Mesa Community Church

Mesa Community Church is part of the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), a missionary outreach of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda. The bottom line reason the Anglicans in Rwanda are planting and overseeing missions in the United States is because of the ongoing feud within the Anglican Communion over decisions made by The Episcopal Church. The biggest issue, of course, being homosexuality. This background, however, seems fairly irrelevant when you walk into Mesa. They aren't arguing politics or wearing shirts with anti-gay slogans. It's interesting now that I have visited churches on both sides of the Episcopal controversy. St. James Episcopal Church, as I experienced it, was alive and vibrant. Mesa Community Church is no different! It just goes to support the old adage that all church is local. Bishops can fight and leaders of denominations can challenge one another, but neither is strong enough to kill followers of Christ, bound together in love.

Mesa meets at the Murchison Middle School on Sunday mornings. They also have numerous groups which meet during the week. They describe these groups as the "heart" of their community. Upon entering, I was greeted at the door and then had several people come up and introduce themselves to me. Rwandan coffee was available in the back, as was literature about the AMiA as well as Mesa. If you plan on sneaking into a service and blending into the background, this would not be the place you would want to visit. I would guess that close to 10 or 12 people came and spoke to me in the 10 minutes prior to the service starting. Generally speaking, the age range of this church is fairly young, but I also observed people who were in their 40s, 50s and possibly older. The place is fairly lively, with people talking excitedly, laughing, hugging, etc.

The service is liturgical in nature, with responsive readings, Scriptural readings, etc. The music was praise music, with some traditional hymns as well - sort of the "unplugged" version, with a keyboard, acoustic guitars and conga drums. The music was very meaningful and very God/Christ centered. During the singing, quite a few people raised their hands. The musicians were very sincere and not "showy."

Matt Kessler is the pastor. Matt loves what he is doing. It's obvious by watching him. He speaks with passion and sincerity and it is definitely from the heart. The sermon was the second part of a two-part message, but also appeared to be part of a larger series on worship. Matt talked about how our worship will allow others to see Christ in us - that our worship is our testimony. He stressed the importance of Mesa being a worshipping community and how that will impact their witness on others. What was interesting about the sermon is I got to see that very principle in action. Everything about this church is Christ-centered. Everything. The music, the worship, the prayers, and definitely the sermon. Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. This message is the center of everything they are doing at Mesa and it is obvious the people believe it.

Following the message, there were prayers and then the Peace, which consists of people greeting one another, usually with a "peace be with you" or some other greeting. The church is like one, big, happy family. Everyone pretty much greeted everyone else. They all really seemed so happy to see one another. I was greeted warmly by many. Communion was served, followed by another praise song. It was interesting during this last song what occurred. I don't know if this is their norm or just something that happened, but the children had re-entered the worship (they are dismissed early for their own children's oriented activities) and during the last song, many of them were running around, tagging each other, etc. Having just received communion and now singing a lively praise song, with children running around, laughing and playing, you really felt like you were in the backyard of the house at a family gathering. It was just so relaxed and warm and welcoming! Cookies and goodies were being put out, coffee was brewing, children were playing and we, God's children, were singing praises to Him. They turned this little middle school into the House of God, not with bricks and mortar, but with songs of praise and prayers of thanksgiving! Their worship, as Matt promised, showed Jesus Christ to others. I know I felt His presence while there.

Following the service, Matt and his wife greeted me in the back (actually, I had already met her prior to the service) and then he introduced me to two or three other people. He asked how I had found the church and said he'd like to get to know me better. I went through this uncomfortable moment where I wondered if I should 'fess up about the blog, but I decided I could live with keeping this to myself. (Sorry, Matt, if you're reading this). Anyway, Matt said if I wanted to get together for coffee or lunch one day, he'd love to get to know me better. As if that wasn't enough, he followed up with an email saying the same thing. I may take him up on the offer.

Impressions? As I said earlier, everything this church does points to God. Christ is a real person who has truly touched them. Not only are they excited about this, but they want to take that experience to others so they, too, can experience it, too. The people here are truly a family of God's children, bound together with a bond of love and worship. If I felt as close to them as I did in this one service as a visitor, I can only imagine how meaningful and close the relationships are in their groups!