How does one go about finding the right church? I’ve been given the impression that you can break down the church into 3 main aspects: worship, Sunday school, and small groups. So how do we define each of these categories?
Worship - worthiness, respect, and reverence paid to a divine being
I look to Sunday morning worship to be inspired and drawn closer to God. It is the time when we can adore and praise Him for being a real and personal God.
Sunday school - the church organized to reach people for Christ and to teach the Bible for transformed living.
I think Sunday school is a great forum for people to learn in depth teaching from the Bible. It provides a means to reflect on what is important in living out a life for God. I feel we should get challenged in Sunday school and held accountable to our commitments to God.
Small / Home group - consists of 5 to 15 people meeting together regularly to fulfill the one-another commands of Scripture, while being integrally related to a local church or congregation, and having an outward focus on the world with the overarching purpose of glorifying God.
I see home group as a means to connect personally with one-another and to share the Christian life. A key ingredient for home group is of course prayer, the deep-on your knees kind of prayer where God’s faithfulness to us is made evident.
Quick disclosure, many of the thoughts on this blog are mine alone, and in no way reflect the opinion of Nguyen, just to make sure that is clear. Now wouldn’t it be great if we could connect what we believe is the purpose for each of these aspects into one church. But, more than likely you will never find that, and anyone who has had some experience in church hopping knows that first hand. So then the dilemma arises, what aspect is most important in finding the right church? Or should you look to the church that meets the most number of aspects? Now comes the chicken and the egg question, does a person’s walk depend on finding the right church or does finding the right church depend on a person’s walk?
Worship - worthiness, respect, and reverence paid to a divine being
I look to Sunday morning worship to be inspired and drawn closer to God. It is the time when we can adore and praise Him for being a real and personal God.
Sunday school - the church organized to reach people for Christ and to teach the Bible for transformed living.
I think Sunday school is a great forum for people to learn in depth teaching from the Bible. It provides a means to reflect on what is important in living out a life for God. I feel we should get challenged in Sunday school and held accountable to our commitments to God.
Small / Home group - consists of 5 to 15 people meeting together regularly to fulfill the one-another commands of Scripture, while being integrally related to a local church or congregation, and having an outward focus on the world with the overarching purpose of glorifying God.
I see home group as a means to connect personally with one-another and to share the Christian life. A key ingredient for home group is of course prayer, the deep-on your knees kind of prayer where God’s faithfulness to us is made evident.
Quick disclosure, many of the thoughts on this blog are mine alone, and in no way reflect the opinion of Nguyen, just to make sure that is clear. Now wouldn’t it be great if we could connect what we believe is the purpose for each of these aspects into one church. But, more than likely you will never find that, and anyone who has had some experience in church hopping knows that first hand. So then the dilemma arises, what aspect is most important in finding the right church? Or should you look to the church that meets the most number of aspects? Now comes the chicken and the egg question, does a person’s walk depend on finding the right church or does finding the right church depend on a person’s walk?
3 comments:
I know what you are saying, and obviously have struggled with these questions.
I am convinced that American consumerism and individualism plays far too great of a role in the American church, and it is hard to know what can 'fix' us.
Americans make decisions based on what we get out of it based on what is required of us. Because Christians look for what they can get out of a church committment, the church begins to "market" themselves in that way. Churches become corporations that promise that you need not commit anything to us, but we will do all of these things for you. From a business standpoint, that does not work, especially with largley volunteer staff. From a theological standpoint, that is totally humanistic and un-Christlike. The church must begin to live and act like the body of Christ accomplishing the purposes of God.
It is a vicous cycle which is hard for me to think of a way to stop. It drives me crazy though. I have heard so many conversations in the past 5 years about churches that "offer" this, and "give you" that.
I would recommend Rodney Clapp's book Peculiar People to anyone who is passionate to see the church do what it was made for.
Here's a quote from Clapp that deals a bit with your post:
"Christians were taught that worship was preemninently their opportunity to be "fed". But it was rarely recognized that to be fed is to be infantilized...and the irony of this marginalized, privatized worship is heightened when we realize that even our children find such worship boring and trivial.
Did Nguyen make you put that disclaimer up? Keep up the posting.
the disclaimer was all me, we had a discussion, and Nguyen said she didn't agree with everything i said, but she also said that she supports me regardless, so it's all me.
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