In Search of our Church Home...

Well, we've been here for five Sundays which means we have had the chance to check out five different churches.  It's been an interesting yet very slow process.  I mean S L O W. All this hype to check out a church and generally within the first 5 minutes you get a feel for whether or not you'll be back again and then you have to wait another whole week to try a new one.  By week number two I was so sad, disappointed and discouraged.  Not because I thought I'd find a church home within two weeks but just that it seemed like we had been here so much longer than 2 weeks and only had 2 times to try out a church and we were about as far off from finding a church home as we were the day we moved in.

Jason and I have experienced three churches together in Chicago.  I was going to Park Community in Chicago when I had met him and he had attended there as well his earlier days in Chicago. Willow Creek Chicago was where we went for most of our time living in Chicago but the final months were spent at Big Willow in South Barrington and in my opinion, no other church has really been able to measure up to that.  I loved the worship music every week...most Sundays I would get teary (or full on water works) and always felt so close to God.  The messages were great and I really believed in all the good they are doing in the community and around the world.  Obviously lacking from Willow for me was the community and also the distance we traveled every week was a bit ridiculous...but those cons were definitely outweighed by the pros.

Heading to Colorado we had a list of about seven to ten churches we wanted to check out.  I knew it would be a slow process but I didn't realize what it meant to have to wait a whole week before we got the opportunity to try another. (It's not just about a church to attend on Sundays but is how I hope to meet people which even once we find the right church isn't going to happen overnight...it could take more than a year so I am dying to at least start getting plugged in!)  One of the weeks I even teased Jason and said if we left just 10 minutes early from the one we were attending (and knew we weren't loving) we could make the late service of another church across town.

It's amazing to me all the dynamics that go into finding the right church home.  There's the physical location of the church (proximity to our apartment/future home), the building (their own building, in a mall, held at a school gymnasium, etc.), the size, their beliefs, the people, the diversity, the worship team, the pastor, the different ministries, the outreach...the list goes on. Plus with all that, we're trying to find the right church for both Jason and I, so what he may want in one church may be the total opposite for me.  Fortunately, that's not the case.  We've had fun every weekend within the first five minutes squeezing each others hands as we know we're both thinking the same thing about the church.

Thus far, all the churches we've attended we have liked one of more things at the church but for most there were things we really didn't like as well. The third week we came the closest to finding one we both felt really at home at (and I loved their group life opportunities!) but we weren't feeling completely at home.  I'm super excited because this past weekend we both really liked the church.  From the second we pulled into the parking lot we both felt a connection.  The worship music brought tears to my eyes and I felt the connection I've been longing for with God.  The message was good and there seems to be a lot of different ministries to get plugged into.  Yay!!  We still have about 2-5 more churches we want to check out before we make a real decision (and obviously need to attend several more times before we can call any church our church home) but I'm so encouraged.  I'm also so thankful to have Jason to join me on this search and know we're both on the same page for what we're looking for.  I'll be sure to post again as we attend others the next month or so but for now I'm thrilled to know it's only taken us a little over a month to find one we both seem to love and want to check out further!