches hope to be, it still can be a little frightening visiting a church for the first time! Will everyone know what's going on but me? Will people be nice to me? Will my kids like it (and be well-cared for in a safe environment)? Will they ask me for money? How should I dress? Is it okay if I don't believe what everyone else seems to believe?

We've done our best to make your visit to "The Park" as "user-friendly" for people as possible, whatever your background, whether you're a longtime church attender or this is your first time of giving it a try. In fact, a healthy percentage of the people you'll see if you visit were not regular church attenders before joining in with us. Here's a brief overview of what you can expect.

When We Meet
Kid's
There is a special childrens program during our worship service which lasts from 11:00-11:58am. A nursery is provided each Sunday.

The Service
Your program will give you a rundown of what to expect in the service, along with the scriptures we'll be referring to that day. One of the first things you'll notice is that most people are dressed comfortably, most often quite casually. After the opening song, we'll mention a few announcements, and then share in our music program. It's a blend of music that you'll find refreshing and uplifting. We are honored to have special musical guests from time to time. The kind of performance you would expect to find in a huge church is even better when experienced in a smaller congregation.

The messages last somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes, and we get a lot of encouraging feedback about how vibrant and relevant people typically find them to be. We have a church rule for our sermons "Practical. Spiritual. Fun." which describes what we're shooting for in each service. Often the messages are illustrated by some performed music or drama or a clip from a pertinent movie.

Ever feel "high jacked" at a church service that seemly won't end? That won't happen at "The Park" Our 58 minute service has become a community standard.

Communion
At least once a month we'll take communion together. If you're a follower of Jesus you're invited to join in, or you can sit back and enjoy the music. We get told that those tend to be powerful times, whether you take communion or not.

Parkside offers two types of communion simultaneously. Liturgical (Catholic-Episcopal-Lutheran) and Traditional (Methodist-Presbyterian-Baptist) Our members find it a heartwarming experience to share communion together-each in their own way. It's a Parkside first and one that's growing in meaning and attendance! Our altar is open to all who seek him. After all, everyone is welcome at "The Park".

During the service, we do take an offering, though our hope is that our visitors won't give, but will regard themselves as our guests.

After the Service
Our services run 58 minutes, and we think you'll find it to be the fastest-moving hour you've spent in awhile. After the service, many people stick around and make new friends and catch up with old ones around coffee and bagels and the like. If you have children, that's when you'll pick them up from Kids' Church.

We hope you'll stop by for a visit and, if you do, please come up and say "hi" to one of the pastors. We'd love to meet you. And, one way or another, may you find a spiritual home that works well for you. We're for you! And we're for you finding a meaningful and transforming connection with God. We're hoping you will drop by soon.

Arts Initiatives
Since Parkside's first days, our dream has been to become a community in which artists and art-loving audiences can connect easily and feel at home. As witnessed through creative Sunday morning programming, collaborative art ventures, and a variety of venues which support grass-roots arts initiatives, our dream seems to be coming true!

Among us are artists of eclectic disciplines--visual artists, musicians, writers, dancers and theatre artists--who are feeling free and encouraged to explore the relationship between their spirituality and their creative process, and to share that work with others. And their audiences are growing. Our church is now the home for music recitals and soon we will become a gallery for the area's youth artists.

We dream of some day launching an arts center which offers year-round programming, but until that time we will continue to keep building relationships, putting new work out there, and innovating where necessary.