It is a curiosity of mine why people attend the churches they do…or not attend.
For me it is simple. I choose The Church at HopePark (Bellevue Community Church) in Nashville because it is geared towards my personality.
The music rocks, it is inviting and not stuffy, plus I can wear my baseball cap and drink my Starbucks all while enjoying a message from David Perez. Also, I have never seen one time where we acted exclusionary to anyone coming in from another faith. Our new small groups formation is going awesome (yep, pressure now being put on you Bill Todd:)). And finally, we truly find a way to get involved in the non-churched community and bring people together for fellowship like on 4th of July.
My curiosity is probably sitting in my reasons why I attend where I do but I always find it interesting when I see people pouring in other church buildings. Especially living in the most churched community in the United States. Why the Baptist church? Why that one? Why the church that is formal and you have to wear a shirt and tie? Why the one that does not allow music? and so on.
So here is where you come in.
Where do you attend? Give your church a shout out and provide a web link if you like.
Also, Why do you attend there?
If you don’t attend, why not? (You responses are safe here..no criticism, just curiosity)
www.hopepark.com if you want to see more about the amazing place I attend.
What about me?
This is my page and my chance to share with you all the crap I dream up on a daily basis. Here are the simple facts that make up my existence..live in Nashville...avid Hockey fan (one step from face painting), father of a 6 year old (genius child- she takes after me..I mean my wife), husband (I'm pretty sure my wife would kick me out if she could figure out how), and "normal" Christian. What is normal you ask? You tell me. I think I know what normal is but then again, we all think we are the normal ones.
My Favorite Web Sites
Bored Again Christian
Hockey Buzz
Nashville Predators
June 17, 2009 at 2:14 pm
My home/sending church is Radiant Church in MI. Even though I haven’t been home in a while to attend, I still watch the video casts on Itunes. The pastor is a great teacher, the worship is good, and I love the people.
The congregation I attend here is a bit different. Considering there are only 4 believing congregations in the entire city where I live, my choices are slim. Location is a a factor, and the fact that I help out at the soup kitchen once a week pulls me to attend the Shabbat service as well. But, I must say that I do not feel obligated to go and say its my “home” congregation….it just is for the time being.
June 17, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I attend a small, “inter-denominational” fellowship called Christ Chapel. I mostly started attending because I “married” into the family. My husband is the Associate Pastor. I now am the Youth Minister/Youth Worship Leader.
I really love our small family. God’s taking us through some big changes. And it’s exciting to see what He’s doing through the youth group.
June 18, 2009 at 12:52 am
I attend a Presbyterian church in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada. My parents weren’t churchgoers but I was invited to a Presbyterian church during my teen years and I felt welcome and comfortable with the mode of worship there. I subsequently met my future husband through that church’s youth group. Before he went into the Presbyterian ministry we were already used to the worship and doctrine that we continued to appreciate throughout his years of service. Our current congregation has a vibrant music program, opportunities for participation by lay members, a level of informality that suits us, programs that provide personal study options and community service, etc. During vacations and other travels we’ve visited other churches and denominations and appreciated their distinctives, but have always been happy to return to a Presbyterian congregation.
Apart from those who deliberately choose a church based on denominational beliefs/doctrine and modes of worship, I suspect many people simply drift into a church out of community convenience or family habits and then stay because of comfort and familiarity.
June 18, 2009 at 1:27 am
i’m likely to be the odd man out here, a position i am not unused to
i don’t attend a church, but am still ‘growing’ in my Faith and ability to (hopefully faithfully) follow Christ , through an understanding of Scripture and ‘communion’ with my fellow man through so many differing sources (blogging being but one)
I have only ever attended one church more than twice – and that was a Gnostic Group! I left when it became obvious that the ‘leader’ was deciding to follow his own version of the True Teaching and doctrine over that of the rest of their Church. That was a warning sign to me.
Humans have personalities that are extremely hard to keep ‘in check’ (humility) – particularly when given a ‘taste’ of holding power over a group or organisation.
When a personality starts exerting it’s influence over others more than God’s influence does then it’s time to find a new ‘church’ – Cults and cult members please note!
NEVER rely upon another human being to tell YOU what God is saying to you – learn how to understand His word as Truth within your own spirit (not from your body)
i find that whenever i attend any church, my own understanding is ‘perverted’ into following more the way of ‘the church’ and the people close to me physically than the way of the Spirit within me.
Part of this undoubtedly stemmed from my own ‘lack of faith’ for the first 30 or so years of my life as i learned to follow my own understandings of science and the ‘real world’ while choosing to deny the existence of God.
