The Church Hunt

If you've ever been on one, you know what I'm talking about. The grass is always greener, right? For those that have always been content at the same church for their entire lives, congratulations (I think)! For you "committed to your pew" people, Let me explain what I am referring to: the process of actively pursuing a new church home, for whatever reason. Sometimes, you get bored, sometimes you get hurt, sometimes staff changes(some of us really don't like change),sometimes it's as simple as you have relocated, so the need for a new church home is obvious and undeniable. In some instances, we feel God is calling us to another church. Then there's the infamous "I wasn't getting fed" excuse. Personally, I've  been on the hunt for more than one of the above reasons.

Hebrews 10:25 "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."

After relocating from upstate, NY to central 
Florida about three and a half years ago, I began a major church hunt. In four short weeks we had visited five churches. So many choices, yet no perfect church. No perfect church indeed. Churches are filled with humans. 

There are so many factors involved in determining a home church. Different people hold different qualities as important. Some of the desired attributes can be specific congregation size, building size/age, worship style, children's programming, youth functions, age of pastor,or current debt. Do any of these sound familiar? Then of course there's denomination. If you belong to a denomination, it actually makes your hunt much simpler; your choices will be limited. It seems, from my personal experiences and the feedback from others, those of us that call ourselves Evangelicals are most likely to be church hunting...or maybe even church hopping. You see, we evangelicals are "just looking for a nondenominational, Bible based church".  It seems so simple, yet so complicated.

Seriously, how many Catholics visit different churches? Most often, they just find the one closest to their residence and stick with it. If any issues arise, it just simply sends them to the next closest church. However, when you don't claim a denomination, there are many choices, and many things to be considered, and so, the search can go on for a good long time. You see, we even have the option of trying denominational churches! Imagine that! I think also, evangelicals are more likely to "visit" other churches, just because...or perhaps deep down (so deep that we ourselves don't admit it)we are not happy at our church. The irony of it all is, that when we find a church, it's all we can talk about; how perfect it is. The pastor, the worship, the greeters, the youth opportunities, shoot, we'll even praise the restrooms! We tell all of our friends, as if we need to convince them to attend this "perfect" church. But inevitably, if we were church shopping once, (or five or six times), we likely will find reason to go on the hunt again, right?

Well, this past Sunday, I found myself "just visiting" a new church. A few weeks ago, on our way home from the park, we noticed an unusual amount of activity at a church building that we had driven by several times. I took note of the name on the sign and Googled it. Can you imagine the church hunt prior to the internet? Wow, we would just have to "blindly" attend random churches with no idea what to expect! You see, I never church hunted prior to internet because I was raised Catholic, and, yep, just attended the local Catholic church.

So, what I learned was that an existing congregation had moved to this location; it appeared of interest. Mind you, I'm not even church shopping, or am I?  We have a home church (which, we at best, sporadically attend due to our 17 month old not enjoying it) That brings up more possible reasons to search for a different church...the baby, or any age children. We always want what's best for our kids, don't we? You know a wise friend recently made me really think that one through. We are responsible for teaching our kids about Jesus, and raising them in a godly manner (not our church). If we land our family at a church that is great for the kids, but mediocre in it's teaching the adult congregation, how do we grow so that we can be what our children need us to be?  Hmmmm? Something to ponder, for sure. Yet, sometimes, I feel like subconsciously there's a hope that if we find the right church, perhaps the baby will like it. (Rolling eyes)Sure, our real, live Energizer Bunny that is with me basically 24/7 is certain to find a church that she enjoys, either in the nursery or sitting still and quiet during service.

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

That visit got me thinking about all of these things. It made me wonder, just how many of us change churches for truly noble, God honoring reasons, and how often, it's just our humanness that leads our way. I have one more thought for you and myself. When we find it necessary to look for a new church, I hope that the first "thing" we look for at perspective churches, isn't a thing at all, but that our primary goal is to find God at whichever church we attend.

I look forward to reading your thoughts and opinions.

Christ's blessings to you all.