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It can be a struggle to find a church home. Some people can’t personally relate to this, and may falsely judge those who hop from church to church. It is true that certain people may have unrealistic expectations or an entitlement mentality, BUT that is simply not the case for everyone. I’ve linked to the following post before:
In Defense of Church Hoppers, Some Christians’ spiritual baggage makes it harder to find a church home by Michelle Van Loon.
I hope you’ll take a moment to read it. The 3 examples she offers demonstrate that the struggle to find a church home can be very legitimate – and the church needs to be more compassionate.
But I won’t continue on that train of thought, but rather offer a practical idea for anyone out there who is struggling to find a church home. I would suggest expanding your search to include churches that you might not have previously considered a possibility. Put your pre-conceived ideas or stereotypes ( “that denomination is…” ) to the side.
A friend gave me that advice when we were struggling to find a church several years ago. She told me about charismatic friends of hers who moved to our area. They visited a number of local charismatic churches, but could not manage to assimilate into any of them. They were frustrated. Well, they decided to try…gasp…Southern Baptist. And they indeed found a church home in a Southern Baptist church. If you had told them in the past that they would be happily attending and involved in a Southern Baptist church, they would not have believed it! The SBC is not charismatic, but other considerations proved paramount.
It was similar for us. As we were struggling to find a church, someone kept inviting us to their United Methodist church. We would politely refuse the invite, because, ya know, United Methodists are liberal. It is a mainline church. But we finally decided to visit, and have been attending this church for 3 and 1/2 years now! While it is true that the UMC is definitely in the category of mainline, the particular local church we are attending is distinctly evangelically influenced. And on certain controversial issues, they take a conservative stance.
Like the previous example, if you had told us in the past that we would be attending a UMC, we would never have believed it. I probably would have cried that I become a liberal and abandon my faith. (haha)
Individual churches can vary in their emphasis or approach from the denomination. You may find that a stereotype you had proves inaccurate. So, I just offer the suggestion to broaden the possibilities in your search for a church. Don’t give up.
Excellent points, Laura. Thank you.
I’m not sure if I’d read Michelle’s article before, but it is much appreciated. I couldn’t believe–or, really, I can–that some comments were negative about her points. Goodness gracious!
Good advice, Laura. If the idea of a liturgical church makes your head swim, for example, that might mean it’s time to give a liturgical church a chance. The same with the liberal/conservative thing you mention. Most people see PCUSA as a mainstream liberal denomination but the big one in the city next door is both quite the Bible forward place.
Tim, I meant to reply to this but never did. Back in another state where I lived, there was a very high-church, liturgical, Episcopalian church where the main pastor/priest (whatever they call them?) also did very expository style Bible teaching/preaching from the pulpit – the type you’d expect to hear in a more distinctly evangelical church.