YeaHWHo?!

Strange, now that I find myself looking for a church. I have set under 2 pastors my whole life. One, my dad. The other, a man whom I helped to plant a church, and wow did that ever back fire! So now I wake up on a Sunday morning, knowing how much I hesitate to enter any sort of community, and yet know something else to be true. My experience tells me that God is just perfectly fine relating with me directly, yet everything I read in the Bible says that this is not an individual endeavor. If you read my post ‘What I am looking for in a church-pt. 1′ you will understand some of my frustrations to find a church. I read through the phone book and on web pages, some of the names of the over 200+ churches we have here in Greeley, a city whose population is just slightly over 100,000. So many churches, and so little apparent impact. I remember hearing that Anton Levay (sp?) said a few decades ago that he wanted to move to Colorado because ‘the church there is dead.’

I remember telling a friend of mine recently, that I think I know more about how to construct a car from scratch then I do about how to find a church! And BTW, if you dont know me, my idea of fixing the loud bangs coming from my car is to turn the stereo up!

Here are a few of the problems I have with the whole church shopping thing:

1. Well first, it feels like shopping. In a culture, or world, that commodifies everything, that just seems wrong with the Bride of Christ. What, I have a list of 10 things that I am looking for, comparing stats and technical specifications as I would shopping for a flat panel tv?
2. Well, if feels like dating. What, I just keep going out with whomever I want, who ever looks good at the moment, move in for a while, try ‘her’ out, and then if we ‘fit’ (again according to my standards list mentioned in #1) we get ‘married’, I become a member. You know until death do us part, or wait, until love do us part, you know, until I get sick of her, or am pressed in someway that I dont like, and just move on down the line. I mean with over 200 churches here, there are a lot of fish in the sea.
3. How do ‘I’ know what a good church is anyways? I mean, the whole concept is absurd. If I am a disciple, who am I to figure out how I am to be discipled? I can imagine someone wanting to learn guitar saying, ‘That teacher just keeps wanting to teach me scales, or get me to read music, or tune my guitar. Doesnt he understand, I just want to play my guitar. Why cant I find someone to teach me that?’

You know, a Groucho Marx quote comes to mind, it goes something like this: ‘The only kind of country club im interested in joining would be to good to let the likes of me in!’ I guess I feel that way about looking for a church. I need something that challenges me, that says ‘Here is the way, lets go!’ One that doesnt mince words, one that takes what Jesus said seriously.

Im going to end this post with a quote from Bryan Stone, and it speaks to what I am looking for (again, I sound like shopping, dating, etc…, but…) I am looking for a church that does not shy away from ‘vulnerability, particularity and marginality, and realizes that to do so is the refusal of the way of the cross,’ I want a church that ‘forgoes privileges and security allied with winning and opts instead for costly obedience, incarnation, and gospel nonconformity.’ And after that quote, I feel a little like Groucho Marx again!