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Friday, March 1, 2013

My Church Decision

The reasons I began this adventure to find a new church were:
A need for life application from the sermon, 
stronger leadership, 
more Christ, 
and a need/desire to be a part of a faith community.

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Near the end of 2012, we received a pledge card from our Presbyterian church in the mail.

I believe that pledging is important so that the church can develop a budget for the upcoming year. So after much internal debate, I called the Financial Secretary to tell her that we would not be pledging for 2013, explaining that we have been searching for a new church, and actually had not been to this church since May of 2012.

Coincidentally? Later that day I arrived home to a message on our answering machine saying that although we had not participated in the pictorial directory at the church, there were some openings over the next few weekends, and to call and make our appointment.

So.....I made another call to say that we were not going to participate since we were not currently attending the church.

Later that day (not coincidentally) I received a nice email from the pastor asking if we would like to meet with him, if a discussion would be helpful.

I had to laugh because I knew that Wonderful Husband was not interested in a meeting especially since looking for a new church had been my idea. But just to make sure, I did discuss it with him and yes, I was correct.

I made an appointment with the pastor telling him that it would only be me attending since I initiated the idea of visiting other churches.

The meeting with the pastor went very well. I explained why we had been visiting other churches (see bolded list above). But I also told him how thankful we were for the years we've attended the church. The Sunday School classes that our children attended, youth programs, Women's Bible Study, and the many people of the church who had impacted all of our lives. I thanked him for his Christ-like grace in reaching out to our unexpected (yet blessing of our) granddaughter and really left the meeting filled with peace.

Peace in explaining our decision to him and peace in moving forward (with his blessing) toward our next church.

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Initially I was going to use the title "Our Church Decision" for this post but after having a discussion with Wonderful Husband, he has decided not to join the United Methodist church with me. He will be sitting beside me on Sundays but will wait until he retires and we relocate to join a church.

I could go into my explanation of his decision but that is really his story to tell. 
Maybe one day he'll start a blog and explain?
Nah, probably not. Ha!

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I have been attending a weekly Bible Study at the United Methodist church and after Easter my plan is to meet with the pastor and ask how I can become a member of the church.

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I am very thankful for God leading me through this journey in finding a new church. He has been faithful in directing my steps and my decision and I am blessed.

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If you're interested in reading the entire series, I've linked all my posts below.

The series recap:
From Thought to Action
Wonderful Christian Women
United Methodist Visit
Non-Denominational Visit
Presbyterian Visit
Lutheran Visit

Thank you for following along.

Have you ever changed churches or thought about it?

I'd love to hear your story.

2 comments:

  1. I've been following your church decision and search all along. I find it amazing how closely our stories follow each other. For a little different reasons, we left a church a year ago also. Because we were unsure of a few other things in our life, we decided to drive 30 miles back to our home church in the town we used to live in. I really wish that we could sit for coffee (or tea/hot chocolate in my case) and swap stories in depth. Sometimes it seems that it's hard to find someone who 'gets' what you are going through, unless they have been through it. I'm so glad that you have found a church home. Praying that God will use you and you will grow in your faith greatly. Thanks for sharing your thoughts in the process. It helped me a lot to not feel alone. :)

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  2. Yes, it seemed like a lonely journey sometimes but it was something I felt had to be done. Thank you for your prayers, I do need them still. Blessings!

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