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<\/a><\/p>\nI\u2019ve always been told and thought that \u201cchurch shopping\u201d is bad. But why? Yes, okay, it\u2019s bad if<\/em> it\u2019s rooted in a consumerist mindset that says \u201cI\u2019m looking for a church in the same way I look for a good nail spa or gym. I want the one (church, spa, gym, whatever) that serves me and my needs and doesn\u2019t cost very much.\u201d Unfortunately, I\u2019m sure there are people who shop for a church with that mindset.<\/p>\n However, I want to suggest that is not the only mindset for church shopping.<\/p>\n What is one to do when he or she moves to a new town or city and wants, needs, to find a new church home? This is becoming my situation and it has happened before. I have moved to new cities several times and needed to find a church to attend and potentially join.<\/p>\n *Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the \u201cNote to commenters\u201d at its end.*<\/em><\/p>\n Let me clear away some underbrush, questions and qualms and objection that I can already anticipate because of the diversity of my blog readers. First, I\u2019m not Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic or \u2026. Some Christians have the alleged advantage of belonging to a denomination to which they are absolutely loyal for whatever reason and will not even consider looking at any church not of that denomination. Even then, however, they may find that in their new location there are several congregations, parishes, whatever, of that denomination and they must choose one. (It was expected that Catholics attend the closest Catholic church to where they live, but that is no longer the case. Many Catholics cross town and pass several Catholic churches to attend one they like.)<\/p>\n These days, many people do church shop and I am finding that necessary. One reason is that in my new location, to which I will move in the near future, there is no church of my denomination. I\u2019m Baptist and belong to a particular Baptist group that has no congregation there.<\/p>\n So what have I done and am doing?<\/p>\n First, I look at similar churches<\/em>. Similar in terms of tradition, roots, beliefs, etc.<\/em> In my particular case that has not worked out well. There are no churches similar to the ones I have attended for the past approximately thirty-five years\u2014within driving distance of where I will live in retirement. (I am willing to drive a long distance to a church but my wife is not; she understandably want to belong to a church we can become involved in more than just attending Sunday morning worship.)<\/p>\n Second, I look for a vibrant, Christ-centered, broadly evangelical church where I sense the presence of the Holy Spirit and the people love one another<\/em>.<\/p>\n Third, I look for a church were the stated doctrines are biblically sound and broadly orthodox and neither \u201cliberal\u201d nor \u201cfundamentalist.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Fourth, I look for a church with warm and enthusiastic worship that invites participation by the congregation and its not merely a performance by a worship band<\/em>.<\/p>\n Fifth, I look for a church with pretty good preaching, where the sermons are biblically based and coherent, comforting and convicting, thoughtful and relevant to real life<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sixth, I look for a church that is as diverse as its neighborhood<\/em>.<\/p>\n Seventh, I look for a church that is concerned with social justice as well as evangelism<\/em>.<\/p>\n Eighth, I look for a church that is welcoming of newcomers, friendly, not closed in on itself like a \u201cclique.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Ninth, I look for a church that is not caught up in politics or nationalism<\/em>.<\/p>\n Tenth, I look for a church that is focused on God, Jesus Christ, salvation, discipleship and spiritual depth and has some mechanism for church discipline of members who stray too far from holiness of life and doctrinal truth<\/em>.<\/p>\n I\/we have not confined ourselves to any denomination or Protestant tradition in our church search. (As I will mention below there are some Protestant denominations and traditions that are not options for us.)<\/p>\n During this COVID pandemic, shopping for a church has been challenging. Before the pandemic broke out about a year ago (February-March, 2020) we visited many churches in the city where we will retire. During the last year I have examined many churches\u2019 web sites and watched their services online and even communicated with their pastors.<\/p>\n Here is a report on our experiences\u2014before the pandemic when we could visit churches \u201cin person\u201d (we are both vulnerable older adults and have been advised by our doctors not to enter any buildings except to shop for necessary things) and after it began.