Flavor of the Week

There is no perfect church.

Churches are filled with imperfect sinners like me who thankfully have been redeemed by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. With that mentality I am going in looking for a church, which is as much a blessing in disguise as it is a frustrating process.

In my recent quest I have been able to really take a unique look at the different methods, functionality, and doctrines that exist in some of the church branches. It has really helped me step out and open my eyes to the bigger picture of what comprises Christian churches in the United States. It has also been a very frustrating process because I feel like I am forced to compromise either on method or doctrine which I’ll explain better later, but I am trying to find a balance where my family can serve, worship, and be equipped.

I can see how people who don't believe in Christ could become completely confused about why there are so many churches and so many different denominations. It is not uncommon in Wichita to have 5-10 churches within a one mile radius of each other. It’s almost as bad as Starbucks in Seattle. It’s the Bible belt at it’s best, only in Wichita it seems extra notches have been cut into it at the end to try and fit everyone in. From the outside looking in one has to step back and wonder why so many churches exist and laugh at the absurdity of it all. The American Religious Identification Survey for 2008 shows a breakdown of some of the denominations Americans claim and I have included some of them here:
Religious Tradition...........Estimate.............. Percentage
Catholic............................ 57,199,000................. 25.1%
Baptist..............................36,148,000................. 15.8%
Christian Unspecified............16,834,000.................. 7.4%
Methodist.........................11,366,000................. 5.0%
Lutheran........................... 8,674,000................. 3.8%
Non-Denom. Christian.......... 8,032,000.................. 3.5%
Pentecostal....................... 7,948,000.................. 3.5%
Presbyterian.................... 4,723,000.................. 2.1%
Espiscopalian/Anglican........ 2,405,000.....................1.1%
None/No Religion............ 34,189,000................. 15%

Interesting eh? I don’t include this as a popularity contest so you can find your affiliation and compare yourself to others, but I wanted to show you how Americans align themselves. See here for more interesting demographic information in the 2008 ARIS survey: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/documents/aris030609.pdf?sid=ST2009030900856

Each of these traditions varies widely in doctrine and method. In my search of what the church, the bride of Christ, should look like and be, I often wonder to myself and to God about how we came to so many different views when we have one Lord and Maker of all things, who has the same purpose for everyone. Why so much confusion on Truth and the way we are supposed to relate to God and others? I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, for even when the New Testament church began in the first century there existed many divides, doctrinal issues, and different methods for having church. The Jews wanted to make the Gentiles follow the Law, the Gnostics sought to distort the gospel with false teaching, and each church had their own cultural nuances with which to address. God says we will find Him if we seek Him with all our heart. As believers in Christ, we all have one Spirit who works in us, and we have answers provided to us in His written Word.
I firmly believe that the Bible was written by men who were inspired by God through the Holy Spirit and that it has survived many generations to provide us with Truth. This includes truth of how a church is to function. If one follows scripture as their source for what to believe and how to relate to God and to their neighbor, then there is an objective truth that is not a matter of personal opinion or traditions set up by men. If you look at the divides between the churches in America, it is based on interpretations of scripture, by traditions of men, and in all honesty by personal preference. How to worship, church leadership, gifts of the Spirit, communion, baptism, eternal security, predestination, evangelism, the list could go on and on.

As I have gone in search of a church, I weigh all of these things, and try and test them against my understanding of scripture. To be fair, when reading my insight on churches you should probably know my background so you can fit me in your box and categorize me. I don’t blame you, it’s what I first do too when I find out someone is a believer in Christ. Usually the first question is “where do you go to church?” It helps you to know where they are coming from, and maybe even a little satisfaction of prideful superiority for those intellectuals who know the doctrinal differences between that church and their own beliefs and why they are right or wrong. (My second question usually is, “Do you know the difference between chopped beef and pea soup?” …….. everyone can chop beef, but not everyone can pea soup…..)

I grew up in a Southern Baptist church from age 0 to 14. I am very familiar with terms like revival, backyard bible school, potluck and hymnals. I put my faith in Christ at age 6, and grew up in church listening to bible stories and How Great Thou Art. At age 14 when I was in 8th grade my parents moved churches to an independent Baptist church. I attended through high school there and attribute much of my spiritual growth to that church and the youth group. In college I attended a Christian church, and was deeply involved in a campus group called Christian Campus Fellowship. While it was backed by the Christian church denomination, it was attended by students from widely different church backgrounds. Graduating and moving to Wichita I found my wife playing church volleyball at a large independent Baptist church, and have since in the last four years transitioned from that to a bible study, to a non-denominational church of about 20-30, to a home church of 15 or so, to a medium sized non-denominational community church, to searching for a new church.

I have visited Evangelical Free churches, Baptist churches, Community Churches, Calvary Bible Churches, and non-denominational churches in the 4 years I have been in Wichita. There are doctrinal reasons I have mainly stuck to these which I won’t go into but would be happy to share if asked. The purpose of this blog is to share my experience of the churches I have already attended and will attend in the future as I search for ekklesia, and to hash out what a church should be. I value and want feedback, thoughts, and slaps upside the head when I need it as I share my own thoughts.

May God grant me wisdom, discernment, and most of all a reminder to love God and others, especially His Bride.

Ekklesia

The Greek term ekklesia (ἐκκλησία), literally means a "gathering, selection, or assembly". In the Old Testament, the word ekklesia is employed 96 times to denote the congregation convoked by God, the Children of Israel. The first Christians consciously applied that term to themselves, mostly to emphasize that the Church is the community of those convoked by God and the elected ones.
The word "church" is used as the translation for the 114 occurrences of the term ekklesia in the New Testament. In the New Testament, ekklesia is used to refer either to disciples of a single locality (1 Corinthians 1:2), or to the entire body of believers in Christ (Matthew 16:18).


I'm in search of a local church body, and this is a blog of my journey.