2 Questions About Your Church Of Lack Thereof
1. How many of you are currently in transition between churches and how are you handling it?
2. How many times a month do you actually attend a church service? Not online…but in a building?
Give me something to chew on…
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
I haven’t been to an actual church service or gathering since October of last year. But there’s a church not far from my house that I’ve heard good things about – but every Sunday I’ve been so lazy that I wouldn’t go. Then this morning I woke up at 7:30 and was wide awake, so I finally went. Glad I did.
Not sure if you’d call that “in transition”, but yeah. Glad I went this morning.
What did they teach on?
The message title was “Are You A Slave to Religion, or A Child of God?”
The pastor pointed out the differences between the two mindsets. A slave is driven by duty while a child is driven by devotion and how a slave mentality is tied to performance (if I do more, give more, serve more, etc., God will love me), while the child mentality is tied to relationship.
The pastor used Galatians 4 and Luke 15 as references.
I’ve been in transition for two years. The church I transitioned out of was the church I was College Leader at. It was and has been hard. I had to really settle somethings within my heart, learn how to sit and hear God more. It hasn’t been comfortable because that was home, and I don’t really know anyone at the new church, but I do love the pastors and will make an effort.
I attend church every sunday. Most times its because I travel with a ministry team, but other than that I make a point to be in the house of the Lord either sunday morning or Sunday night every week.
That’s great. Sometimes we let our serving him replace out knowing him for sure.
Los, Can you do a follow-up posting on your comment here? You hit a nerve and I am guessing you can elaborate a bit on this one in a different post. And if not, thanks for at least throwing it out there and bringing something to my attention…
I attended a Calvary Chapel service on Easter, but it was at least three months before when we last attended a service. Finding a church has been difficult because having been burned repeatedly by people claiming to love God but show little grace. I’m not downing all Christians at all. I am one and it’s my responsibility to show compassion, love, and give grace to those same people I’ve been hurt by. I guess I’m not all that welcome in a lot of churches I attend anymore, though I used to lead worship every week and know that God is in control of my life. I’ll just have to wait on Him for the best answer.
I’ll be praying for you Lori.
I get it.
Thank you. Truly.
I am, and I’m doing really well with the transition (though not so well about WHY I’m transitioning). Overall it’s a good thing, though. It’s nice to get out my little one-church bubble and find out what the other churches around are doing.
I go every Sunday, if I can. I have friends at many churches so I’m hopping around and attending with them until I find one that I like enough to settle into. It’s exhilarating to see how other churches do ministry
Great to know!
I moved to a new town and a new state in January (started grad school) and I am still looking for a new church home. It has been rough trying to find somewhere I feel at home and it is hard to get plugged in to serve because the prominent churches in this area are all huge. But I’m starting to narrow it down. I hate this transition time.
I go to church every Sunday. I don’t like church hopping, but I have plenty of friends in several different churches who are understanding and let me hitch a ride whenever needed. Hopefully I will have peace about one of these churches before too much longer.
Awesome…
I guess I’m sort of in that category I never liked of ‘Church Hopper.’ I grew up in the same church and have been rolling about on where I want to go now, interned at a different church after being on staff at the one I grew up in, got pulled back in to help with Audio/Visual after the internship.
Now I’m at a point of trying to find the one that feels like I should be there, ‘home’, which is something I always thought sounded ridiculous.
Hard to find a place where I feel like I fit since so many people my age are all pairing off, getting married, having kids and such – so instead of really plugging in I waffle. The weeks I’m not running sound sometimes I try another church and sometimes I skip and sleep in.
Maybe I should help with a young church plant…
I know one in Chicago that you could help with.
Assembling together with other believers is an essential aspect of life with God. My pastor actually preached on this today. Read Acts 2:37 through the end of chapter 2 to get a picture of what this should look like. We are also told in scripture to not forsake the assembling of believers (I see that as basically a prophecy….knowing that so many people would forsake actually “going to church” in the days to come)
I’ve seen it in my own life. The importance of not only connecting with the church body on Sunday morning/night, but also getting plugged into Life Groups within a church. So important for growth!
Peace!
~Shelley
Yup!