<\/p>\n The locale within which we are searching for a church (as described above) is very large. The suburb where we will live has about 350 thousand residents. The metropolitan area to which the suburb is attached has about 2.5 million residents. So there are many churches to choose from even though it is not a place \u201cfull of churches\u201d as in most Southern U.S. cities.<\/p>\n With only one exception, the preaching has been extremely disappointing. It was and is difficult to tell if the preacher even prepared or gave serious thought to what he or she would say in the pulpit. I could tell horror stories about some of the sermons we have heard\u2014from sermons about the church\u2019s building program to sermons about the Dead Sea Scrolls to sermons about the twelve steps of recovery programs to sermons about Moses\u2019s wife circumcising their baby boy and throwing the foreskin on Moses\u2019s feet to sermons about making friends with no mention of Jesus Christ, Christianity, salvation, evangelism or helping people.<\/p>\n With only one exception the worship was \u201cperformed\u201d by a worship band with very little or no participation by the congregation. The songs sung were clearly written for performance, not congregational singing. And most of them were extremely shallow with repetitious lyrics.<\/p>\n With only one or two exceptions we, as visitors, were not welcomed or greeted or even noticed as visitors. That is, except during the \u201cgreeting time\u201d during the worship service. But those greetings did not acknowledge us as first-time visitors. During the pandemic I have communicated with many pastors by email and most of the responses have been much less than enthusiastic to the point of almost suggesting I\/we do not visit the church. I know that\u2019s hard to believe, but in those emails I do ask questions and, of course, am usually known to the pastor by some kind of reputation that precedes me.<\/p>\n All of the churches we visited were either bursting at the seams with attendance or<\/em> obviously dying. The ones with impressive attendance were all extremely shallow in both worship and preaching; the dying ones had very unenthusiastic worship, incoherent sermons, a generally dour atmosphere with no hint of vitality.<\/p>\n Now, here is what I can easily predict about your responses. You will say I have too high expectations and am being unrealistic about churches. I don\u2019t think so because I have \u201cchurch shopped\u201d before without encountering these problems. And I am not looking for perfection but signs of vitality and depth.<\/p>\n I\/we will keep looking but we are running out of options.<\/p>\n I should be honest and admit that there are certain denominations whose churches I will not even consider. My wife agrees completely. Among them are: Southern Baptist (fundamentalist, complementarian, usually nationalistic), Churches of Christ, strongly Reformed-Calvinist churches, traditional Lutheran and Episcopalian churches, and Pentecostal-charismatic churches that lean into the prosperity gospel of health and wealth. But we have visited and I have looked into churches of many different denominations.<\/p>\n What conclusion can I draw about this sad situation? Put simply and bluntly, church life in America is in trouble. I now have greater sympathy for friends and acquaintances who have simply given up and stopped attending church.<\/p>\n Now, I want to end this by saying there are several churches I\/we will return to and give to them a \u201csecond chance.\u201d Also, I still have a short list of churches we have yet to visit\u2014in spite of some real concerns raised by what I have seen on their web sites. Finally, in the end, we will find and join a church even if it falls short of my expectations.<\/p>\n I am not looking for a perfect church and I do not want to read the clich\u00e9 \u201cIf you find the perfect church, don\u2019t join it because then it won\u2019t be perfect anymore.\u201d I really don\u2019t appreciate cliches here.<\/p>\n What are your experiences with church shopping (if any)? Please keep your stories as brief as possible.<\/p>\n *Note to commenters:<\/em> This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives\/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and \u201con topic.\u201d Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger\u2019s (or guest writers\u2019) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Church Shopping I\u2019ve always been told and thought that \u201cchurch shopping\u201d is bad. But why? Yes, okay, it\u2019s bad if it\u2019s rooted in a consumerist mindset that says \u201cI\u2019m looking for a church in the same way I look for a good nail spa or gym. I want the one (church, spa, gym, whatever) that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n