Part of it though is the unwillingness to give my spirit over to the ‘control’ of another fallible human being who, however hard they might try, cannot ever perfectly express Jesus and God to me more than they themselves can.
i do appreciate that through His Spirit as it may be present in other people (ALL people) i am able to learn more about how He works in humans and so gain greater awareness of all that God is than i ever could on my own – i don’t advocate anyone becoming a Hermit – unless His Guidance leads them in that direction
<B
June 18, 2009 at 10:49 am
Very timely – for me anyway. When our Pastor (Henry Johnson – a terrific teacher) left for greener pastures his eventual replacement proved, over the course of only several weeks, to be subpar. I’m being incredibly kind with that description. We spent several months visiting various area churches & finally gave up. I think we were somehow looking for Henry’s clone so the quest ended in disappointment, though I’m sure our “standards” were totally unfair. I’m sad to say that this was in 1996. Prior to this, we always attended & participated. For years I led a monthly men’s group & my boys were involved in various activities. My wife & I discussed the topic of finding a church just this past weekend.
June 18, 2009 at 11:32 am
Reading some of the comments here prompts me to throw out a couple extra questions. Rather than just asking why someone attends the church they do, I’d like to ask why we attend church at all. If the first reason isn’t “to worship and praise God and grow in his knowledge and service” — if we’re primarily searching for music we enjoy, a preacher who stirs us, a “comfortable pew”– do you think maybe our priorities are out of whack?
And a question for “lovewillbringustogether”: using the analogy of being on fire in our faith, when you pull apart a bonfire… isolate the burning logs… they eventually flicker out. How is faith any different? In order to grow don’t we need the stimulation of Christian fellowship, learning from those more knowledgeable than we are, opportunities to debate, question and share? Is it really possible to retain the vibrancy of faith in isolation?
June 18, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I guess where I was going is…why did you pick the church you picked?
I know why I go where I go but it has always interested me in what draws people into where they attend when the places can be so different.
June 19, 2009 at 1:56 am
I don’t imagine you expected quite as much feedback as you’re getting on this but it’s a worthy subject!
I think I explained earlier how I ended up in the church I did, but at that time the reason why I chose to stay in the denomination was because it had a clear definition of what they believe(d) without the frills of meaningless ritual or rules. They had a creed that made sense to me. So, although I’ve moved around a lot, I’ve usually sought out a Presbyterian congregation in each location. My only criteria was that “I would see Jesus”. Not every congregation was a totally comfortable fit but wherever I’ve attended I’ve always felt God’s presence and that was all that really mattered to me. I hope that answers your question.
June 19, 2009 at 6:31 am
Sometimes it is 1 or 2 and sometimes 30 or 40…hey I love all the dialog…don’t think you are offending anyone here
June 18, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Carol – thank you for your question.
Did you miss the part where i mentioned about being a hermit – living in isolation from others? To recap – i don’t recommend it unless He does for you!
i can assure you – i am in no way ‘isolated’ from Faith – from the Spirit of God – He is EVERYWHERE i look, everywhere i am or go to or in people i meet, both in person and in cyberspace – a log out of the fire of worship??
How limiting is such a view of worship.
How can my fire – my faith – ever flicker, grow cold and die when i am aware of His presence permanently within me – being constantly refreshed by Him who is always with me??
i consider the analogy a very poor one indeed since Faith does not exist only in a ‘group’ – certainly it has never seemed so to me. i get my ‘heat’ from Him, not from the ‘flowery’ combustion of others.
For one example – a fellow blogger, EdfromCT, is a confirmed atheist, he denies the existence of God ( for him personally but is happy to let others have their Faith as they will). i am finding that my conversations with him are currently one of my STRONGEST sources of my Faith – answering his questions and considering his ‘position’ is causing me to learn much more about my own Faith and what makes it (and me) what i am (through Him).
God is where you look for him – i choose to look ‘outside’ a church building/group.
i hope you are not like some christians i know of who seem to think God lives only in ‘His House’ and they get to meet Him there every Sunday then don’t find (or look for) him the other 6 days of the week???
(my background is a Non-US one – i have been more ‘affected’ by a UK styled set of churches. There the ‘House of God’ has a long history of seeming more like a house of hypocrites. The particular case of a certain catholic Bishop (in Chicago in the late 90’si believe?) does not exactly inspire me that all churches in America are all that much better, although i fully accept that the vast majority of them may indeed be trying to follow Christ in a better way than the Bishop’s did.?)
i think i am mostly affected by my perception of a ‘house’ of God, where i should assemble with others to ‘worship’ and follow all the ritual and dogma and personality of the churches leaders as much as, if not more than, listening to the Spirit, by Christ’s example He set for us – He never built a house for His Father where people would come to hear Him speak, He did not even stay in one place to share His Message – so why should i attend such a place to come to Him?
<B
June 19, 2009 at 1:34 am
I had hoped to encourage more dialogue with my questions. I didn’t expect to offend but obviously I did. I apologize for provoking such defensiveness but thank you for your forthright comments.
