finding a new church home

first, as a supplement to my previous blog and to this one, I offer this link. Please use it to check out the book- view the free preview of "look inside"- then maybe even head down to your local Chrisitian bookstore (you might even find it at Barnes and Noble or Borders) and pick it up. it's a smaller book, and it's thin. But it's so worth reading.

Quick refresher- Rachel and I are looking for a new church. this is the first time that we have looked together for a church in a non-ministerial capacity. So this is not so much a "here's how everyone should find a church." this is the path we're taking and i'm opent to comments or suggestions.

We have visited 2 churches that are relatively close to us. they are both Brethren in Christ denomination- the denomination Rachel grew up in and I'm fairly familiar with due to their connection to Messiah. so as for doctrine, I know that I agree. That's important to know- if the doctrine of the church is not something you agree with or can support, then you don't belong there! Often times, we won't know what that doctrine is, which is why it's important to try and talk to the pastor or one of the pastors, if it's a bigger church. It would not work very well for Rachel and I to be a part of a charismatic church because our faith would not be identified by the charismatic doctrines. (look it up on wikipedia if you don't know charismatic)

We also have decided that it is very difficult to make any decisions on a church based on visiting a single service. we plan to attend each of the churches we've visited at least one more time. There are things that can be out of place during the first visit- case in point- we went to a church on July 8th because the senior pastor is a former assistant of my first senior pastor (who is still a close friend). However, the pastor was out of town on vacation with his family that weekend, so what we got in the service was not a good taste. Some of it may have been normal, but obviously, the preaching was not normal.

Preaching is obviously important. A senior pastor is primarily a teacher, and teaches through the pulpit. We have been at churches in the past where the senior pastor did not challenge us. We would go for weeks without getting any kind of spiritual food in the services because he either a: dumbed it down because he thought the mental capacity of the church was not very high (a likely option, as the teens in the church would often tell us that he talked to them like they were 4 years old); or b: would preach irrelevant things from the pulpit. perhaps he felt it was challenging- which sometimes he would say he was challenged by preparing. but we were not challenged. And this led to us not paying attention during the preaching- because the one purpose of that section of the service- to be challenged, to meet with God and to grow- was not being accomplished. so the preaching, and the preacher- are important.

Now I'm also wrestling with what my place would be in a church. I have served for 3 years as youth pastor, and as worship pastor (and for a while as young adult pastor, too). i've got musical gifts, leadership gifts, a love and knack for teaching, an ability to connect with young people, and a knowledge of current ministry trends, etc. But where do I belong. it would be a shame to not use my musical talents in a church because they already have enough talented musicians- espcially with the churches that are out there that are lacking in that area. But is that where God is calling me to use my gifts right now? perhaps one of these things has been a source of pride for me and i need to sit on the sidelines for a little while until some humility can work its way in.

The bottom line with service is that TRUE service does not say "i'll do A, B or C. But do not ask me to do D, E or F- because i won't." if we are not gifted in an area, we need to trust the church to evaluate it and not ask us to work with kids if we get very frustrated with kids (or something like that). Service is not selective- it is offering our whole selves to Christ and saying "whatever you need- use me." Steven Curtis Chapman wrote an excellent song called "Whatever".

Everyone makes such a huge deal about music these days. But honestly, music may not be the real issue. We're not looking for the most recent music, or the best. One church we visited was quite large, and the music was very good from a quality standpoint. And i'm sure there were a bunch of people there that connected with it. But, i wasn't feeling it as much. maybe the new environment, coupled with the newfound freedome to actually sing harmonies again... Mix that together and make me feeling a little abnormal anyway (again, a good reason to visit a couple times). What music boils down to is that it's the most common way the Church in America does "worship". what is more important that music or styles is the heart behind it- the worship of our lives and of the lives of those around us. that's what's important about music. at least, for us it is.

Community. The early Church was all about this- not simply having "faith", but sharing that faith together and living that faith together. Rachel and I discussed this with some friends of ours a few weeks ago. The guy was saing that church is supposed to be about meeting with God and too many churches only go to meet with one another. I got the impression he'd rather go, worship, hear a message and leave. Those are two extremes- either there for God or for ourselves. The truth is a middle ground- our faith is about God and our worship gatherings should be about Him, but we are not alone! the people that we see, the people we attend church with, the people in our Bible study, the prayer meeting at school- whatever. that's our community. And to try and "do" faith or life without these people is simply ludicrous.

I had a community of friends even before i realized to call it community. Friends at school- we prayed together every morning before school. friends in youth group- we met weekly, but hung out together, shared our faith with friends together and were quite close. I went to a men's prayer group- these men became more than just other Christians- they became mentors to me. Men whom i felt were living examples of Christ to me, but also men whose lives i could model mine after because their faith was an important part of their lives. God's plan for us is not going solo- it's to live our faith in community with others. This is a VERY important part of what we feel God has laid on our hearts for finding a new church home.

and drawing a blank on another thing to put here that we are wrestling with, i will add this little tidbit. We are praying about going on the mission field. Right now, just praying about it- i don't want it to be simply reactionary to being fed up with church ministry in the US now becasue of having been burned by my last two churches. But God has given us both hearts for wholistic missions that are beneficial to the people we're trying to serve and go against some of the traditional, but outdated ideas of missions. However, we're praying about what direction that will mean for us. And that's huge in finding a new church, too- if we're going to prepare to be on the mission field, we want to find a home church that will be able to support us in that. We will plug into the church while we are there and hope for them to invest in us when our time there is up and we go on the field.

anyway- not sure how to end this, so i'll just say... you've just read the articulated version of just a fraction of what we are going through in trying to discern God's will for our church home for this next step in our lives.