Church Search

Well, not so much a search right now since we have been visiting the same church for about a month now.

Back in August our good friends from church moved away. Jacob and I had been unhappy about many things at our church and when they announced that they were moving, I basically lost all hope of the changes that we were wanting to see. Jacob had been there since he moved to Assumption and I of course started going after we met. In all honesty, I never really felt settled there. Of course, coming from a church in Iowa that felt like "home" I realized and was reminded over and over again that I needed to give it time. I never did get that feeling though...and who knows? I may not ever get that feeling again anyway.

We discussed looking for a new church, because with each passing Sunday our frustration levels grew. I came home from church more Sundays than not upset or mad about something. It's not that there aren't some great people there. In fact...if you're reading this and we went to church together, you weren't a part of the problem. Anyway...you just shouldn't come home from church upset every week. It really puts a damper on your day.

After the Bates left, we only went a few more Sundays. In the end, something happened and it just kind of felt like the final straw. We quit going. We talked about visiting churches and if we should go out of town again or stay here in Taylorville. Sunday would come. Sunday would go. We would just stay home. It turned into, "We'll go to church after Daniel is born." Then it was, "We'll go to church once Daniel isn't so tiny."

It's quite easy to make excuses.

Yes, in some ways I felt guilty for not going and in other ways it sure was nice to have 2 full days at home on the weekend. (I felt this way more when I was still working). I thought about all of the people who don't go to church and who seemed happier than myself. That in itself was enough for me to keep up the excuses. Yet, I felt embarrassed that we weren't going anywhere. Know why? Because I didn't want my friends who do go to church to judge us or look down on us. Funny, that those were my thoughts since Christian's should be more supportive. Our families knew, but that's about it.

I mean, clearly we disappeared from our church and yet very few people said anything about it. Some let me know that they missed us, but not many. We never heard one word from the minister after we left. Nothing. That hurt. Then a month or so ago, we were at an event where I saw some people that we went to church with. The husband came up again talked to Daniel and I. The wife looked directly at me, I waved and she quite clearly snubbed me. That made me know without a doubt that we had made the right choice to leave.

So, what made us decide to start going to church again? Encouragement from a very good friend. Oh, and a virtual butt-kicking of sorts. Sandy, from 631 miles away (yes...I totally just Googled that.) called us out and encouraged us to get back in the swing of it. She "listened" through Facebook messages to us vent our frustration and fears about going. Our parents were also encouragements, but they kind of stepped back and let us figure it out. No one wants their parents telling them what to do. Ha ha!

We finally picked Palm Sunday to visit a church here in town and other than Easter have gone each week. I don't quite feel at "home", but I feel like I could grow comfortable with it. It's a growing church. In fact, they announced yesterday that they will be adding a 3rd service this summer as a trial run. The services they do now are "blended", meaning they combine contemporary and traditional. Although...it leans far more traditional than contemporary to me. (I guess it's semi-contemporary. It's just that all the worship songs are from the mid-90's). The 3rd service will be contemporary. Pretty awesome.

We've yet to really start to get involved. We're just kind of laying low and learning the layout. Hopefully this is a place that we can maybe grow into though.