I scan the dimly lit auditorium and see cream, beige and black congregants filling the auditorium with bellowing, yet energetic vigor. Young, married and old — all in unison.

Another thing I notice as I look around — this place is lowkey packed. It isn’t just your handful of “ye faithfuls.”

I have never seen anything like this before.

Everyone on one accord, a semi-packed “sanctuary” and church members of all ages — sanging. Little did I know, there was more to this seemingly utopian worship experience.

Growing up Baptist, I could count the amount of times I went to Bible study. My mom, brother and I were J.R. Smith-esque in our attendance, (if you’re a basketball fan, you’ll catch on) and you heard no complaints from me.

But, as what happens when many of us when we go off to college, we start to dibble and dabble into things — good and bad.

My kryptonite was women.

After several months of that and no longer being able to tune out the obnoxiously quiet voice in my head telling me I wasn’t living right, I decided to take my salvation more seriously.

That’s when I found the International Churches of Christ (ICOC).

The ICOC has hundreds of churches around the world. My home church was the Greater Richmond Church of Christ (GRCOC), which at the time met at a middle school.

Like most churches, the church convened on Wednesdays and Sundays, (they referred to Bible study on Wednesdays as “midweek”). However, what distinguished the GRCOC from churches I’ve attended in the past was attendance was nearly identical on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Yes, nearly 200 strong on both days. Wild.

This was attractive to me because they were really practicing what the Word said. Hebrews 10:25 {NIV} says: “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

The GRCOC and the rest of the ICOC holds to this verse like white on rice. Essentially, with seven days in a week, at least three or four of those days were occupied by something church-related.

But for the sake of time, I’m just going to focus on midweek.

Midweek typically began at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and since we didn’t have a church building, we typically met at middle or high schools in the area.

The flow of the service was worship songs, announcements and then the sermon. The sermon would either be given before the entire congregation or we would have split sermons based on sex or ministry.

In both instances, the lead evangelist would typically give a brief sermon and then have the congregation divvy up into groups to discuss the sermon’s theme. These discussions were intimate, convicting and faith-building.

This was unlike anything I had experienced before.

Now, to take off the rose-colored glasses.

Despite the impactful worship experience, the church pressured its congregants.

Remember the Hebrews scripture I mentioned earlier and the fact church attendance typically didn’t waver on Wednesdays and Sundays? With that, there was pressure to attend every midweek service (obviously outside of medical and family emergencies and vacations).

Now as adults, we are grown and we can make our own decisions. But, this liberty was taken away from you as a member of this church.

On one occasion, when I was contemplating attending a concert instead of midweek, I got grilled.

“Sterling, you know you have midweek on Wednesdays right?”

“Yes, but I really want to go to this show.”

“Is your decision making God a priority?”

“I guess not.”

“Well, I think you should think about that next time. If you know there are things going on on Wednesdays, you need to make church a priority.”

I still went to the concert and had a great time nonetheless. But I was carrying a heap of guilt the entire time because I felt I wasn’t prioritizing God.

There have been several occasions in which congregates may miss midweek here or there. As a result, their faith walks are questioned.

That’s not right at all. It’s almost like people are trying to play God and determine people’s faith walks based on their attendance. Who are we to make that judgment call?

Only God can.

This behavior conflicts with 1 Peter 2:16 {NIV} — “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil…”

It isn’t a sin to miss a midweek service, or a few for that matter. But, in my experience (and I’m sure others can attest as well), I almost feel the persecution of sin when making the decision to not attend a midweek or Sunday service.

This isn’t how church is supposed to feel. I understand there is a call for discipleship, which is a challenge within itself. But as 1 Peter 2:16 says, there has to be a freedom in Christ as well.

I thank God for being a member of the ICOC for more than three years because it helped me truly understand discipleship. However, God made it clear for me it was time to take what I learned and to move on to another church home.