The Search for Church
So far I've had a chance to visit two churches here in St. Lucia. The first was the Chinese Christian Church Brisbane (CCCB) located at about a 10 minute walk from my place. It was a fairly small church that reminded me a lot of my old church, Evangel Alliance. The second was Unichurch. They meet in a primary school gymnasium that's also about a 10 minute walk from my house. I've been to both their morning and evening services.
I'm very confused as to how exactly I'm supposed to go about finding a church. I've always just gone to whatever church my family went to and I've been fine with that. Should I be attending a church that best fits my needs? Is that the purpose of church? Or should I be looking for one that I can be of service to as part of the body of Christ? It almost feels like I'm "church shopping" where I look for the sale prices and try to get the best bang for my buck. What I ended up doing was go through a mental checklist for each service:
1. Hospitality/Welcoming
The pastor at CCCB, Steve Nation, was the only one who approached my friend and I prior to the start of the service. He immediately recognized that we were new and made a point to introduce himself and welcome us to the church. He took some time to talk to us before and after and was just super friendly. His wife, Keiyeng, was also very nice and actually gave my friend and I a ride back to my place after the service. Only one other lady introduced herself and proceeded to bring me over to meet her daughter, who happened to just graduate from University and was working. Sadly, I don't remember either of their names.
At Unichurch, there were a few people who were super friendly and welcoming. Everyone there had name tags so it was really easy for me to meet people and remember them. Plus, it was easy for people to notice that I was new because my name tag was handwritten in black sharpie marker. Nobody gave me a ride home but there were plenty of people who introduced themselves to me.
2. Music
Music is a huge passion of mine and I absolutely love worshiping God through it. But so far I've found it difficult to really get engaged through the music at both churches. As I said before, CCCB is a small church that reminds me of my old church. I actively served in the music ministry and I know personally how hard it is to work with limited resources. I didn't know any of the songs and the style was more on the conservative side (nothing wrong with hymns).
Unichurch seems alright. The morning service I went to I didn't know any of the songs they sang. It was a simple setup including two acoustic guitars (that complemented each other beautifully...one was a 12 string), electric bass, upright piano, and a flute. The evening service I went to last week had an acoustic guitar, drums, piano and saxophone. The only song I knew was "In Christ Alone".
I guess in my mind I wanted to find a church that sang songs by David Crowder, Israel Houghton or Starfield. I wonder if it's wrong for me to desire to worship God with a certain type of music in mind?
3. Teaching/Preaching
Probably the strongest attributes of both churches I went to. Pastor Steve at the CCCB was one of the first people to shake my hand when I walked through the door. He was all smiles and super outgoing. It wasn't the fake front that I often see in people either. He'd ask me something and when I explained he appeared genuinely interested in what I had to say. His wife, Keiyeng, was equally hospitable. I went with a classmate of mine who wasn't completely committed on Christianity yet. Keiyeng spoke to her for a while after the service and ended up giving her 3 books to keep. One was Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. After some snacks and tea, she then drove us both home so we didn't have to walk home in the 40ºC weather.
As for the sermon, it was good as well. He was just starting a series on Proverbs and how they apply to our daily lives. He gave everyone a list of readings from Proverbs that provide us wisdom for living. It included themes like the power of words, justice, politics, sexuality, parents and children, alcohol, friendship and money.
The first Sunday at Unichurch, their senior pastor wasn't speaking. Instead it was one of the ministry trainees, Pete Kutuzov. He gave a sermon on how God guides us. He spoke of how it can be unwise to seek guidance solely from things like circumstances, opportunities and emotions. Apart from God, these can be misleading. We must test everything with scripture. Plus we know from scripture that he wants us to be holy & blameless (Eph 1:4-5), do good works (Eph 2:10), be sanctified (1 Thess 4:3) and to love God and others (Mark 12:28-31).
I had a chance to talk to Pete the following week. Apparently, the path to full time ministry down under is a bit different. They spend two years working as a ministry trainee at one of the churches. During this time they have a chance to serve in various capacities in the church - preaching, leading songs, doing prayer and leading bible studies. Then they can decide if full time ministry is something that they really want to do before they dive into seminary. Hopefully, by gaining some valuable experience beforehand, they know for sure that full time ministry is what they want to do. Some of the ministry trainees end up moving on to other vocations as they realize that full time ministry just isn't for them. Instead, they continue to serve in other capacities.
This past Sunday, their Senior Pastor started a 3 week series on Titus. We covered the requirements of godly leaders in chapter 1. There were a couple of interesting points that stuck in my mind. One was that he emphasized that elders should be appointed and not voted in. Paul instructed Titus to go around Crete and appoint elders in all of the churches. Another was how women should not be in a position of leadership within the church.
4. Young Adults
There were a lot more people that appeared to be around my age at the evening service at Unichurch. Both churches told me that their numbers are much lower than usual since it is the summer holidays and many people (students especially) are away. Everyone I met seemed pretty nice but we never got past talking about things like how I'm from Canadia and the weather.
