I was raised in a congregation that had around 200 members .By the time I was 16 that congregation had split over 5 times. As I've grown up I have learned that there were things going on in that fellowship that are some of the most horendous things I've heard in my life. Yet I always felt lead to stay there, to be faithful to sharing the love and grace of God to those who were bystanders in the midst of the chaos.
When I moved to another state, in my early 20's, I joined a fellowship that was, in many ways, the extreme opposite of the congregation I was raised in.
The church I grew up in was very diverse in the nationalities represented, I like to say it was like a bag of skittles, we had folks from nearlly every continent and major nationality. We had a contemporary praise service, had lots of people who would preach, were never short of musicians and singers, had multiple teachers for every class, and were huge on getting together during the week for encouragement and fellowship.
The new fellowship I joined sang mostly hymns and songs from the 60's and 70's. They had a pianist, and one singer. I was the only hispanic, everyone else was anglo. There was very little cconection outside of the weekly corporate service. The fellowship was made up of about 40 people.
Despite all those differences I never felt like I was missing out, I didn't feel the need to go to another fellowship.
Now, as a pastor of a an entirely different congregation, I have run into situations where people from other congregations show up to our building asking about beginning to fellowship with us. I always make it a point to call the pastor or leaders of the church they used to attend to let them know that one of their members showed up at our service. More often then not, the reasons for breaking fellowship are really lame, at least in my opinion. I have actually heard some people say things like, "I just couldn't worship God there, the music was too slow". I told that person that our praise of God should never be limited to whether there is slow or fast, contemporary or traditional, hip hop, rap, or rock music as a background. Our praise of God should only be about who God is, and what He has done. I also told them that they really needed to go back and make a better effort at dealing with that issue with the pastor or leaders of thier previous fellowship.
Some people choose churches based on the comforts of the building, or the convineinces of childcare, small group events, and other such things.
Before choosing or leaving a fellowship I think there are important questions to ask, here are a few:
1. Where has God placed me, and why has He placed me here?
2. Is there anything about the fellowship I currently attend or am looking into attending that I disagree with; have I or will I take steps to resolve those things or will I bail when faced with the pressure to be transparent about how I feel.
3. Will I bring negitive influences to a new fellowship; will I be a hinderence to the corporate worship setting?
4. How will I grow as a disciple; am I open to being challenged about my character, habbits, life style, and doctrine?
5. Do I believe in the mission of this fellowship, and how will I help in carrying it out?
It seems like a lot of people want church to be like fast food resteraunts, "Have it my way. Make it so that I'm loving it". Why eat at a resteraunt that charges $2 for a buger, the regular customers are all old, it has no play place, and the crew is small, and always seems to be in a training stage; when you can go to a resteraunt that charges $1 for a burger, has a modern play place, a multigenerational demographic, and where the emplyees are all pros at everything? The answer is that sometimes God calls us to the small, seemingly boring and laborious fellowship.
When I moved to another state, in my early 20's, I joined a fellowship that was, in many ways, the extreme opposite of the congregation I was raised in.
The church I grew up in was very diverse in the nationalities represented, I like to say it was like a bag of skittles, we had folks from nearlly every continent and major nationality. We had a contemporary praise service, had lots of people who would preach, were never short of musicians and singers, had multiple teachers for every class, and were huge on getting together during the week for encouragement and fellowship.
The new fellowship I joined sang mostly hymns and songs from the 60's and 70's. They had a pianist, and one singer. I was the only hispanic, everyone else was anglo. There was very little cconection outside of the weekly corporate service. The fellowship was made up of about 40 people.
Despite all those differences I never felt like I was missing out, I didn't feel the need to go to another fellowship.
Now, as a pastor of a an entirely different congregation, I have run into situations where people from other congregations show up to our building asking about beginning to fellowship with us. I always make it a point to call the pastor or leaders of the church they used to attend to let them know that one of their members showed up at our service. More often then not, the reasons for breaking fellowship are really lame, at least in my opinion. I have actually heard some people say things like, "I just couldn't worship God there, the music was too slow". I told that person that our praise of God should never be limited to whether there is slow or fast, contemporary or traditional, hip hop, rap, or rock music as a background. Our praise of God should only be about who God is, and what He has done. I also told them that they really needed to go back and make a better effort at dealing with that issue with the pastor or leaders of thier previous fellowship.
Some people choose churches based on the comforts of the building, or the convineinces of childcare, small group events, and other such things.
Before choosing or leaving a fellowship I think there are important questions to ask, here are a few:
1. Where has God placed me, and why has He placed me here?
2. Is there anything about the fellowship I currently attend or am looking into attending that I disagree with; have I or will I take steps to resolve those things or will I bail when faced with the pressure to be transparent about how I feel.
3. Will I bring negitive influences to a new fellowship; will I be a hinderence to the corporate worship setting?
4. How will I grow as a disciple; am I open to being challenged about my character, habbits, life style, and doctrine?
5. Do I believe in the mission of this fellowship, and how will I help in carrying it out?
It seems like a lot of people want church to be like fast food resteraunts, "Have it my way. Make it so that I'm loving it". Why eat at a resteraunt that charges $2 for a buger, the regular customers are all old, it has no play place, and the crew is small, and always seems to be in a training stage; when you can go to a resteraunt that charges $1 for a burger, has a modern play place, a multigenerational demographic, and where the emplyees are all pros at everything? The answer is that sometimes God calls us to the small, seemingly boring and laborious fellowship.
