Search for Comfort

Frequently over the past several years, I have met many people that are searching for new churches for many reasons. Generally speaking, the process seems to take a long time to complete. I suggest that our search for the church that God wants us to join is sometimes a search for comfort.

How long does it take us to find a new job, to find a girlfriend/boyfriend, to buy a new house? Is finding a church really that difficult in comparison?

Finding a church is a spiritual matter so it's easy to chalk up our lack of church attendance or indecisiveness to God's vague plans. More often than not, though, people tell me that they're concerned about the social aspects of any prospective church. Too many people, some unfriendly people, too small and too close-knit, etc. I'm not suggesting that these things should not factor into our decision but what did we expect? If we join a new job, move to a new house or join a new extracurricular activity, it will always be somewhat uncomfortable. (Unless you're Tara and you excel at meeting new people.)

A similar problem can arise when a new service is introduced at your church. At Open Door, I know that some people go to the regular Sunday morning service and to the new Saturday evening service in an effort to stay connected with everything. Similar difficulties exist at GTA, which has four weekend services during the school year. If you go to the wrong service, you'll miss all your friends, right?

Granted, I'm coming from a background in which my longest term at any one church was about six years. I've moved to new cities, schools and churches fairly regular throughout my childhood. Hence my catchphrase, "Churches come and churches go." I'm extremely committed and involved in any church I join but hey, if God or life circumstances call me away then that's fine by me and I'll deal with it. (Self-analysis: Perhaps I create an intentional wall to defend my sweet self from pain...Nah.) At one point, it did take me about three months to formally decide on a new church when I left LGT and joined FCCC. I don't doubt that God's timing should and does prevail.

Even so, what are the most important things for us to find? As I discussed with one guy last year, no church is perfect and our goal should not be to find one. Some minor theology might be a little weird, the location might be inconveniant, the music might be only adequate, the pastor might not be the best preacher, etc. It seems to me that finding a place to submit to leadership and contribute in ministry are the two main keys. Is our primary goal to receive something from the church, whether that means teaching, child care or friendships? Or are we the church, looking for people to love and to whom we can minister?

Is our comfort most important? Is the format and environment that crucial? Or should we look at the purpose behind our lives and our search for a church? Pauls says that "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." (1 Corinthians 9:22) How we minister and how the church works should be secondary to the crucial goal of reaching people, as individuals and as a church.