Glad you have that!!!
Los
No disrespect intended, but have you ever been to a church that’s like Acts 2:37-47? I haven’t. The closest I’ve heard of like that is Jesus People USA in Chicago. I think the biggest reason I feel uncomfortable in churches I’ve been to is I’ve never seen anything like Acts 2:45 – “Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” I don’t think that’s a reason to not attend, but I just get this uneasy feeling seeing BMWs in the church parking lot when there are homeless people down the street being ignored.
I’m in transition. I’m a college senior and in four years I’ve been to eight churches, went to one for a year regularly but now go to a different one with my girlfriend pretty irregularly. About twice a month. It’s been hard, I’m sometimes too critical of churches. Often I feel there’s too much money among members and not enough outreach to a spiritually empty city like this one. But I can be hypercritical and C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” helped me see that when he describes the main character as a “church shopper.”
It’s hard, though, to balance legitimate concerns and wanting to support a church’s purpose with not being too nitpicky. I’ll definitely look for one to get more involved in wherever I live after graduation.
Where are you at?
Location wise?
I’m in Miami. Don’t know if I’ll stay here after the summer, I’m going wherever a job is.
After my mum died last year I realised that some of my priorities in my church life were just wrong. Before my mum got sick I was serving way too much trying to do everything but rarely encountering God. When my mum got sick everything changed, I stopped doing anything at church and just tried to be there as often as I could. After she died and life started to go back to normal I just knew I was in the wrong place. The transition has been a challenge as the church I’m going to is not all the easy to get to and it’s always strange being somewhere new but I know it’s the right place. Later on this year I will be moving to be closer to the community it serves and for the first time I feel like I’m in a church that really does put people first.
During fall I went off to college, and it’s too far to go home to church. I found a church and went pretty diligently first semester until Dec 6, 2009. I have the bulletin from that day, it was right before winter break. I made up my mind to go again today and it was blessing. After service a woman came up to me and told me that God told her to tell me that he sees my faithfulness. That just warms me to my core and encourages me to no end.
I want to keep going to church every Sunday. Recently, it’s only been when I visited home that I was able to go to church, so it’s been less than once a month. Before college I would go every Friday and Sunday.
I’m in transition as far as leaving one to become a youth pastor at another. I currently (well as I type on Sunday,this is my last Sunday at Grace in Cleveland TN) am the student pastor in Cleveland Tn and I/we are moving to Orlando Fl.
Geographically it’s a big move and church size going from 120 to 1500. So things have been crazy to say the least but excited for what God is up to. I every sunday and we had a college service every thursday night.
I unfortunately have a job that schedules me to work Sunday mornings, so I spent about 6 months not being able to attend church, and I realized how much not being in a church community starves my soul! My manager now tries to schedule me so that I can be off in time to get to church, and I love it! I am there every Sunday that I can be (work permitting). I’m moving back home in 3 weeks, though, and I’m not sure if I am excited about or dreading the ensuing church-hunt. My parents still attend the church I grew up in, and in some ways it would be easy to jump back in there. But it would be hard in other ways — dealing with expectations of people who have known me for 25+ years and may always see me as a child. I plan to visit as much as I can to find… I don’t know what! It’s tempting to find a trendy/cool church, or one that has lots of young people… Or do I look for good teaching or worship or community… All of the above! Hopefully I will find one that matches my needs and the church’s needs to free people to follow Jesus!
I go to a local presbyterian church, not necessarily the most contemporary, or modern, but a great family, good sound teaching, and a place to freely praise God…
‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’
Hey Los,
btw, it was great to meet you in person at soul city a few weeks ago. I am in that process of transitioning from a church that i’ve attended for 5.5 yrs to soul city and its definitely been harder than i expected. I absolutely love my church and the values they stand for and live out but i honestly do not have any relationships with people that are deeper than surface level and that has been hard to deal with.With much prayer and discernment, i feel strongly God leading me to be a part of Soul city and it’s amazing the excitement the last few weeks have brought! It’s awesome to be a part of something from the start.The people are amazing and i cant wait to see how this community will be the kind that i’ve been hoping and praying for.
Definitely looking forward to another evening at soul city!