5. Miscellaneous
Both services were much longer than I was used to. The services went over 90 minutes I think. What made it longer was the fact that they had a small proportion of their worship time spent singing and a large amount of the time sitting and listening to the sermon. At Unichurch they only sing 3 songs total (1 before and 2 after) so the sermon was at least one hour long. At CCCB they had maybe 4-5 songs but that's only about 20 minutes out of 90.
One thing I liked about Unichurch is that they have a Q&A session after the sermon. The pastor gives the congregation a chance to ask him any questions they might have on what he spoke about. This is something that I've never seen before and I think is a good thing. It gives people a chance to clarify things and also shows that the pastor is open and willing to be challenged as to what he's teaching. I think it's good that if we don't think that he said something right, we are free to ask him about it.
So what's the final consensus? Well, I think I need to evaluate the purpose of church. It's not simply a building to visit once a week to ease my conscience. The singing, scripture reading, prayer and studying the bible can all be done outside of a church setting (and probably should too). But one word that comes to mind as I sit here in my room is fellowship.
I often say on a Friday night that I'm going to fellowship. But am I using the word correctly? In the bible, the greek translation is koinonia. This word is found in the KJV 20 times and they are all in the New Testament following the day of Pentecost. Significance? Probably relates to our spiritual relationship to God through the Holy Spirit. Bob Gillam outlines seven facts regarding fellowship. From these, he comes up with a biblical definition of fellowship:
"Fellowship is a relationship of inner unity among believers that expresses itself in outer co-participation with Christ and one another in accomplishing God’s will on earth."
God's will is an important aspect of fellowship - it does not stem from just any activity involving a group of believers. Ephesians 3:10 states that the church has an integral part to play in God's eternal plan. That part is to proclaim the glory of God to the world. As a Christian, there is no way that I can accomplish this by myself. As Bob Gillam put it, God's plan is more like a beautiful symphony of Godly capacities rather than a solo. The difference is that instead of musical instruments, we have varying spiritual gifts.
So this brings me back to the question: what are my spiritual gifts? After all these years I'm still not sure. Even after spending some time with friends in some intense study and discussion of spiritual gifts and some of the controversies behind certain gifts, I'm still not sure which ones I have. But does that mean I should be going around looking for the church that needs the most help or that has opportunities for me to serve?
To be continued...
I'm very confused as to how exactly I'm supposed to go about finding a church. I've always just gone to whatever church my family went to and I've been fine with that. Should I be attending a church that best fits my needs? Is that the purpose of church? Or should I be looking for one that I can be of service to as part of the body of Christ? It almost feels like I'm "church shopping" where I look for the sale prices and try to get the best bang for my buck. What I ended up doing was go through a mental checklist for each service:
1. Hospitality/Welcoming
The pastor at CCCB, Steve Nation, was the only one who approached my friend and I prior to the start of the service. He immediately recognized that we were new and made a point to introduce himself and welcome us to the church. He took some time to talk to us before and after and was just super friendly. His wife, Keiyeng, was also very nice and actually gave my friend and I a ride back to my place after the service. Only one other lady introduced herself and proceeded to bring me over to meet her daughter, who happened to just graduate from University and was working. Sadly, I don't remember either of their names.
At Unichurch, there were a few people who were super friendly and welcoming. Everyone there had name tags so it was really easy for me to meet people and remember them. Plus, it was easy for people to notice that I was new because my name tag was handwritten in black sharpie marker. Nobody gave me a ride home but there were plenty of people who introduced themselves to me.
2. Music
Music is a huge passion of mine and I absolutely love worshiping God through it. But so far I've found it difficult to really get engaged through the music at both churches. As I said before, CCCB is a small church that reminds me of my old church. I actively served in the music ministry and I know personally how hard it is to work with limited resources. I didn't know any of the songs and the style was more on the conservative side (nothing wrong with hymns).
Unichurch seems alright. The morning service I went to I didn't know any of the songs they sang. It was a simple setup including two acoustic guitars (that complemented each other beautifully...one was a 12 string), electric bass, upright piano, and a flute. The evening service I went to last week had an acoustic guitar, drums, piano and saxophone. The only song I knew was "In Christ Alone".
I guess in my mind I wanted to find a church that sang songs by David Crowder, Israel Houghton or Starfield. I wonder if it's wrong for me to desire to worship God with a certain type of music in mind?
3. Teaching/Preaching
Probably the strongest attributes of both churches I went to. Pastor Steve at the CCCB was one of the first people to shake my hand when I walked through the door. He was all smiles and super outgoing. It wasn't the fake front that I often see in people either. He'd ask me something and when I explained he appeared genuinely interested in what I had to say. His wife, Keiyeng, was equally hospitable. I went with a classmate of mine who wasn't completely committed on Christianity yet. Keiyeng spoke to her for a while after the service and ended up giving her 3 books to keep. One was Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. After some snacks and tea, she then drove us both home so we didn't have to walk home in the 40ºC weather.
