Preparing For A Church Search
Today will mark about the eighth consecutive week that I have not attended a church service. I can’t remember a time in my life where I have gone this lone without going to church. We are in between churches right now. There is a ministry that I do on Sundays that makes it difficult to really begin looking for a new church. It will end it about three weeks for the year, so November will bring a time that we begin the search in earnest.
I have to say that I enter this time with no small amount of trepidation. We haven’t searched for a church since 1992. We left a church we had been members of for two years to join the one we recently left and were members of for almost seventeen years. So, in a strange sense, it’s similar to what I feel someone who is widowed or divorced after many years of years marriage would feel about beginning to date.
The good news is that I have been trying to prepare myself for this. I’ve been praying about it, of course. I’ve asked the Lord to prepare my heart and the hearts of those we will be visiting. I don’t see the sense if visiting and then praying about it.
I’ve also recently read Mark Dever’s short little book, What Is A Healthy Church? I will write more about that later and actually want to examine the nine marks of a healthy church that he lays out.
What I don’t expect is for any church to be 100% healthy. Every church will have some issue. No church is perfect. What I am looking for is the church where we can glorify God the most.
I’m also getting ready to read a companion book to Dever’s book called What Is A Healthy Church Member? I have plenty to work on myself. Am I healthy? I have my own issues and quirks. As I read today, if I abide in the Vine, I’m going to be pruned. I have plenty of pruning opportunities that will make me healthier and produce more fruit.
I’ve also been trying to spend a lot of time in Paul’s epistles. After all, he wrote to churches and the Church more than anyone. I can learn a lot from what he was dealing with.
I’m going to try to blog about this upcoming experience. While I said above that I am entering it with a bit of trepidation, I am excited too. I am most excited to get back into church services and worshipping the Lord with fellow believers.
Have you gone through a church search lately? Share your experience.
Good luck. Do you know where you will start?
There are a couple of larger churches, Faith Promise and Sevier Heights, that we will visit. We want to try them, buffer are more smaller church type people. There is another called Grace Community that I am interested in. I am developing a long list of questions to ask as we start settling down. Basically, I’m interviewing them.
We have been sort of searching, but with preaching so much haven’t been many places. It is sort of frustrating–more than I imagined. Been wanting to check out Faith Promise, too.
How are your possibilities?