Success In Our Church Shopping Endeavor?

It has been just over eighteen months since our move to Indianapolis, and we have been searching for a church where we could feel at home ever since. At times, we thought we had found just the right church, only to later question whether God was calling us to that particular church or not.

Today, we made our first visit to Heartland Church in Fishers, Indiana. Usually, when I write about our "church shopping" experiences here, I don't actually share the name of the church. That's because usually my wife and I have not felt that we were moved to attend the particular church I was writing about, and I wouldn't want to say anything that might discourage anyone from attending any specific church that is trying to do the work of the Lord.

Today, our visit to Heartland Church (@HeartlandIndy on Twitter) was a very positive experience for the entire family. When we first pulled into the parking lot for the 11AM service, the lot was virtually empty. We began wondering what kind of turn out there might be. From the moment we walked into the church and approached a man standing by an information desk, we all felt right at home. We first met Ed, who introduced himself as a full-time volunteer staff member who works with small groups. We introduced ourselves to Ed, who then introduced us to another staff-member who helped us to get our kids checked into Adventureland, where they would attend their own age-tailored church services.

My wife and I then made our way to the sanctuary, where we had our choice of nearly any seat in the house. We picked comfortable seats on the aisle in the fourth row and waited for the service to begin as people slowly made their way in (there turned out to be many more people there when the service was over than we had thought there were).

The worship band was led by Rick Stump, and they played popular contemporary Christian tunes that made my wife and I feel right at home. Best of all, they didn't seem to be performing, as we have felt that many bands at the churches we've attended were doing -- they seemed to be worshiping the Lord.

The sermon was delivered by Rick's father (I believe his name is Gary), and was delivered in such a way that anyone listening could feel a part of the discussion. He did not teach down to us, did not teach at us, did not speak over our heads. It was a very informative, very enjoyable sermon.

After the service, the most important test of all: the kids' reaction to their individual services. When I asked my son if he liked it, he said, "Did you love it?" When I said yes, he said, "Me, too."

Enough said, so far. They didn't observe Communion today, but many churches don't observe Communion more than once a month, or every other week. We'll see how that goes down when the time comes, but based on the rest of the experience, we are both more likely to be flexible with the Communion service. Most churches we've visited observe Communion by dipping the Communion bread into the cup. We have always preferred taking the bread and the cup separately. I guess we will learn in time what method Heartland Church employs. In the meantime, we'll be returning to Heartland quite regularly, I believe.

Your comments?

Joe

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And The Hunt Continues...

My wife and I have resumed our church shopping, after having thought we found a church home were we felt we belonged. Changes at the church with service times, communion, etc., made it just not feel like our church home any longer.

So today we headed out to another church near us in Greenfield, Indiana. As usual, I won't mention the church here, because although we didn't feel called to make it a permanent home, the church is doing the work of God, and I wouldn't want to say anything that might have a negative impact on their mission. But I do like to share our church shopping experiences here, as it helps me to sort through the experience, and I always invite readers to share their church recommendations with me.

We arrived today at a church that is a bit smaller than the Indianapolis churches we have been to so far, making it a little less stressful for our first visit. While we both prefer a larger church, some of the Indianapolis mega-churches are just too large. We entered the church for the second morning worship service and found several people standing in the vestibule chatting. We approached a desk in the middle of the vestibule that stood beneath a sign reading Guest Services, where we waited for approximately five minutes. No one was manning the desk, and none of the many parishioners standing about talking seemed to recognize us as newcomers without a clue. This, for my wife and I, is always an important first test of any church we attend -- are we made to feel welcome? There seems to be no middle ground here, as most churches either go overboard in making newcomers feel welcome or seem to miss the mark completely. After our five minute wait, a woman who had stepped up to the Guest Services Desk next to us, finally spoke up and asked if she could help us. She, of course, had been standing there for almost as long as we were -- maybe deciding whether she felt called to help us?

We explained that we were first-timers there and didn't know where to take our three and five year old kids. She pointed down a hallway and told us to take them there and sign them in. We followed her guidance and dropped our son off in a gym where several other children his age were playing. We still weren't made to feel completely welcome, and were told that our daughter (the three year old) would need to be taken back out into the vestibule and down a hallway by the offices to another children's worship area.

We walked out and headed through the vestibule, unsure of where we were going and with no one to guide us, and finally ended up at a door labeled Offices. For the first time, we were made to feel a little welcome, by a teenager who was sitting at the desk signing in children. He gave us more information in thirty seconds than anyone had given us in the entire time we had been there. After dropping off our daughter, we headed into the sanctuary and found a seat in the third row from the front.

