And Still Searching...

Do you ever feel like you should just give up?  I certainly do.  And I'm at that point right now with trying to find a church. 

I don't really feel like I belong in most Mennonite churches because I am not that close-minded.  But then the ones that are more open-minded, I am more conservative than them.  I have found several churches on-line that looked like they would be a good match for me; however, after more praying and searching, it appears that they may be a bit left-field for me and perhaps not even Christian.  It is so hard to tell, all these churches claim to be Christian, but what I understand to be Christian is obviously different than how some define "Christian". 

I've considered home church, but in the area I live, there are not many who do that. 

To me, searching for a new church, while I am also searching for a denomination that I agree with is difficult.  I don't know how other people do it.  I think if I knew which denomination to search within it might be a little easier, but I don't even know that. 

How do you do it?  Look for a new church that is. 

Blessings in Christ,

 

What Are You...?

This is my all-time favorite question...next to "who are your parents?" :)

Are you Amish? ... No.
You must be Mennonite then, right? ... No.

I am a Conservative Christian. I do not associate myself with a denomination, but if someone really presses I will acknowledge that I find many of my beliefs are similar to the Conservative Mennonite's beliefs.

I do not feel convicted in naming a denomination just so people know what my beliefs are because I feel no matter the denomination, I will not agree with everything they stand for. It was that way when I attended a Lutheran church, when I attended a Baptist church (both Southern Baptist and IFB), when I attended a Beachy Amish Mennonite church and now as I attend a Conservative Mennonite church.

I have been told that I have to associate with a denomination so that others know my beliefs. They will know if I am against certain things or agree with them. But as I said, I don't agree with everything that any denomination stands for and even in a denomination, there are so many different churches, all which take each point in their doctrine to a different level.

I also feel that we should not label with denominations in regards to Matthew 12:25 "And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:". I have read the surrounding context, and I do struggle to understand the parable, but I feel that this can apply to denominations within the Christian religion. Some could take the house as to mean each individual church house, which I can agree with, but I take it in a broader sense as well in which the Christian house will fall if we divide ourselves.

I understand I am probably in the minority on this feeling and that is okay. But being asked nearly everyday at work "what are you?", I have been thinking about this quite a bit.

Blessings in Christ,

Smorgasboard of things :)

I actually tried to post this on Monday but apparantly internet explorer 9 and blogger don't work together? I removed it today and am back to IE8... Anyone else have this problem?

We have some typical spring weather here today...rain. I know it's necessary, but when it rains all day long, it just wears on you... Anyway, at least I had to work...didn't feel so bad about being stuck inside on a dreary day :) It's 66 today and tomorrow I guess it's supposed to be 43 or so :(

I have a few topics that are really brief each so I thought I would just post them all in one :)

Thought #1:
How do you search for a church? What is important to you? What do you feel you can overlook?

We're back on the hunt for a church to attend. We found one that after going twice we seem to like. We feel welcomed and the people there will speak english to us instead of only speaking dutch... but it's 35 minutes away. With gas prices being as high as they are (near $3.85 a gallon right now) we don't know how often we could make it there... But the churches really close to us, we have tried and we don't feel like they are a fit for one reason or another. Just would like to hear what some of you look for in a church :)

Thought #2:
Something I've been thinking about lately is going back to school to get a teaching degree. I really loved substitute teaching when I did it last year and miss it. I loved being in the classroom, teaching the students (when the teachers got to know me, they would leave actual lesson plans for me to go through with the students...especially for math -- my absolute favorite subject lol), and just seeing the light bulb go off in their heads when a topic finally made sense to them. That was just so rewarding. As with any job, there are down sides. But does that not make it worth it? If I could go back and change what I went to school for, would I? I think I might. I had thought about going to school for a science teacher, but at the time I was told no that it wouldn't be a good fit for me. Now I'm thinking of going for...math teacher! In a way I feel like this might be God's hand because for the past (near) 2 years, I have had this feeling of wanting to get an education degree. But on the other hand, I wonder if I should because will I be able to find a job or will I be getting married in the next couple years and then wanting to stay home to take care of my wifely duties? All these questions keep running through my head...