I think I’m in transition. I know I am completely uncomfortable with the church I’d been going to. I’ve been there 2 years and it feels like the same old routine. So I’ve visited around since about the beginning of March.
I would say that I’m handling it well. However, I am finding that I would just rather not go at all. I’m go-go-go all week long and only get Saturdays and Sundays to really rest. I realize that this is pretty much a cop-out for not going. I’m just having a hard time finding a place that I want to invest in and be poured into.
I used to be an every Sunday church attender. But now it seems to be every other week or every two weeks. So I would say I attend 2-3 times a month.
Been in “transition” since sometime in 2008. At first it was because I moved. Now I can’t give you a 100% solid reason why we haven’t found a church. Too many kids? Too many projects at home? Afraid of being singled out at a church? Afraid of making new friends? Afraid of being uncomfortable?
Hey Los
My family has been in “transition” for just over 12 months now and it’s been at least a couple of months since we last attended a church service.
We stopped going to the church becasue I disagree with the leadership philosophy there – they dont believe in seeking God for a vision for the church so they just wander aimlessly from week to week changing their direction everytime they feel ‘led’ to do so.
The place is all talk and no action they talk about making a difference but the people are never challenged or led into practical opportunities to do so. I was the youth paster there for 7 years and worship director for 3. I feel used and abused because I wanted to lead with vision and passion and was told to go away…
As a result I cant go back there, how can I possibly serve and get involved in a place that doesnt have a clue where it’s going or what it’s doing? How is that honouring God and fulfiling the Great Commission? All our friends are there, especially my wife’s. We havent looked anywhere else becasue my wife wants to go back and I cant, so we just dont go.
Please pray for us, that God will lead us some place together and this wouldnt strain our marraige – thanks
Oh and I live in Australia… we have these issues here as well… and less churches to go visit to try to find a new home…
We’re in transition. We’ve been at church 1 for 10 years, and today was our last day on the worship team. It’s hard.
We’ve been going to both churches for awhile, the new one on Saturday night and the old one on Sunday morning. So we’ve been going to church about 8 times a month.
I am a member of an incredible church in the Birmingham area. It’s called Hunter Street. We are there every week and are growing and being challenged as well as worshipping a great God!
To answer your second question – it sounds rather crazy, but my church is 5 years old and I have been there nearly every weekend from the very first day we opened. However, I have a leadership position in the children’s ministry there, so I am committed to leading every weekend. That being the case, I have been going to the church for half a decade and have NEVER been able to actually attend a church service there! Go figure…
Don’t know if I’d say we’re in ‘transition’ but we have been attending 2 different churches for this school year. Our home church is just that…home. But the kids attend school at another church and we find ourselves more and more involved in activities there. Being Catholic does give it a slightly different perspective though. One the beautiful aspects of Catholicism is that the mass is the mass is the mass – all over the world, every Sunday. Still I would like to quit the two-church thing. Relationships are built and fostered with consistency.
We attend church at least 4 times a month but occassionally more. The kids attend 8x’s since they have weekly mass at school. It’s hard to attend daily mass during the week since I work full time, but I’m sure I could make the time – unfortunately and embarrassingly, I don’t.
Before we became Catholic my Protestant mom said to me, “Christie, you’ll never find a perfect church. If it was perfect, you wouldn’t be allowed to attend.” She wasn’t being ugly to me just honest about the idea that we are all sinful, broken, & human.
We are definitely in transition.
The problem is, is church really biblical?
We are at the tail end of a house community, living together sharing thing. Its been good, but we never really discovered the community we had been needing from church.
Suppose we just gotta trust.
On an unrelated note, we found a lump on our four year old collie this afternoon. Please pray for her – http://www.twitter.com/dogheze
not in transition but not happy with our new pastor. i attend service once a month, but i serve weekly in a ministry. but i do watch a lot of really good teaching on tv nearly every day.
I attend church in a building every week.
