Hi! I have been lurking for a couple years and I finally got some time to make a handle and say hello.
The short version of my Christian youth:
Baptized Episcopal (infant)
Lutheran upbringing (ALC I think? Until the ELCA)
Then attended many other denominations with my family until adulthood (Nazarene, Presbyterian, Four Square, non-denoms, probably a few others)
I stopped attending any church in young adulthood. Part of this was due to my career and always having to work on Sundays. Part of it was also not feeling at home in any of the later churches we attended. I thought maybe church was just not for me. I drifted from God, although not completely, and dug into my career, which was unfulfilling despite success. My career also introduced me to people from around the world in nearly every major religion. I studied world religions, looking for truth, trying to make sense of it all. For a while I began to consider universalism and I even visited a Unitarian church. But that church felt empty spiritually... it was a physical church, but without God. I could say more, but I don't want to be disrespectful.
Eventually God called me back to church attendance at a wonderful large non-denominational church with multiple weekend services, one of which fit with my schedule. I felt Him there. I started growing in Christ again and attended for a couple years. I also started wondering about all the denominations I grew up attending and what made them all different, and I began to voraciously study them, as well as Church history. I also had a persistent longing for the Lord's Supper after so many years away, inexplicably. Communion did quench this thirst, but why had it happened?
Long story short, I am in Catholic RCIA now. Although I was mostly satisfied in the non-denominational church, I still felt like something was missing, which I later recognized in the Sacraments and Liturgy. I had studied the Reformation and I initially thought I would find myself in a Confessional Lutheran church, or perhaps with the Orthodox. But to my surprise the Spirit instead led me to a local Roman Catholic parish, and it is home. I will likely be confirmed this spring. I feel such peace, so nourished there, closer to Him. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would seek to become a Catholic, I would not have believed them. It has been quite the Unexpected Journey.
So anyway, that's where I am at. Nice to meet you all.
The short version of my Christian youth:
Baptized Episcopal (infant)
Lutheran upbringing (ALC I think? Until the ELCA)
Then attended many other denominations with my family until adulthood (Nazarene, Presbyterian, Four Square, non-denoms, probably a few others)
I stopped attending any church in young adulthood. Part of this was due to my career and always having to work on Sundays. Part of it was also not feeling at home in any of the later churches we attended. I thought maybe church was just not for me. I drifted from God, although not completely, and dug into my career, which was unfulfilling despite success. My career also introduced me to people from around the world in nearly every major religion. I studied world religions, looking for truth, trying to make sense of it all. For a while I began to consider universalism and I even visited a Unitarian church. But that church felt empty spiritually... it was a physical church, but without God. I could say more, but I don't want to be disrespectful.
Eventually God called me back to church attendance at a wonderful large non-denominational church with multiple weekend services, one of which fit with my schedule. I felt Him there. I started growing in Christ again and attended for a couple years. I also started wondering about all the denominations I grew up attending and what made them all different, and I began to voraciously study them, as well as Church history. I also had a persistent longing for the Lord's Supper after so many years away, inexplicably. Communion did quench this thirst, but why had it happened?
Long story short, I am in Catholic RCIA now. Although I was mostly satisfied in the non-denominational church, I still felt like something was missing, which I later recognized in the Sacraments and Liturgy. I had studied the Reformation and I initially thought I would find myself in a Confessional Lutheran church, or perhaps with the Orthodox. But to my surprise the Spirit instead led me to a local Roman Catholic parish, and it is home. I will likely be confirmed this spring. I feel such peace, so nourished there, closer to Him. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would seek to become a Catholic, I would not have believed them. It has been quite the Unexpected Journey.
So anyway, that's where I am at. Nice to meet you all.
