We attended Mission Community Church as a family for several months, but we will not be returning again.
Recently, Pastor Mark sent out a warning on facebook, where much of Mission's attendees follow his page: "Do not bring children to this weekend's service. It's for adults only. Take your kids to childrens' church."
The problem? My son has high functioning autism, and cannot abide the noise and activity in the kids' service. He comes with us, covers his ears during the music, and sits quiety through the sermon. No problem, no distraction to those around us.
So, we didn't go. Apparently the Pastor had some complaints about barring children from the service, and his response on facebook was this: "I am not here for children. I am here to talk to adults. That is my responsibility."
How very, very sad. Downright depressing -- that the leader of a chuch would absolve himself of his responsibility to at least half of his congregants. Are our children that unimportant? Are they that expendible?
When I called the church to ask to speak to a member of the church leadership about this incident, the woman who answered the phone was very defensive and evasive, despite the fact that I was calm and very polite. She asked why we didn't just attend the service anyway. I told her it was because Pastor Mark specifically told us not to. She sounded upset by that answer. I asked again to speak to a member of the church leadership, and she said, "I will pass this message along to them. IF they choose to call you back, it will be within the week."
Two weeks later -- and you guessed it...no callback.
We are now attending Central Christian Church. When I called to ask about their policies for special needs children and whether children were disallowed from the main "adult" service, a member of the church's staff called me back within an hour. I was assured that our children, regardless of their needs, were welcome at any service any time. We will definitely be going to Central from now on -- a church that welcomes congregants of all ages and abilities.