A year and a half ago I found Central Christian Church in Gilbert, AZ; well, I drove by it every day, and saw the stickers in many cars in the Gilbert/Chandler area, so we decided to give it a try.
Central Christian is a church that has everything you could imagine to make you comfortable, EVERYTHING! Honestly, whenever I think of something, is there; wifi, coffee shop, bookstore, baby rooms, overflow rooms, translators, etc. etc. etc......One day it was raining, which is extremely rare in Arizona, and I thought, "man, if only they had umbrellas", and boom, there was someone handling them out as we came in; they really think of every little detail.
The church is Bible based, and in fact, one thing I have loved about it is the fact that they go in detail into some books (Philemon?) and background history, that most nondenominational churches don't really spend much time with. They had series last year on Kings, where they went into extensive details about the different Kings the chosen people had to be exposed to in order to get to Jesus. Some people might not like this, and prefer to be pumped up with uplifting banality, but I like learning. Also, and very important to me, they have an excellent Sunday school program for kids. That way I leave my kids there, and I can concentrate on the sermon/service.
The church could be considered a mega church, and they have campuses in several places. Every other Sunday the pastor is live at the church (talking specifically about the Gilbert Campus), otherwise they have a huge screen where they transmit live from another campus; It's not a TV with a video, is a huge screen, and is like the pastor is there at your church (the first time I saw It I thought of Universal Studios or something like that), and once the sermon starts, you kind of forget that the pastor's not there. The clichés that you would find on mega churches are present but it doesn't really take away from the main message of the sermon.
Even though the church is huge, they have an abundance of opportunities to serve. They also encourage Life Groups, where smaller group of members of the same or nearby communities can get together and talk about the sermon or connect through bible discussions. I am just now just trying a Life Group.
The worship band plays great; the musicians are very talented, and they have some really great singers! I sometimes feel like they play the same songs every Sunday, but I think they want people to sing and have a sense of familiarity. The music is contemporary Christian rock/pop (CCM).
The church is also for the most part, diverse. I'm Hispanic, and I've never felt out of place. There are young people, old people, young adults, etc. But if you really want to connect, you either have to serve or join a Life Group. Having said that, they talk about it, but nobody is really pushing you to do it. read more