Stretchy Glue
27th October 2008, 12:19 PM
First off, if this is the wrong forum, please forgive me and move it to the correct spot.
A little history: I grew up in a United Methodist church that became quite liberal as I grew older and my parents stopped attending. Shortly after having my daughter, my husband and I began attending a Free Methodist church, where we have been for the past 5+ years. My husband had never been to church until my daughter was born. My daughter attended the daycare at our church until she went to kindergarten. Now she attends a Christian school across the county. We are very blessed to be able to send her to this school.
About 18 months ago, our church went through a major shake up, with a pastor firing and many members leaving. A new pastoral family was hired and they are wonderful people. All that being said, the atmosphere is changing significantly. With all the political stuff going on, several members of the church are sending mass emails out to everyone that have a horribly un-Christian-like vibe to them. Another thing that has been bothering me is that the majority of the families in our church home school their children and have subtly or not so subtly insinuated that my husband and I are being lazy by letting someone else raise our child, and someone even said that we could be putting our money to better use by giving it to the church instead of a school. My daughter, who used to be very excited about going to church has started to balk at it. Instead of saying she doesn't want to go, she's been asking to try different churches.
We really, REALLY want my daughter to love church, and if it means that we change, we're willing to do that to keep her excited. We went through the school directory and have chosen 4 different denominations to visit, based on the churches that many families from her school attend. (Having friends from school in her Sunday School class is something she wants).
When doing my research on these churches, their beliefs and foundations all sound pretty much the same. I know that there are differences, and that's what I'm trying to find out. I currently attend a Free Methodist church that is pretty contemporary in worship style, but seems quite traditional in beliefs, sometimes though the members of the congregation are really stubborn and un-forgiving (I realize that this is the individual members, not the church, but most of these members are the elders and "experienced" Christians).
Here is the list of the denominations we're considering:
Baptist
Christian Reformed Church
Assembly of God
Non-Denominational
Each of these were chosen because they openly support my daughter's school and Christian education, all are larger churches with more family and children's programs, and all have a large amount of families from my daughter's school.
How different are these from each other? Is it simple issues like music style or are the differences really significant.
We are attending each church 2 times in a row, then after all have been visited we're going back to each one at least once more before we decide. We've been praying about this decision for a few weeks now, asking God to guide us and support us in this endeavor.
I really appreciate any input you can give me.
Jonihttp://www.gracecentered.com/christian_forums/Themes/classic/images/icons/modify_inline.gif
A little history: I grew up in a United Methodist church that became quite liberal as I grew older and my parents stopped attending. Shortly after having my daughter, my husband and I began attending a Free Methodist church, where we have been for the past 5+ years. My husband had never been to church until my daughter was born. My daughter attended the daycare at our church until she went to kindergarten. Now she attends a Christian school across the county. We are very blessed to be able to send her to this school.
About 18 months ago, our church went through a major shake up, with a pastor firing and many members leaving. A new pastoral family was hired and they are wonderful people. All that being said, the atmosphere is changing significantly. With all the political stuff going on, several members of the church are sending mass emails out to everyone that have a horribly un-Christian-like vibe to them. Another thing that has been bothering me is that the majority of the families in our church home school their children and have subtly or not so subtly insinuated that my husband and I are being lazy by letting someone else raise our child, and someone even said that we could be putting our money to better use by giving it to the church instead of a school. My daughter, who used to be very excited about going to church has started to balk at it. Instead of saying she doesn't want to go, she's been asking to try different churches.
We really, REALLY want my daughter to love church, and if it means that we change, we're willing to do that to keep her excited. We went through the school directory and have chosen 4 different denominations to visit, based on the churches that many families from her school attend. (Having friends from school in her Sunday School class is something she wants).
When doing my research on these churches, their beliefs and foundations all sound pretty much the same. I know that there are differences, and that's what I'm trying to find out. I currently attend a Free Methodist church that is pretty contemporary in worship style, but seems quite traditional in beliefs, sometimes though the members of the congregation are really stubborn and un-forgiving (I realize that this is the individual members, not the church, but most of these members are the elders and "experienced" Christians).
Here is the list of the denominations we're considering:
Baptist
Christian Reformed Church
Assembly of God
Non-Denominational
Each of these were chosen because they openly support my daughter's school and Christian education, all are larger churches with more family and children's programs, and all have a large amount of families from my daughter's school.
How different are these from each other? Is it simple issues like music style or are the differences really significant.
We are attending each church 2 times in a row, then after all have been visited we're going back to each one at least once more before we decide. We've been praying about this decision for a few weeks now, asking God to guide us and support us in this endeavor.
I really appreciate any input you can give me.
Jonihttp://www.gracecentered.com/christian_forums/Themes/classic/images/icons/modify_inline.gif