Although I’m not in transition between churches, my church is in transition between buildngs and it’s been insane. Good, bad, crazy, calm, hectic, impossible, yet all so possible. It’s just been a whirlwind. Today was the last Sunday in our old building and now next week, we’ll meet in the new building for the first time. It’s so bittersweet. We left because we had to (the denomination sued us and took our property when we split from them) but I think that we’re in a better place now than we were before.
geeez los i dont ever “attend” a church service, i “AM” the church service
sunday is the most important day of the week. i try not to miss a single service. continuity builds the church 
and i flippin love my church!!
I just moved states(in Australia) to attend university. Going to a new church these last few weeks have been more awkward than not. They have slightly different songs although you always get a nice feeling when they play one you’re familiar with. The hardest part is that everyone knows each other and you sort of feel intrusive barging into their groups and social events even though everyone is extremely nice. I hope I settle in soon =)
I’ve been in transition for awhile. It was too difficult drowning in all the churchianity, and I too am longing to find a fellowship community like that described in Acts 2: 37-47. Actually, I did find one but it wouldn’t be described as a church, just some believers serving the down and out.
So I depend on this group for fellowship. I would love to find a fellowship for study, worship, and community and service all rolled into one package but haven’t been able to. I’m in Washington, but too far south of Seattle to participate in several of the interesting communities there. I love this blog though; Los you really brighten my day!
I’ve been really blessed to be a part of a great church for the last 12 years or so. There have definitely been times when I’ve wanted to leave, felt like I haven’t fit in, hated serving, disagreed with my leaders etc. etc. (I affectionately call these “personal growth times”) I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t experience these things. I guess what it comes down to is that “iron sharpens iron”. When iron hits iron, sparks fly. And it’s true. The church won’t be perfect til Jesus comes back. My leaders aren’t perfect, but they are humble and I’m blessed and challenged by that. The reality is that we need imperfect people around us and leading us so that we ourselves can grow and iron out our own imperfections, insecurities and all that jazz. You know, the whole ‘plank in my eye’ thing… Well thats been my experience anyway. I know I’m called to this church for a season- whether it be a year or until I die. Psalm 92 is one of my favourites and my church pastors are big on this.
13 planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
My hope is that I’ll die planted, flourishing, sowing into the next generation and that my kids will grow up in the House.
ahhh community… I sometimes wonder if we have a skewed view of what that is…? it should be the goal – but not just for the sake of “community”. How do we grow and change without challenges and disagreements along the way?
God & people. thats where its at. Our role as the church is to connect people to God. Yes grow. Yes do life with each other. But they can’t be the focus. They are merely the outcome of obedience to Jesus.
Jesus loves the church. We’re his bride. My hope is that those in transition and those in “transition”
will find somewhere they can be planted and call home, not just for their sake, but for the sake of the next generation and those in their communities who don’t know Jesus yet.
Peace out.
Not in transition, but want to be…praying God will move….literally move us or calm my anxious heart!
How can we get more info on your tour….PORTLAND…whoohoo!
I left the church I was at for 6 years to move to another one to work. Not regretting that call at all, but the inbetween month or so killed me… Not sure why, but it did.
I’m at church 8 times a month… Two services every sunday. Love working for a church and having an excuse to gather more often.
We started attending a Sovereign Grace church over a year ago and can’t bear to miss a Sunday. It is everything that church should be and I’m grateful.
I’m also from Australia. I changed churches about 2 months ago. So I guess not so much in transition. I left my church of 5 years as a result of an unfortunate set of circumstances involving the young adults minister and the youth/student minister and my being unable to remain under their spiritual leadership after what they did to me. I changed to a much smaller church (from a 300 person service to about a 100-150 service) which I had been attending casually for a year and a half with my boyfriend as it was his church. That made the transition into the new church easier. Although now my boyfriend and I have split up, but I have decided to stay at my new church. My old church was a Saturday night service and my new one is a Sunday night service, which is why I was able to go to both for so long.
Is it normal for Christians to not attend church regularly in the States?
We’ve been at the same church in Ashland, Ohio for 14 months. (Thanks to you talking us into going!) I attend almost every Sunday, my husband attends rarely. We have a Home Bible Fellowship in our home every Tuesday.
My family is happily planted in a church. We probably make it to church 5 out of every 6 Sundays.