As for the sermon, it was good as well. He was just starting a series on Proverbs and how they apply to our daily lives. He gave everyone a list of readings from Proverbs that provide us wisdom for living. It included themes like the power of words, justice, politics, sexuality, parents and children, alcohol, friendship and money.
The first Sunday at Unichurch, their senior pastor wasn't speaking. Instead it was one of the ministry trainees, Pete Kutuzov. He gave a sermon on how God guides us. He spoke of how it can be unwise to seek guidance solely from things like circumstances, opportunities and emotions. Apart from God, these can be misleading. We must test everything with scripture. Plus we know from scripture that he wants us to be holy & blameless (Eph 1:4-5), do good works (Eph 2:10), be sanctified (1 Thess 4:3) and to love God and others (Mark 12:28-31).
I had a chance to talk to Pete the following week. Apparently, the path to full time ministry down under is a bit different. They spend two years working as a ministry trainee at one of the churches. During this time they have a chance to serve in various capacities in the church - preaching, leading songs, doing prayer and leading bible studies. Then they can decide if full time ministry is something that they really want to do before they dive into seminary. Hopefully, by gaining some valuable experience beforehand, they know for sure that full time ministry is what they want to do. Some of the ministry trainees end up moving on to other vocations as they realize that full time ministry just isn't for them. Instead, they continue to serve in other capacities.
This past Sunday, their Senior Pastor started a 3 week series on Titus. We covered the requirements of godly leaders in chapter 1. There were a couple of interesting points that stuck in my mind. One was that he emphasized that elders should be appointed and not voted in. Paul instructed Titus to go around Crete and appoint elders in all of the churches. Another was how women should not be in a position of leadership within the church.
4. Young Adults
There were a lot more people that appeared to be around my age at the evening service at Unichurch. Both churches told me that their numbers are much lower than usual since it is the summer holidays and many people (students especially) are away. Everyone I met seemed pretty nice but we never got past talking about things like how I'm from Canadia and the weather.
5. Miscellaneous
Both services were much longer than I was used to. The services went over 90 minutes I think. What made it longer was the fact that they had a small proportion of their worship time spent singing and a large amount of the time sitting and listening to the sermon. At Unichurch they only sing 3 songs total (1 before and 2 after) so the sermon was at least one hour long. At CCCB they had maybe 4-5 songs but that's only about 20 minutes out of 90.
One thing I liked about Unichurch is that they have a Q&A session after the sermon. The pastor gives the congregation a chance to ask him any questions they might have on what he spoke about. This is something that I've never seen before and I think is a good thing. It gives people a chance to clarify things and also shows that the pastor is open and willing to be challenged as to what he's teaching. I think it's good that if we don't think that he said something right, we are free to ask him about it.
So what's the final consensus? Well, I think I need to evaluate the purpose of church. It's not simply a building to visit once a week to ease my conscience. The singing, scripture reading, prayer and studying the bible can all be done outside of a church setting (and probably should too). But one word that comes to mind as I sit here in my room is fellowship.
I often say on a Friday night that I'm going to fellowship. But am I using the word correctly? In the bible, the greek translation is koinonia. This word is found in the KJV 20 times and they are all in the New Testament following the day of Pentecost. Significance? Probably relates to our spiritual relationship to God through the Holy Spirit. Bob Gillam outlines seven facts regarding fellowship. From these, he comes up with a biblical definition of fellowship:
"Fellowship is a relationship of inner unity among believers that expresses itself in outer co-participation with Christ and one another in accomplishing God’s will on earth."
God's will is an important aspect of fellowship - it does not stem from just any activity involving a group of believers. Ephesians 3:10 states that the church has an integral part to play in God's eternal plan. That part is to proclaim the glory of God to the world. As a Christian, there is no way that I can accomplish this by myself. As Bob Gillam put it, God's plan is more like a beautiful symphony of Godly capacities rather than a solo. The difference is that instead of musical instruments, we have varying spiritual gifts.
So this brings me back to the question: what are my spiritual gifts? After all these years I'm still not sure. Even after spending some time with friends in some intense study and discussion of spiritual gifts and some of the controversies behind certain gifts, I'm still not sure which ones I have. But does that mean I should be going around looking for the church that needs the most help or that has opportunities for me to serve?
To be continued...
Labels: Personal Reflection
posted by Matt at 4:07 AM
2 Comments:
Yet another question to consider: what are the churches are doing in the community? Are they completely focused within themselves or do they have outreach (both Christian and social justice)? How big a part does that play in the church?
I had been thinking I needed to see what you were up to and somehow I stumble onto your blog a few days later. Crazy.
Finding the right church is definitely a hard thing to do, because I don't think there is a definite formula of what makes a good church or a bad church. What works for one person, might not work for another. I'd also recommend looking for a church where you can get involved. Great opportunity to give something and use yoru giftings.
I lost your email address so if you could fire it off to me it would be great to catch up. mwenaas@gmail.com
Later...
The other Matt W
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