Lately my husband and I have been visiting different churches trying to find a new "home" church. We were attending a great church with wonderful people, but we just didn't feel like we were ~called~ to be there! We firmly believe that the Lord doesn't just want you to settle for any church. He has a designated place and time for you to be in certain places, and we just didn't feel like the church we were attending was where we were suppose to be.
With finding a new church, we had a few things in mind.
#1 There had to be a childrens nursery and it had to be CLEAN! We visited one church where they had a nursery, but the nursery had mold on the walls and ceiling- LOTS of it! Granted, the children are only in there for 2 hours but I'm a big anti-mold person. *No* tolerance for you! It can be very harmful to your health! Having a whole childrens ministry is *nice* but I'm happy with just a nursery! Why you ask? Because my husband and I are their teachers. We teach them the Word of God. We teach them to worship. Just like we don't go to church to get "filled" (which should be done in your devotionals) we don't expect our children to go to church to get filled either. We go to church to worship God together with other believers! To fellowship!
#2 Pretty obvious- we want the teaching to be biblical! If it doesn't line up with Bible there's no point going there. There's A LOT of churches that are wonky about what they teach- you would be surprised!
I'm sure there are some other minors things, but those are the two biggies. Our neighbors that live in front of us are a really nice elderly coupon and they've been inviting us to their church for a while. We asked her if they had a good childrens ministry and she said "well, we're still trying to get younger couples to come" and automatically, I was like (in my mind) "oh! A bunch of old people! No thanks!".
This morning while I was showering, I was asking the Lord where He wanted us to go. I kept hearing the name of the "old people" church and I kept shrugging it off thinking "well, maybe after we try some other churches" but I felt again "why keep searching?". So I got out of the shower and surprise my husband (who also wanted to check out the "old people" church) by saying that I wanted to go there!
So we went! We walked in and was greeted by an "old person". We walked in to the service after dropping the kids off (in a clean nursery- well, as clean as a public nursery can be lol) and the pastor (in his 30's) welcome everyone and then a "old man" gets up to do ocapella (I have NO idea how to spell that!). We sang 4 "old" hymns!
People...let me tell you...the presence of God was there and "old" DID.NOT.MATTER. These people LOVE the Lord and Gods presence was drawn into this church but about 50 people young AND old singing with JUST their voices to praise God! No instruments! No special lights! No "in style" music! It was just our voices and our hearts worshiping God....and folks...it was AMAZING! God's presence is always amazing!
So, folks, don't judge like I did! Old can be SO good! So glorifying to God!
After church we were able to talk with the people of the church and they were ALL so welcoming! I guess they have a normal worship team that was out of town this sunday (which is a ministry opportunity for my husband b/c he loves to lead worship), but I think it speaks *volumes* for a church when the presence of God can show up when the worship team is out of town and it's just their hearts and voices worshiping God!
So, to say the least, we will be going back!
Off topic, but something I need to do. Before I decided to hide from blogging, I had started a giveaway for Tropical Traditions coconut oil! So, I will now use random.org to choose a winner!
Congratulations Aimee who was the 3rd poster!
3 comments:
We, unfortunately, find ourselves in the same situation. I really don't like "shopping" for church... leads me to be too critical of God's bride, ya know? Anyways, I applaud you for following God's "nudge" to try the "old" church. :)
Sounds good. I wish there were more elderly people at our church, its a little too young. ...I've been wondering if you abandoned your blog! lol
Mrs. H (forgive me, I don't know your first name :) ) I'm sorry you're church hunting too :( Each time we've moved to a different town we've had to find a new church and it really is one of the things I hate to do the most. Isn't that awful? One church we visited, the pastor was talking about being modest and he was describing a woman he saw at a store and said "her full breast was almost hanging out- *everybody say* full breast" and the whole congregation said "full breast". We've visited some where they were not very biblical, some with lots of hype but no word, etc etc. It's definitely not my favorite thing to do, so I hope you're able to find one soon!
Christy, I was wondering if I had abandoned it too lol I'm trying to get back into the swing of it. It really is a good place for me to unload a lot that is on my mind- I think I think to much lol
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