I am, my wife and I recently started seminary, and it messed us up (in a good way) we have been really re-evaluating where we stand on a lot of theological issues. I have enjoyed checking out a bunch of churches in our area, and overall I am encouraged to see what is happening in my town. It has been about 3 months, and I am really feeling the need to connect soon, being isolated when it comes to relationship is a hard place for me to be.
We also have enjoyed trying to head fake greeters at churches, and watching welcome center volunteers get a little nervous when they find out we are seminary students as they seem to prepare to answer annoying questions…which we don’t ask, we usually just ask about the youth ministry, the small group ministry, and where the coffee is at.
We’ve been meeting in a house for 5 years. It’s beautiful. It took a few years for some to be okay with that being their “only” church. Topics of convo are always relevant and real…sometimes planned, sometimes not. Free to leave the “building” whenever we want…we get to know our neighbors and the peeps in our city. It’s a breath of fresh air and I learn something new every week. I’m a PK and have seen it all. I like that all the “supposed to dos” have been stripped away.
Awesome questions Carlos.
Our family transitioned out of a church where I was serving back in Aug. 2009. We visited a few churches before settling down at a great church where we were allowed to come in & do what we really needed to do: heal. We had been burned & didn’t need to just jump to another church job. There were some things that God needed to do in us. We’ve been in that church pretty much every week since late Sept. or early Oct. It has been a great time there, & God has led us to a new place to serve where I’ll be coming on staff next month.
I’ve been in transition for almost a year. I left the Church that i first started going to when i came to Christ, my freshman year of HS, when I left for Huntington University and moved to IN. I planned on going back when i came home from school for holidays and summer but the Church i found in IN made me not want to go back. I saw what i was missing and decided to find it someplace else when i left Huntington at the end of last year. I’ve been in a Church building maybe 15 Sundays in the past year, most being when i was back in IN visiting people. I can’t find anything that is accepting and feeds me the way my Church in IN did, so i listen to podcasts. There are very few Churches i feel comfortable in now, including my old home Chruch. I miss it but i’m not willing to perpetuate hate to have faked community.
I go to a very classical church with my family (orchestra, choir, hymns… they actually preach out of the Bible!), and then go to a more contemporary church I’m involved in afterward.
Not in transition now, but have had that expereince about 8 years ago. I remember the ‘lost’ feeling…lately there have been a few things in our church that have made me uncomfortable, and I have been seeking wisdom from God through prayer and the Word.
As an active member of our worship team as a vocalist, I am always at worship, but sometimes I seek that time where I can sit with my family and worship, not as a leader, but as a follower.
I guess I am old fashioned, but I need that worship expereince with people…those relationship and friendship are essential to my worship experience. I am just not a person who could worship all by my computer. I enjoy learning and taking in things to discern from the internet, but it cannot replace tangible worship experiences for me…good, bad and ugly…the people are a part of God’s plan for worship!
I’m between churches right now. I’m handling it by reading my Bible, worshiping and keeping in contact with people who challenge me. I haven’t been to an actual church service in well over a year.
I work at one church on Sundays and worship at another on Saturdays. Two totally different styles, approaches and environments. Great thing is that my wife and I get to worship together, bad thing (or maybe not) is that Sunday church is nothing more than a job.
I’ve been attending the same church community on and off for 2 years, although I occasionally switch between 2 gatherings based on plans. The church community has 2 Sunday morning gatherings in different parts of town, and one evening gathering. The morning gatherings meet in 2 pubs. That was the original draw to the community; it felt less “churchy”. Very nice, down-to-earth people. Nothing like I have ever experienced in a Christain community. As a teenager, I always felt stifled in churches, and preached at.
In December we decided to attend an Anglican church where some of our friends and my manager went.
It was clear from the moment we walked in it was where we need to be.
Soon we will go through the “formal” process of being confirmed into the church.
When I’m in town, we go 99% of the time. I can only think of two Sundays we haven’t. Not seeing our friends, celebrating Eucharist, and praying through the liturgy, well, I feel like part of me is missing – not prepared – for the rest of the week as we, as a church, go out into our community to minister.
if by church service, you mean a sunday meeting of Christians, and if by building, you mean my own house, or that of our teammates, then i “attend church services” about every other week.
