Categories: uncategorized
Date: 24 July 2008 17:36:29
I'm preparing in a few short weeks to find a new church. I am "praying God will show us His will" but also preparing to go "church shopping" with Third Party in order to try and discern that will. It's a process I'm not looking forward to, partly because I know I'm quite unusual in that I'm 36 and have never really had to do this before. That's not to say I haven't moved before and been in new churches, rather when I have I was sorted with a church, through contacts, before I got there and have always been in walking distance of a Baptist church. Additionally because I haven't ever really done the moving about churches or doing one type in the morning and one type in the evening thing my denominational identity is actually a quite an important part of who I currently am.
Now I know we live in a post-denominational world, but I don't like being post. I want to be present and know how things work now if it is not on the basis of denomination and how to know from looking at the label what I am likely to find within a church. I am frequently reminded one of the reasons we are post-denominational is because we are "just Christian", but that really doesn't work as a category when you are looking for where to engage in corporate worship and become part of a "household". It is still important to have an identity that you can recognise and I think that the effort of keeping a recognisable identity in a diverse world is what is causing much of the division within various churches and streams of thought at the moment.
In order to prepare me for finding the "right church" I am having to identify who I am and what I do and don't think is important in terms of both my belief and the theology and practice of a church. Now, don't get me wrong I know I am unlikely to find the "ideal church" but if I am to move forward in my faith and Third Party is to move forward in hers I do need to know what God has already shown is healthy for us. Note what is healthy for us won't necessarily be healthy for all. Also I know as much as I would love to find a carbon copy of our current church it isn't about to happen and actually it probably wouldn't be the healthiest thing for us either.
So what is it I am looking for?
Well firstly I'm looking for a church that takes seriously the trinity and within that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as events which really happened. I am looking for a church that preaches we have all fallen short of the glory of God, but God loved us so much he chose to sacrifice himself upon the cross for us and then rose again so that our sin could be defeated. - So I'm looking for an evangelical church.
Secondly I'm looking for a church which realises that Jesus doesn't have a hierarchy of sin (knowingly buying goods at knock down prices when you know that they were made through exploiting somebody and not repenting is on the same level as promiscuous sex and not repenting to me). Therefore, I'm as messed up yet equally as saved by grace as the next person. - So I guess I'm looking for a progressive evangelical church.
Thirdly, I'm looking for a church which recognises that God created people as individuals with a huge mixture of social characteristics (including their genders and sexualities) and we were all created of equal worth before God. Therefore, all equally have gifts to offer to the church and the use of those gifts should not be denied just because your mix of social characteristics doesn't happen to be male, able-bodied, heterosexual, etc. - So I'm also looking for an inclusive church (or a church whose practice is reasonably inclusive even if their rhetoric isn't).
Forthly and perhaps most importantly, I'm looking for a church where my daughter will fit in and move forward in her faith aswell as making a bunch of new friends and where she will be continue to be encouraged to think about what she believes without being expected to fit into a particular Christian lifestyle and bubble. - So I'm looking for a church with a good youth group, (preferably which doesn't meet at silly o'clock in the morning).
Finally, I'm looking for a welcoming, missional, church which is based in my local community. This is influenced to a large extent by the fact I don't have a car, but it is also influenced by the fact I think it is quite important to worship relatively close to where you are living if possible.
(In terms of the other bits it would be good if it could use a mixture of traditional hymns played on the organ and worship group stuff, had pews, still used "proper hymn books", wasn't too happy clappy but wasn't dead either and had a reasonable housegroup structure in place, but these are not amongst the things I count as vital. Oh and incase anybody hadn't guessed I'm also low church, but quite like liturgy.)