... and how The Avenue is a little bit different.

1. You have to dress up.
   You don't have to get dressed up to come. In fact, most of us are in jeans and comfortable clothing. Feel free if you want to, but it's not required or expected. Come worship as you are, and don't worry about your iron for the day.
2. It's boring.
   We can't guarantee that you'll never be bored at The Avenue, but we do have several things happening each week. Surely you won't be bored with everything! Beyond worship service, we have social events, LET'S EAT, life groups, and mission projects to not be bored at.
3. There are lots of rules.
   "Give me that old time religion" is a great old song, but not so much a great lifestyle. It's easy to associate church with rules and religion, but that's missing the point. Church is about Jesus. At The Avenue, we preach Jesus. What comes from a relationship with Jesus is a lifestyle of becoming more and more like Him.
4. It's full of hypocrites.
   The Avenue isn't full of hypocrites, but it is full of sinners. We have all fallen short and have a chance of holiness only because of Jesus. Even though we're striving to be more like him, we still fall short and always will. Some of us may be hypocritical at times, but we teach confession, repentance, and keep each other accountable when we're being hypocritical or not behaving Christ-like.
5. Only straight-laced, white puritans go to church.
   It's easy to think that church isn't for me when you don't seem to fit into the "church person" stereotype. At The Avenue, we don't have a mold that we are hoping all of our people fit into. Everyone is welcome regardless of race, gender, age, interests, hobbies or thickness of Bible. We've even got several guys with some pretty great tattoos.
6. It's too early.
   Our service doesn’t start until 10:45. On the weekdays, most peoples’ stomachs are beginning to growl for lunch, and they've already been in several meetings and received about 40 emails by 11:00. It's not really that early.
7. They always talk about money.
   Giving to The Avenue is for those who God has called to be a part of our family. We might talk about giving sometimes, but the message is for the people who are committed to this place. It's our job to fund The Avenue and keep it open; it's your job to visit and learn about Jesus.
8. You have to be religious to go to church.
   Church isn’t about becoming religious; it’s about building relationships with people and with Jesus. Going to church doesn’t make you religious any more than walking like a chicken helps you grow feathers. The Avenue is a community of people with a common mission of living a Christ-filled life to the best of our abilities, and to build life-long friendships in the process.
9. I don’t have the time.
   We all have the time, but we don't necessarily make the time. It's easy to feel too busy and like we don't have time for everything. People take time to exercise every day to become, or stay, physically fit. In the same way, people take time to go to church a couple hours a week to be become, or grow more spiritually fit. We all "have the time," the real question is are we willing to "make the time”?
10. Churches don't put our actions where our mouths are.
    One of the biggest values of our church is being missional. This means going out of the church and into our communities to form relationships. We strive to take what we learn at The Avenue and impact the world through it. We do this by teaching about missional living each week, as well as setting aside one day every few months to serve the community around us in place of traditional worship service. We believe in worship through serving so we plan a few projects to get us out there, with the people, meeting real needs.