Wish I was in transition.
After growing up in the same church I find it difficult to walk in the doors anymore. There has been a lot of hurt, backstabbing, power trips and the like that goes on behind the scenes.
Unfortunatly I have yet to find another church in my city where I can say I feel at home.
I’m in transition; it has been a long transition. There are all kinds of excuses I suppose, however the one I will share is each time I have entered a new place, I have not felt welcome.
Transition 1 1/2 yrs ago from a church we attended for 3 years…transitioned because of high school ministry concerns for our son….after talking to the hs pastor and not getting scriptural answers…we prayed and visited churches for 6 months before making this move. Was a ‘difficult’ move in one sense because we were very connected to this church family – some people for 15 years….but wanted our son to have true teaching…not necessarily fun and games or someones personal interpretation on scripture – but scripture itself. Transitioned to a great church with an incredible youth pastor
Thanks God!! We (the parents 
are also learning more then we have in the past..every Sundays worship and teaching – straight from God’s word….straight to our hearts!
We attend every Sunday and also during the week for bible studies and home fellowship groups.
I just moved down to LA area 8 months ago and had been church hopping for the past 8 months. I had been going to the same church for the last 10 years in my hometown. At first, I was very excited to find a new church. Then, I was frustrated by month #3 and only went to church if I woke up early. Sometimes, I purposely slept in so I didn’t have to go through the motion.
Then, 4 weeks ago, Easter Sunday, I went to this one church in orange county and everything felt right. There was this chemistry between God, the pastor, the congregations, and me. The pastor spoke about “heaven”. He opened a brand new perspective and shattered my old one. I have been going there ever since and hope to get connected and be a part of the community.
My husband and I have been in “transition” for 2 years now since we moved to Atlanta. We came from a church that we were very involved in, and have actually enjoyed this transition period with no obligations or people questioning our attendance/etc. We’ve been attending the same church for the past 6+ months so perhaps our transition is ending (there’s still 1 other church I want to try out before committing but we never get up early enough for their service, haha
). We attend 1-2 times a month right now.
I attend church 4-5 times a month. Not in transition…yet.
We have been in transition since the middle of January, but God has had our family is a season of transition for longer. Both my husband and I were pastor’s on staff at our church. As of last September my husband’s position was let go and so we prayed and knew that it was time for me to resign as well. So I stayed through the end of 09 and then we took the big leap. Our home sold in a month and we’ve been living off of savings, our tax return and the profits from our home in one bedroom at my mom’s home. She still attends the church where we were on staff, so we still know everything that is still going on there and the changes that have been made with 5 new staff members in the period of 6 months. It’s been 7 months that my husband has been out of a job and looking for full time pastoral ministry. And now almost 4 for me. We have been consistently attending churches. I think we’ve only missed 2 or 3 weeks. For the last 7 years we’ve not been able to visit other places and just evaluate. We have been to very different places and have found consistency in what the local church does and doesn’t do for visitors. God has opened our eyes to ways that we can be a blessing to the community that we will ultimately serve. We are hesitant to want to find “A” place because we are waiting for God to provide a calling and a place for us. We will continue to visit local churches. We regularly listen to about 3 podcasts so that we can have a sermon that we can discuss. It’s so hard because after having been on the planning side of a worship experience we find ourselves getting in the car and being critical of really small things. And yet it’s amazing to see how God can weave similar things together from week to week of disconnected pastors…We still feel like there is a thread of a “series” that we find in our muddled Sunday mornings. David, my husband, is blogging about his experiences of job search and other pastoral ramblings at dckenney.com
Well, I’m the ‘president’ of our church, so no I’m not in transition. But we are thinking of doing our own thing, not because we’re disgruntled, but to do something less churchy and more Acts 4ish, if that makes sense. Keep it a secret though.
oh, forgot to say how many times we go. I have taken a bit of a break this month because i am taking my phd exams, but usually I don’t have enough fingers to count.
1. I have only changed churches 4 times in my entire life. Twice as an adult, where the second move was to go back to the church I left in the first move.
2. I go to church roughly 4 times a month (5 times if there are 5 weeks in that month). I love my local church, and what God is doing there.
