Anyone who has ever gone to church knows that in fact, there is no perfect church. A church is filled with normal people who, even though they may be pursuing godliness, they are still humans who are going to fail in some way.
Our church is pretty close to perfect, though.
It is led by some of the most genuine people I have ever met. Their passion for Christ and care for his people and his church is plain to see. The vision of the church is easy to be a part of-making Christ accessible to all people, no matter where you are in life. The teaching is very relevant to your every day life. The music rocks. It is just the right amount of contemporary without being so over the top that it gets in the way of worshiping God. My kids love going to church. I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with doughnuts in the Grand Hall before class, but nonetheless, they are always excited to go to class each week. The casual dress is awesome when you are trying to get three kids out the door for church each week. I mean, I still dress them up in darling matching outfits each week. But it's nice to then be able to run back to my room and throw on some jeans and a shirt while Jason is loading the kids into the van. Another thing that is very important to Jason, is that it is a church you feel comfortable inviting people to. It's pretty safe to say your guests are going to feel comfortable, and enjoy their worship experience, perhaps in a way they had never before.
Then why do I want to find a new church so stinkin' bad? Does that make any sense?
It seems right now when you choose a church there are two extremes. Either it is traditional in its basic structure with church, Sunday School, Wed. night activities and most likely Sunday night studies of some sort. Or, it is a more contemporary model with life groups being the major form of fellowship. Well, ideally, I am all about life groups. I believe meeting in someone's home is a more intimate setting. I believe it creates the opportunity for a real sense of community and friendship while all the while growing together in Christ. I get that. But Jason and I have gone to Suncoast for over six years now and we have yet to find one that works for us. Three kids later and a husband that travels all the time, it's not getting any easier. So what does that mean for us at church? Six years later and I still look forward to seeing and fellowshipping with the same eight people in which six of them are church staff members. We don't know anyone at our church. I so long for a "Sunday School Class" AKA a life group that happens to meet on Sunday mornings so that my children are taken care of AND they're learning about God. I've been saying this for years on and off and I finally asked Jason to please let us try some other churches. This is a big step for him because he L-O-V-E-S our church.
So last week we went to this like-minded church in our area. We had been there before and our first impression was that it wasn't for us. But it is doing some amazing things in our community when it comes to bringing in unchurched people. I think half of our neighborhood goes there and some of them have never gone to church before. That's pretty exciting. No doubt this church is doing some awesome work in the name of Christ. So we decided to go for four straight weeks and re-evaluate. Sure. I felt like I was in a mosh pit during worship. The leader was even jumping up and down and bobbing his head. I never did find a melody line. Not to say this kept up the entire time. I eventually recognized some of the songs. The sermon was very good but a little bit more of, " I'm trying to be cool and current" versus just genuinely being so real that the Word is current and cool. A couple of days after our first visit, we were already talking AGAIN about how to make our church work for our family. We are going to go to that church for the rest of the month like we originally decided but it's not looking good for winning us over.
Ugh. It is so annoying. How do I actively serve and fellowship at a church that is 40 minutes away from me without ways to connect on the weekend? Why can't I pick my church up and move it a little closer and add life groups on Sundays?
Now that would be the perfect church!
1 comments:
Glad we are not the only ones. We have "church hopped" a ton since moving back to FL. It is so hard to find one that measures up to our church in SC. We'll like the music, but the preacher is lame-o or vice versa. Then there was the one in Apopka where people were speaking in tongues all over the place - almost tolerable until the preacher brought up Benny Hinn (like he was a good thing). We have been going to Calvary Chapel for a few months and other than the butt scratcher (as described in my blog yesterday) we have been pretty happy. That says a lot since we never found one at all when we lived in Winter Haven. Good luck!
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