We have started doing a few church visits. 'Church visiting' to me seems like a better term than 'church shopping', which sounds like your some self-centered consumer rocking up and saying, 'okay, here I am, entertain me'.
The aim is not to search until we find some perfect church, but more a case of using this opportunity to see what's out there, and then think about what would be the best fit and wisest choice for us in terms of our life-stage and where we will be moving to in a few months (which is anybody's guess).
But I don't particularly like the process, I feel guilty about it. I feel like I'm on a reality TV show like The Bachelor, where I'm going around having dates with different people, leading them on, and they're investing their time and energy in me, when I'm 'just visiting'. The churches we've been to so far have been really good, and the people very welcoming and warm.
Anyway, we'll keep up the visits, even though it feels kind of strange.
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
7 comments:
I think your nervousness is a good thing, Ben. I think it's almost impossible to assess a church from a visit to a Sunday gathering — that's just the tip of the iceberg of church life. Churches can have an impressive Sunday gathering (good preaching and music), but be pretty lousy at actual discipleship and mission :/
We'll pray for you as you look :)
Thanks, mate.
I'm glad I read that book 'Life Together' which for me outlined well what church IS and how I should view it.
why not go to the closest one to where you live and join that?
I'll pray too. I hate the process.
The main conundrum, is that we want to live as close as possible to our church. not just for convenience, but to feel like we were reaching out to our own community, not a community 20 minutes away.
But we are just renting for a few months, and will be buying a house in the next couple of months. It's hard to predict which suburb that will be in, because it's about what we can both find and afford. But we don't want to wait that long before joining and committing to a church.
I know, it's not the end of the world, but you know, it's just one of those situations where you're not quite sure what to do. It's a bit chicken and eggish.
Tough to do when you're uncertain about where you'll be living.
How many weeks are you giving each church?
What is your overall check list?
For the moment we've just been looking at a church a week.
Not really a checklist as such, but some of the main considerations are size, could we see ourselves finding ways to contribute, how's the childrens ministry etc.
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