I know there was a reason why I went to school for mechanical engineering, but truthfully, I haven't figured out the reason yet. Do I think it was a mistake to get a degree? Absolutely not. But I wish I would have put more thought (and prayer) into what I went to school for and not just gone for what I thought would meet the approval of my parents. Hopefully with prayer and time, I will be able to sort this one out :)

Thought #3:
I have been pondering this slightly ever since reading the blog post on this. How do "superstition" and religion fit together? Over on About Amish's blog, she has been answering questions about the Amish lifestyle and one question was about supersitions that the Amish believe and how they link "luck" to God's hand. How do you think they fit together? Do you think being supersitious means not trusting God? Do you think those things are "signs" from God?

That's it for today! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on any of these :)

Blessings in Christ,

Which is right?

It was brought up in Sunday School two weeks ago how many different denominations of Christianity there are. I don't remember the exact number, but it was somewhere around 35,000 if I remember correctly. The question was brought up of how can we say that we are the "right" denomination? Obviously 35,000 people (or so) thought that they were right too, in order to start each of the different denominations.

Do I believe each denomination is right? Not completely, but nor do I believe the denomination I fall in line with is completely correct either. I would not be willing to say "Conservative Mennonites are the only right denomination", nor would I be willing to say that any other denomination is the only right one. I pray that each of those people who started the denominations prayed and meditated before breaking off from their previous group, but can I say that truly happened? No. I believe it is up to us each individually to pray and mediatate before we align ourselves with a specific denomination. God will lead us to a church He believes is right in the Bible and that we will fit into.

I feel that it is a red flag if a denomination is willing to say it is the "right" one. I try not to judge when I hear that, but I want to blurt out "how do you know you're the right denomination?" Hard to refrain sometimes :)

Bottom line is that based in scripture, there is no right denomination, we should focus not on what denomination we follow, but rather if the church we attend is a Bible teaching church. Someone once said to me, God is not going to ask what denomination you belong to when you die, but rather 'Do you believe in My Son, do you believe My Word, and did you keep My Word?' and I believe that is so true.

Blessings in Christ,

Finding a Church

As of late, I have been wondering how does one find a church that they feel like they "belong" to? My roommate and I thought we had found a church, it was a 45 minute drive each way. The youth were really nice and we were invited to almost all Church activities, ie. Sunday church (morning and night), noon meal, and some Wednesday night churches. But, what about the youth gatherings? After 4 months of attending this church every week, we were not invited to one youth gathering outside of church hours. Mainly due to the drive and the change in seasons, we have stopped attending this church and have begun to look for a closer church to home. So far, we haven't any luck.

I keep praying that God will lead me to a church where I will feel welcome and enjoy the company of fellow believers, but so far I have not felt drawn to a specific church. Maybe one day in the future He will guide me to a church that He knows will be good for me. Right now I think He is showing me different qualities in a church that I do not care for...

I hope everyone had a blessed and wonderful Christmas!

Blessings in Christ,

Church Shopping :)

So my boyfriend and I have been "Church shopping"! Lol. It's kind of like house shopping...truly it is :) We came from different religious backgrounds, both Christians, but he was raised much more conservatively than I. I was raised Lutheran - ELCA and he was raised Southern Baptist. Quite a difference :) So we have decided that before we go too much further (we've been together for 5 years) we ought to find a church that we could both agree on attending because we wouldn't want to raise a family in a split church home.

So far we have visted 5 churches, including each other's respective church. It seems that we are settling on a more conservative IFB church (Independent Fundamental Baptist). The church we visited today may very well be the one we will settle on. It is the first one that both of us agreed to try a second time!! AMAZING! Lol. This IFB church has a set dress code and requires modesty in dressing and highly encourages women to wear skirts or dresses to church. The only slightly embarassing thing was they announced to the entire church who the visitors were! And of course the pastor didn't see my boyfriend's name on the card so I got called while he did not. Oh well :) As my boyfriend said, "can't fault them for trying"! Lol.

I think we have a few other churches that we want to try as well, but if we still enjoy this church in a few weeks maybe we won't. Who knows.

Here's a little scripture for your pondering tonight :)

John 13: 34-35 (NKJV): "34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

I absolutely love that! Similar to "The Golden Rule", but not quite, because the Lord has treated us absolutely wonderfully!!

John 14: 5-7 (NKJV): "5 Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?' 6 Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.'"

YAY!! The Lord IS THE truth!! He IS THE life!! Oh how absolutely wonderful!!

Blessings in Christ,