In the World

Yeah, I’m “between churches”.

You know how some people just can’t seem to hold down a job? They flit from emploer to employer looking for that nebulously-defined “perfect job”?

I’m that way with churches.

I stopped going to church a little more than 4 years ago, before my daughter was born. But now I’m ready to start looking again. Mostly for my daughter, because she’s at an age where learning that there is a community of believers is very foundational. I don’t need a church quite so much, because I’m involved in ministry every day. Some really good regular worship would be nice, but my favorite worship leader is in Toronto, and I’m not driving 8 hours one way just to go to church.

I don’t need the “preaching, teaching, and edification of the Body” part so much. I could preach circles around most of the pastors I know (despite never being to seminary), and honestly, most preachers aren’t really that good. My brain works really fast. I usually get the lesson of a three-point sermon before the preacher gets out of his introduction, and then I spend the rest of the sermon poking holes, predicting which Bible verses he’s going to quote, or making a list of better Bible verses he could have used. Or I just leave after the music.

Oh, and I really don’t care for church events. Pot-luck supper? I’ll skip it. Want me to run the sound board? Maybe for one Sunday. Ask me how I’m doing? You’ll get the truth, not the boiler-plate standard “Fine”. And I dress better for work than for church. And I use bad words sometimes.

All in all, I’m generally a pretty horrible parishioner. Not on purpose, mind you, but “church” just seems to put me in a bad mood. Kinda like the annoying neighbor kid that you just can’t seem to get rid of. That’s affect I seem to have on pastors.

Yep, that’s me.

So!

I had lunch with my friend Holly this week, and she invited me to her church, even knowing me. She’s brave.

There are a couple other local churches I want to check out to, which I’ll probably do in the next few weeks. The one I am most excited about is the Greek Orthodox church, simply because I’ve never been to one before.

I’ll update here as my adventures in church-searching continues. Should be fun times!

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