I don’t attend church. I live at my church! I’m a member of Koinonia Farm, which was founded as an intentional Christian community in 1942. We have daily prayer and devotional times on weekdays 2 or 3 times a day. And on Sunday evenings we have a gathered worship time. My life is infused with constant reminders to follow God more closely.
Not to say that living here is always easy and that I love every minute of it. It is challenging to my core. But when I ponder the phrase “go to church” I know living in Christian community is right for me. I don’t “go to church,” I live it.
My husband and I have been at our church for almost two years now. He’s serving as the youth/music minister. It’s been tough at times because our passions and visions are so different from most of the people in our church (it’s a small, country church where most people are content to just sit and be spoon-fed). But we know that God has a plan and a purpose in us being here. Sometimes it’s easy to remember that when we see fruit, and then sometimes it’s hard when we see nothing.
Yesterday, God moved in the hearts of a group of members and the pastor during a budget committee meeting. Our pastor told us that God really showed them that it’s not just the attendance that’s dropping radically (we’re about half of what we were 8 years ago)–our church no longer has a passion for God. Michael and I have been praying SOOOOO much for this very thing and for the eyes of the church to be opened every since we came here. Praise God that others are starting to truly see it. We’re praying something big happens. (sorry–I know this is pretty off-topic)
We’re at church every Sunday morning and Wednesday night. Sunday nights, we have the youth over to our house for small groups and then go to our adult small group. We’re also there for all of the special events and things. I really can’t imagine what our lives would be like if we didn’t go to church. It’s so much a part of who we are.
The church plant where I led worship for the last few years has itself been in transition. We haven’t had a public weekly gathering since August. (It’s a long story, one I’m never sure how to explain exactly.) We started down a path of trying to figure out what was next for us as a community, but there’s been no real resolution even after so many months.
So I’m finding myself in transition. I’ve been attending the larger church we planted from on weekends, which sort of feels like a young adult moving back in with the parents.
It’s nice to be “home” right now, but I’m still praying about what’s next for me and even what serving this community looks like in this season. I’m still attending a small group composed of people from the church plant, but I’ve found myself less motivated to attend lately, in part because a part of me just wants to close this chapter of my life and move on.
So I attend the larger church nearly every week. I haven’t attended the small group in about a month. So there’s that…
I guess I still feel like I’m in transition. I’ve been attending a local church fairly consisitently (3-4x a month) for over a year. I like it there, but my heart still wishes I was at my old church I moved away from. I watch their services online and only recently switched my tithes from one to the other. I believe in this new church and I like the pastor and receive great teachings from him, but I’m still attached to the other place and pastor. I went to an actual service there on Easter for the first time in 8 1/2 years and it was like I never left. They’ve made a ton of changes and grown like crazy, but it still felt like home. If it wasn’t 2 hours away, I’d still be going there every week. As it is, I have to settle for listening to services online at work and attending actual service on the weekends at my local church.
I’ve been in a church service once in the last 8 months.
The why is here: http://dubdynomite.com/2010/03/29/part-1-my-confession/
My wife and kids are in regular attendance now at a church, which is the one I visited once a few weeks ago.
Because of what happened, I’m having a really hard time going back anywhere.
So, I’m in transition, but I’m not sure to what.
Our family (2 parents, 3 children) have church at home. It’s the best fit for our family for now.
I left the church that I had been at for over 12 years in Dec. Honestly it was a long time coming….I thought I had found a new church and joined, but I don’t feel this is the right place either….
I have never been a church hopper…..This is really difficult for me and it is really affecting my spiritual life…Praying that the Lord will lead me to the right place….I have visited a lot of places and hoping to find “Home” soon. But realistically that probably won’t happen as I may be moving out of the state to ATL soon…..anyway enough of my rambling….
as a church staff member, it’s a little out of taste for ME not to attend.
but, this does give me insight to attendance patterns: we are a church that will celebrate its 100th yr anniversary next year. most times, this gives the idea of stuffy/traditional, however we have successfully transitioned over the last 20 yrs to a very contemporary, world-AND-word relevant, engaging fellowship of around 1100-1200 attenders. Just 2 wks ago, we launched our 2nd campus (75% video-venue, 25% live). our normal attendance stats say we’re getting about 60% of those each week at our main campus. the 2nd campus is so new, (read, the fresh, exciting thing) that we’re already over full…so it begs the question, what is it about “normal” church that is easy to skip and when it’s “new”, it’s hard to stay away?
i’ll keep you posted.
