I had an insightful conversation with Dan S. a couple weekends ago and that has led me to make a decision about a church. As some of you know, I’ve been searching for a church home for several years. During that time, I’ve been to many of the area churches several times. I didn’t find what I thought I was looking for at any of these churches. During this period, when I didn’t feel like trying a new church, I would go to the church right up the road from me, the First Church of Christ Burlington. There were some potential theological differences between me and the church, so I never felt comfortable joining the church, but I did like the preaching and it was close, so I didn’t mind going on occasion just to get to a church.

After my discussion with Dan, as well as what I have discussed on the blog, I have realized several things. First, I’m never going to find a church by “dating” them (terminology is from Joshua Harris’ book Stop Dating the Church). I can’t superficially visit churches week to week, with such a strong opinion about what I want in a church in the back of my mind, and expect to “fall in love” after a visit or two. Being involved with a church is like a relationship - you have to work for it, you have to give in order to receive. You can’t just sit the bench, can’t just show up for an hour on Sunday morning and except to get nourished without giving anything back.

A second thing I realized was that the theological differences that I thought I had with First Church weren’t really that important. I was making them more important than they should have been, under the guise that I was being wise and discerning this wasn’t the place for me. There are some issues which would be deal breakers, but the ones I was hung up over are not of this level.

So, having realized these things, I have decided that I’m going to consistently go to First Church with the goal of becoming a member one day. I like the preaching, it’s close to where I live, the music is good enough and the church is sizable (but not too big), so there are plenty of people my age and opportunities to get plugged in and serve. This may or may not work out, as with relationships, but unless I take a chance and get involved in the church on a deeper level, I’ll never know. What I do know is that it will be good to be involved in a church again. I’m looking forward to joining a Sunday school class, being part of the creative ministry team and/or the band, volunteering for community service projects, etc.