The service was scheduled to start at 10:45 am, but at 10:48 a countdown timer displayed on one the screens showed that four minutes still remained before the service would be under way. The band came onto the stage in a state of chaos, as portable speakers were still being set up and people continued to mill around in their seats chatting. I started to get the feeling that everyone there knew everyone else -- sort of like the Baptist church my parents took me to as a youngster. It wasn't a bad feeling, though when you're new and the only one who doesn't know everyone else, it can be a little uncomfortable.

The service finally got under way with some contemporary Christian music. The band was pretty good, with five singers, a bass guitarist, an electric guitarist, an acoustic guitarist, a keyboardist, a drummer, and another drummer on bongos. Eleven people. Wow!

The music was interrupted for announcements, then resumed for another song or two before the band left the stage and one of the singers delivered a message about surrendering everything to God. I enjoyed the message, though my wife felt that the speaker relied too heavily on his notes throughout the sermon. Thus far, I wasn't turned on or off with the experience, for the most part. I didn't feel moved to make it a permanent church home, but felt that we could return there from time to time if we didn't find someplace that felt like home.

Then the sermon ended with communion. I have been very vocal here about my thoughts on communion, so I'll give only a brief recap here. I think communion is a very personal experience that a follower of Christ shares with his Savior. I believe that Biblically we are instructed to take bread and the cup and drink, and I have frequently been disappointed with the number of churches we have attended that observe the practice of dipping their bread into the communion cup, rather than actually drinking. My wife and I have agreed that we cannot feel at home if we do not feel called to participate in communion. While today's church observed what I consider to be the Biblical act of taking the bread and the cup separately, they did something that made my wife and I feel awkward -- so awkward, in fact, that we chose not to partake of communion. Upon the urging of the man who delivered the message (and I still don't know if he was a Pastor, or what), virtually the entire congregation rose from their seats and formed two lines that led to the altar. As each person made his or her way to the altar, they knelt at the altar in prayer or meditation, reflection -- whatever they chose to do -- then one of several people standing on the stage offered the plate of bread (typical communion wafers) and cups (typical grape juice) to them when they were done. After partaking of communion, each person just left the sanctuary. In the meantime, my wife and I (and a very few others throughout the sanctuary) sat in our seats. I cannot speak for how others were feeling, but I felt as if a neon sign hung over my head pointing down at me, calling me out for not partaking in communion. When my wife noticed that everyone was just leaving after partaking of communion, we arose and shuffled out of the sanctuary.

My problem with the way this church observed communion is that it did not appeal to me as a time of intimate reflection and communion with my savior. It felt as if I was being supervised through the process by church elders and, once my time of prayer at the altar had been observed and approved, I would be offered the bread and cup. It did not feel like communion to me.

After leaving the sanctuary we went to pick up my daughter first. This is the final test of a church experience for us -- whether it gets our children's stamp of approval or not. In this case, both of our children came running out of their respective classes when they saw us -- right past the caretakers who were there to ensure that the children were delivered only to the appropriate adult that dropped them off. I expected them both to say that they didn't like it, and was shocked when my daughter said she had fun and my son said he loved it. Upon further conversation over a picnic lunch in the park, my son revealed that they didn't even have a Bible story in his class. Now, I know that probably isn't the case, but my thinking is this: if they did have a Bible story and the impact of it was so minimal that my son didn't even realize it was a Bible story, then what impact could it possibly have had on my impressionable young son.

So it is agreed that we will continue our search for a new church home in the Indianapolis area. We have been here for almost eighteen months now, and we just can't seem to find the right place. I sometimes wonder if we're being too picky, or too judgmental. But I keep coming to the conclusion that just isn't the case. We aren't looking for the perfect church, just the church that we feel God is calling us to attend. So far, I haven't felt that calling but once, and later felt that maybe I had misinterpreted that calling (which is why we're out looking once again).

So I ask you, faithful readers, have you any helpful suggestions for us? If you read through our past church shopping experiences, you can get a general idea of what we're looking for. If you know of a church that you feel might be a fit for us, please let me know.

Your comments?

Joe

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Communion

26 During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples: Take, eat. This is my body. 27 Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them: Drink this, all of you. 28 This is my blood, God's new covenant poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins. 29 "I'll not be drinking wine from this cup again until that new day when I'll drink with you in the kingdom of my Father." Matthew 26:26-29 [MSG]

When I moved my family from Terre Haute to Indianapolis thirteen months ago, we embarked on a lengthy church hunt, visiting different churches every weekend, hoping to find one where we felt welcome, at home, where we felt God was calling us to return. Week after week we found ourselves disappointed, with the sermon some weeks, with the music other weeks, even with the offerings for children's worship at times -- and each and every week, we were disappointed with Communion.