I’ve been in a quandary lately. I grew up Southern Baptist, we moved, then doing an Independent Baptist church and I’m not feeling it. We’ve been church hopping the past 2 months or not going at all. I want to be a good leader of the home but I don’t know how to break the feeling of being so burnt out on church. I go but all I can think about is the rituals and I nit pick the things we do, i.e. altar calls, making missionaries out to be the savior of the world, etc.
I know, no church is perfect. But I’m looking for Jesus and I don’t know if I can find him in the American Church today.
I’m not in transition, and am a member of a church I love. during the school year we probably make it 3 out of 4 Sundays a month. And then in the summer, it may be more ike 1-2 Sundays out of the month. It just depends on our travel schedule, since we are out of town a LOT in the summer.
Once upon a time I felt guilty if I ever missed church, but not any more. Being at church is important and there is a huge value to it, but it’s not a hill I’m going to die on.
I recently decided that I was no longer attending institutionalized religion anymore. I am not saying I will never go to church again, but I am saying I no longer feel like I am to be shackled to the prison that so many “church buildings” have become. I am at a point where I am tired of being told I am “backslid” “out of fellowship” or any number of other condemning things that Christians use to try and get folks guilted into returning to the services whenever I miss one. I think that the “forsake not the assembly of the saints” scripture is often used out of condemnation…and NO WHERE in the bible can anyone show me how often that assembly should take place. It doesn’t say how much, it doesn’t say how often… So why have I allowed man to dictate what he thinks is right for me? Yes I am a christian, I attend regular bible studies with friends who are also Christians, There are a few churches that I visit when my schedule allows or I feel God telling me to go. I feel like being a Christian makes me the church. I can’t go to me…I take me wherever I go… We often forget that… the building in which the church assembles together is just that a building…when the people leave, the church is gone… I strive to be what God asks of me daily. I often fall short of the mark, but I keep reaching for it. I feel like I am on the right path for me, God keeps confirming it in my spirit.
I would like to say that there are many buildings out there that stand for something great and are doing good work…but there are many more who are simply just killing one another in the name of God. Whichever you have chosen for you and your family is between you and God. I do not look down on your choice. If God is using you there then by all means, go and be what He asks.
I know what you’re saying Julie. The other day I had the best church experience. Some friends and I went out to get a burger, said our prayer and just shared with each other our lives and what was going on. I wonder what’s the lowest common denominator to make church church? Does there have to be preaching, does there have to be singing or is it just believers getting together?
Jonathan,
Sounds to me like believers were assembled… to my way of thinking…you all had “church” in one of its best forms! Many times when Jesus was together with believers it was an informal and loving experience. Sounds like it was awesome! You can bet that anyone who overheard you talking wondered who you all were and maybe wished they could have been a part…I know I would have.
I currently go to a church that’s about a 7 minute walk from my home, called Open Door. I used to go one 20 minutes away, True Vine. Both churches are someone connected and overlap in many ways. True Vine saw me through my husbands affair and our separation. However, I chose Open Door because I am already tight with the community here. (I live in a very small town.) I also wanted my kids to build more relationships here. Then I found that one of their missions is to reach the community through the building of Godly families. I knew that’s what I wanted to be part of. I also see them making an impact on the community and not just talking about it.
1. My husband and I recently left our church home {it’s been about 5 weeks} and are currently searching for a new one. We think we found one, but aren’t sure because of its distance from our home, but we’ll see…
We are handling it by praying, seeking God’s will, and staying out of His way as He leads us.
2. We go every single Sunday, every single week.
My husband and I are currently in transition. Struggling to find a place where the leadership is authentic and the focus is on Jesus not programs. We are handling it by keeping an open mind, praying for direction and not being hasty.
We attend every Sunday.