April 15, 2007
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decisions
In choosing which church to get involved with, would you rather be a 'liberal' in a 'conservative' church or a 'conservative' in a 'liberal' church? Would you rather go to a church in which you can forsee that your main thrust will be helping your Christian friends to interpret and teach the truth about God and the Bible? Or a church in which you can forsee that your main thrust will be helping your Christian friends to more frequently put their (correct) beliefs into action?
Given that there is no perfect church, which side is better to err on?
There are other gradients too - rich churches, poor churches; churches with high percentages of people wearing "Christian facades" and who rush home immediately after church, churches with high percentages of "real" people who willingly share their struggles and are hospitable to strangers; churches whose main ministry is foreign missions, or local fellowship, or local urban missions; churches which are needy and struggling people-wise and financially, churches which are floating in talent and money.
That's all beside the doctrinal gradients... those which are more reformed, or more armenian, or more charismatic, or more fundamentalist, or more emergent, or more seeker-sensitive. I don't think that denominations are necessarily an evil thing... I mean, yes, division is bad. But the cause of the division is usually the devil and the unsaved in the churches, not the "true Christians" who are intent on following God and applying His Word.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. What thoughts do you have on this subject?
Comments (3)
Interesting...we thought that we would have to think through some of these questions in making a decision about what church we would attend here, but we didn't so much. Most importantly, we wanted to find a church where God's word was consistently preached from the pulpit. Sadly, we found very few of those in our area. One of them holds services so early (and so far away) that we only actually made it there on time once...which made it seem like not the right place for us. One of them doesn't have any children's programming...which made it not a great fit for us at this point in life. That ended up making our decision pretty easy...there was only one left!
I think that we're in a place that is more like your second description, with a focus on more frequently acting on correct beliefs. Still, as you say, none are perfect, and I'm not sure that I can say that our choice is definitely always "better." We did (and still do) think that the church we're in is the one that God wants us in, and we're glad to be there.
Yeah, bouncing from that last comment, reality and circumstances play a part in one's choice of a church, as in anything... and there is a sense in which you commit yourself to one place and do your part in service and directing focus to make it a small portion of the Body of Christ as He would like it to be - as much as that's possible, I mean. God's grace covers over a multitude of sins, as always, and I think it's too easy to get commercial about churches. There was only one "church" in each of the towns Paul visited, as I read it...
I repeat what I said to you three or four years ago--find a church where you are part of a family. I don't know which I'd rather be--the liberal or the conservative. I suppose I lean toward being the liberal in the conservative. I'll be praying for you.
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