The Church Hopper

When I started this blog a couple of months back, I had a few goals.

1. Strive to always focus on the positive
2. Encourage the unchurched to visit churches
3. Provide feedback that is helpful – not harmful
4. To not be considered a church “critic”

My church visit on May 1st has challenged me on all of these goals. So much so that I almost didn’t want to write about my experience at all. However, what a disservice would that be to you, my faithful readers, if I did not share my frustration with you all… So here I go…

On May 1st I tried to attend two different services at other churches near me that did not have service times on their church signs/websites. This caused me to show up to the first church way too early, and the second too late. CHURCHES WE MUST DO BETTER! But, that is a rant for another day.

At last, I ended up at Freedom Independent Baptist Church. When driving up I noticed that a van was blocking the entrance to the back parking lot, so I parked on the street. When I walked inside – it was as I imagined it would be. The sanctuary was small with a under twenty people inside. I was greeted quickly by everyone, literally all eighteen people. But one lady stuck out… You know if you have been in a church long enough that there is always that one person that isn’t in charge, but does in fact kind of run things??? Yep, I can only assume that was her. She told me that many visitors come and don’t return because they are such a small church, and that their pastor steps on toes. I assured her that I was happy to be there and was visiting all the churches nearby so to not be alarmed when I didn’t return.

The service was completely led by the pastor. He even led the hymns since there was no musical person there. During the passing of the peace that same lady came over to me and asked if I could play the piano for them. Thankfully, I did not have to lie since that is not one of my gifts.

The message was on the holiness and righteousness of God. The pastor went on to mention that pastors should never be called “Reverend” because that title is reserved for God. He transitioned on to the wrath of God and how people do not fear God like they should. He focused so much on the fear that we must have towards God that it made me uncomfortable. He was down right trying to scare people into being a Christian. He continued by calling out churches that were not doing things the way that he personally believed they should be. The message was around an hour long and got continually more aggressive. When the service ended I could not leave quick enough. But that lady stopped me to ask me if I knew where I was going when I died. When I told her that I did she then asked me where… I shouldn’t have been shocked at this point – but I was. Thankfully she liked my answer so she let me out of the pew.

Let me say this. I firmly believe that God is all knowing, all powerful, should be respected, should be honored, and we will have to answer for our short comings. I also believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. However, no one should be pushed into beleiving in God because they just dont want to go to hell. That is like me saying the only reason I dont kill people is because I don’t want to go to jail. We should not want to kill people because it is wrong – period – not just because of the consequences. In the same way we should want to follow Christ and live a life that is pleasing to Him, not because we are scared, but because we love and honor Him. I feel like we all have someone in our lives that we love and respect because of the person that they are, and not because we are afriad of them.

I personally could not recommend this church to anyone out of fear that they would grow to know a God that I do not know.

I will end on this positive note… They were welcoming to a point, and I did receive a hand written thank you card in the mail- which I can only assume that lady wrote! haha And they did have the service times on their sign.

I hope that this will not discourge any of you to visit churches. There are hundreds out there with a handful that will not line up with your views. But never give up on finding Jesus wherever you go. I knew I would experience this at some point in my church hopping journey, I just didnt know that it would be that particular day.