Barbara's Random Thoughts

There's a great post at Jeffrey Overstreet's blog about rating churches. Go read it, then come back here. Go on!

What's that? You're back? Ok. So that post was kind of a springboard for a lot of thoughts. Having written what's below, I feel like there's so much more to say that I didn't even touch on--about the balance between reaching people and at the same time not losing track of the church's purpose of worshipping and serving God. But anyway, that's a digression for a later date. Here we go.

I wholeheartedly agreed with what Overstreet had to say. But I found myself thinking, "But what about when you have to evaluate a church?" It really got me thinking about the process of finding a church. Because when you're looking for a church, you have to evaluate; you have to come up with some sort of selection criteria--whether consciously or not.

Now, let me preface this by saying that I'm not the church-hopping type. I've always been pretty committed to my home church. If there was something I felt was lacking, I got involved and tried to make things better, rather than packing it in and moving on to another church.

I've gone to a total of four churches in my whole life. Del Mar Baptist Church: the one I was born into. Sedge Fen Baptist Church: my family changed churches because we moved from California to England. Green Hills Baptist Church: we changed churches because we moved from England to California. And now, Peninsula Bible Church: because I moved to the Bay area.

Church-hunting didn't sit well with me when I first moved here. For one, I didn't like going alone to new places where I knew no-one. But the other thing that bugged me was that I was church-shopping and not really worshipping. I would enter every worship service or Bible study with a critical eye; looking for what I did and didn't like: were the people friendly, did I like the style of worship, how good was the sermon, and so on. I felt like an outsider on most of these church visits--in part, because I was new--but also because I felt like I was standing back to evaluate and, yes, to "rate."

I don't know if you can look for a church and escape this, but it bothered me. Maybe it's my own personality--I often fight against being too critical. But looking back, I wonder if one of the reasons I settled on PBC was that I was tired of being an outsider and a critic and I wanted to be a worshipper again.

I have loved the teaching at PBC. Pretty much every pastor I've heard speak has been excellent--challenging me as they offer Biblical truth. YAF is a great group of people, and I appreciate that PBC has a ministry focused on people in my own demographic--something I felt I was really lacking at Green Hills. At first I wasn't too enthralled with the worship at PBC, and that's actually one of the things that kept me visiting other churches when I first moved here. But the teaching brought me back and the fellowship got me to stay.

When I moved here, I needed to find a church that was right for me--a church that fit my church background, my stage in life, the type of teaching I connect with, the style of worship that was comfortable for me.

Yes, the point of going to church should never be self-serving or me-oriented. That's not what the church is about--it is about God and His pleasure--not our own comfort or preference. But I can't help but think that some kind of honest evaluation of various churches is necessary--especially by those who are genuinely looking for a place to worship and learn and fellowship.

However, I agree with Overstreet--I should never evaluate a church based on the quality of its snacks. Cute single Christian guys, perhaps...but snacks, no.