Church Shopping

For the first time in eight years, Cynthia and I find ourselves in search of a new church. We've been visiting different churches for a few weeks now, some good and some not so good.

Years ago, I told Cynthia that I wasn't interested in any church without a building, without regular Sunday School, or without all the church trappings to which I was accustomed. Churches that met in schools and the like didn't seem like real churches to me at the time. You could say that my definition of a church was tied up with its building or location.

However, as we look around for churches now, I find myself feeling contrary to my previous bias. I'm now more attracted to churches that meet in elementary or middle school auditoriums and have home groups during the week. Perhaps this attraction is rooted in the type of church rather than its physical presence. It's the praise bands, casual environments, and home groups that draw me rather than choirs, semi-formal environments, and Sunday school. Not that these things are bad; they just have very little appeal to me at this time. Perhaps I'm "done" with church as I know it for the time being.

I should distinguish between churches that meet in schools and those that are casual. We visited a church in a nearby elementary school that managed to come across very stuffy with just eight of us in attendance (including the pastor)! And, there are several well-known large churches that are very casual (e.g., Saddleback in CA).

I'll keep you posted on our progress.