Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), we were spoiled by being able to attend really wonderful churches in Brazil. Both of our churches in Brasilia and Sao Paulo were led by people who were good ministers and faithful believers, and who also happened to be just really nice, approachable people who welcomed you in as if you were family.
When you're from a small town and you're raised Methodist or Baptist or Presbyterian or whatever, you just go to the church of your denomination in your town. There's no choice as there is just one option. Then when you move overseas, you just hope and pray to find a church that speaks English and doesn't practice chicken sacrifices or some weird something like that. The denomination really doesn't matter so much as the fellowship of being in a body of believers.
I really didn't give a second thought to finding a good church home when we returned to the motherland. I knew we wouldn't attend our childhood church to which Jimmy and I still maintain our membership, but there are a lot of churches in the close vicinity, so how hard could it be to find a church that's more contemporary, has some younger families in it (and yes, I'm considering us as a younger-ish family), and doesn't dumb down religion?
Very hard is the answer to that rhetorical question.
On every available Sunday since we returned in June when we weren't traveling, we have been to a different church or a different service at the same church. We have been to traditional services at big Methodist churches and little Methodist churches. We have been to contemporary services at both of those churches. We have been to our childhood membership church. Nothing has been quite the right fit.
So today we branched out and went to one of these campus churches of a big network of planted churches. I honestly didn't know if I was at church or a nightclub or a rock concert. Mac was insistent that he wasn't going to the children's program but the greeter insisted on giving us a tour of the facility in case he changed his mind. So by the time we entered the "sanctuary", they had dimmed the lights so that only the band was lit up. I am not kidding you when I tell you that it was a little like entering a movie theater after the movie has started and you have to feel your way along, squinting around for 2 seats next to each other.
The music was good, but loud; the sermon was good, but impersonal (delivered by video from the main church in Charleston), and the people were very friendly (which is a plus because at some of these churches we've been to, nary as soul has spoken to us). Mac was hooked. I'm willing to give it another try for the promise of another good sermon. But note to self for next time: less church-y clothes and more concert-ish clothes!
A little P.S. - in his sermon, the minister said that between all their campuses across the state and in all their services at these campuses, some 11,000 people attended this church last weekend. They are definitely getting the message out to a lot of people.
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