In Matthew 26, Christ instructed His disciples to remember Him through Communion (a term not used by Christ, but later used by Christians to label the practice): the breaking and eating of bread and drinking of the cup. Just as Christ instructed us to follow Him in Baptism by immersion, He instructed us in the proper way to remember Him in Communion. Christ did not tell us to practice sprinkle Baptism, and He did not tell us to practice Communion by dipping bread into the cup. We follow His instructions for Baptism to the letter. Why, then, did every church we visited insist on dipping Communion bread into the cup?

We finally found a church on the northwest corner of Indianapolis where we felt comfortable, where we felt welcome, where the kids enjoyed their worship time and we felt they spent it learning and worshipping. We finally found a church that observed Communion in the manner Christ instructed. It has been "our" church ever since.

A month ago, our church started a Saturday night service -- in an attempt to accomodate a growing congregation (5000 most weekends) and to reach out to those who don't (or can't) attend on Sundays. We attended the first Saturday evening service and loved it. We felt that God had blessed us -- everything about the service was just what we had been looking for all along.

We missed the second week due to obligations at my work, and returned on week three to find that everything had changed. The worship music -- while still played by the same band -- had become somehow countrified. Worse yet, when it came time for Communion, we were instructed to break a piece of bread off the loaf and dip into the cup. Why? We both felt very out of place during the service, and later agreed to try Saturday night one more time.

We did just that last evening, and were pleased to see that the music was much more to our liking. Don't misread me, I understand that going to church is not an entertainment event. I don't expect the worship band to cater to us. I understand that we go for worship and praise, but it's much easier to worship through song when you know the songs and enjoy the style of music.

What we weren't pleased with was Communion. As we entered the sanctuary and saw Communion implements designed for the dipping of bread, we were both disappointed. We both chose not to partake of Communion -- not out of protest or purpose.

This is my issue with it: the dipping of bread into the cup is not Biblical. No matter which book of the Gospel you read, or which translation, you won't find a passage where Christ instructed us to dip the bread into the cup.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all described Communion as drinking from the cup. Only John even mentions dipping the bread, but not in reference to Communion. John speaks of Jesus dipping a crust of bread into the cup and saying "The one to whom I give this crust of bread after I've dipped it" will be the one to betray Me. So dipping the bread was not an act of Communion, but instead Christ's way of identifying the one who would betray him.

Dipping the bread into the cup is not a Biblical way to remember Christ through Communion, just as sprinkling water is not a Biblical way to follow Christ in Baptism. Why, then, do so many Christian churches choose this method of "Communion?" To me, if it is not Biblical, then why do it? Why practice something that Christ didn't teach in lieu of following His instructions literally?

My wife and I did not -- and will not -- observe Communion through the dipping of bread. Maybe this is God's way of telling us that the Saturday evening service was not what He had planned for us. Maybe He's telling us that we should return to the Sunday morning service, or possibly continue searching for a new church home. Unfortunately, God doesn't often write His message on a wall for us to read as we drive down the street. He often leaves it to us to interpret what He is trying to tell us.

Next Sunday, we will be returning to the same church, but not on Saturday evening. The dipping of bread might be fine for the other 443 people in attendance on Saturday night, but not for us. We will return to Sunday morning, and hopefully feel the same calling we felt several months ago when we first attended a Sunday morning service at this church. Neither one of us wants to start searching for a church home again.

Don't believe that the quotes above are the same in every translation? Click them, then feel free to select a different translation at BibleGateway, and you'll see that they all tell the same tale of Communion.

Your comments?

Joe

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Familiarty = Contempt?

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (MSG)
  
• O: In church this evening, the message was on the Communion. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me." After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: "This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me." What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.
  
• A: Our church partakes of Communion every Sunday. This can sometimes make the practice seem mechanical, and it can become very easy to forget what Communion is all about. Especially when Communion is taken individually rather than as a group, served by the passing of the serving dishes, as it was done once monthly in the Baptist church in which I was brought up. And if you have kids in church with you, and they see you eating crackers and drinking grape juice, they want some, too. It is all too easy to allow the ritual practice of something such as Communion to become meaningless to us. Have you ever really thought of just what that cracker (unleavened bread, actually) and cup of grape juice signify? Have you given consideration to not just the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but also the humiliating beating he suffered prior to being lead to Golgotha? The shredding of skin on his back as he was lashed with a whip. The blood spilled in the street before he was even nailed to the cross. And, of course, the brutal nailing of spikes through his wrists and feet, pinning him to the cross. His very suffering and death that led to our salvation. The bread: His Body. The cup: His Blood. The final sacrifice for our sins: His Life for ours. If you feel up to a compelling yet graphic depiction of Christ's suffering, try The Passion of the Christ.
  
• P: Father, Thank You not only for what You did for me, to save me from my sins, but also for providing me with a constant reminder of the cost You paid so that I won't have to.
  

Download the sermon audio here.

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