It’s a shame you’ve experienced so many negatives in your association with the “traditional churches” (for lack of a better description). There are bad apples in all of society and church communities aren’t exempt, but it’s hardly fair to condemn the whole institution because of a few bad encounters.
I would never suggest your pursuit of Christian faith and knowledge beyond a church building isn’t valid. For me, however, there is enrichment of the faith experience by my inclusion in a group worship and learning situation. The preacher doesn’t tell me what to believe or how to worship, but inspires me to seek an ever closer relationship with God. I feel renewed and strengthened by that and I continue to be aware of God’s presence throughout the rest of the week. Although most people seem to interpret the word “church” to mean a building, to me it means a group of people gathered together *anywhere* for worship and witness. So we certainly agree on that. Our methods may differ but it would seem that the end result is similar. And I’m sure the “love that will draw us together” comes from the same source.
June 19, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Carol – i understand your position and you have no need to feel you have personally offended me. i know i can be extremely forthright when expressing my view on my Faith and i make no apologies for that, but do realise it might not come across all that well to others sometimes – but that is just me: love me or leave me
While you (and by no means only you) may feel it is a shame i have experienced the negatives in my personal contact with Christian ‘religion’/churches – i consider it a blessing. I do not believe i would have the kind of faith i have now had i found a church group i could ‘tolerate’ ( you’d have to understand my personality to understand why – i have had my personality for 50 years now and even i don’t understand it fully yet ! )
it is not just a few bad examples – i have NEVER found a church that made me feel at all ‘comfortable’ – where i ‘belonged’. Mostly they give me the creeps. Some have been like dead mausoleums – sepulchres to an ancient deity, while some have some weird kind of synthetic ‘new life’ with unco-ordinated, unnatural colours and music that is just a little too OTT (over the top).
So not how i want my connection to Him to feel like. i always get a feeling of the ‘mob mentality’ in the ‘worship’ settings i have attended.
Although i am not a Muslim i do agree with the followers of Sunni Islam who believe that they can communicate directly with God and Scripture and do not have any need of a human intercessor (priest/mullah) on their behalf to explain what God is trying to say to them, personally.
While Saddam Hussein was a leader of Sunni Muslims, politically (and also a former American Ally against Iran) i believe it is the current ruling Muslim class in Iraq – the Shi’ites – who are largely responsible, through imam’s and mullahs, for teaching their followers to die in the name of ‘holy’ jihad’ against the western ‘devil’.
i am not a great fan of that form of perversion of faith. do as i ( a human , but claiming God’s Authority) say, not as i do.
i find it in no way is limited to Shi’ite Islam. or any single ‘religion’ where groups congregate under one leader.
Of course, not all such groups (indeed, not even any such group) ONLY perverts faith into evil acts, but for me sufficient ‘corruption’ exists within the basic ’structure’ for me to want to avoid them in general. But that is probably mostly just me again.
i would strongly agree that there IS only One source for that kind of love you and i are referring to.
There are, of course, many different ways of seeing the One thing, though. (many ‘perspectives’, many facets, as of a diamond).
<B
I like to commune with Him through the beauty of His environment – in our non-winter months i can sit on my garden swing seat and just soak Him up inside. That fills my spirit – with awe, reverance and Joy.
What more do i need?
June 19, 2009 at 6:09 am
C3 Central City (http://www.centralcity.org.au/)
I really wonder if we don’t choose our churches ourselves but if it’s God who plants us…no matter how many churches I visit when I travel or to catch guest speakers, the only place that feels like ‘home’ is my own church…do you know what I mean?
It’s not just our pastor, who is amazing, but the whole congregation, leadership, volunteers – it’s family. Sure, the church suits my personality and I love the music and preaching style – but I never went church ’shopping’ – in fact, when I walked in years ago, I was a staunch atheist so I had nothing to compare it to (other than the Catholicism of my childhood).
Do you think we choose our church or God plants us in a body of believers for a time in a very specific way?
June 19, 2009 at 8:09 am
I attend First Baptist in Hendersonville, not too far up the road from you – http://firstbaptisthendersonville.com/ I moved to TN from TX 13 years ago and had visited a nondenominational church in Donelson for awhile, but then a friend from work (who attends Two Rivers) suggested First Baptist – it took exactly 1 Sunday Night sermon for me to realize that this was where I was supposed to be – great Bible teaching is my main criteria and Bro. Glenn Weekley had it in spades. He has since passed away, but in the intervening years I have also found my place of service there. Right now we have an interim pastor who is also a strong Bible teacher http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/ It is a large church, but the sense of family is very strong because of the focus on small groups or Sunday School classes.
June 19, 2009 at 9:01 am
Awesome..thanks for sharing. I have been by the church many times when traveling to schools…
Do you have a blog as well?