Life of a Church Nomad

The life of a church nomad (me) hasn't always been that easy.  When I was in college, I became a believer in the Christian faith and came to accept a certain type of church culture.  It worked for me and I enjoyed where I was.  But after coming back to the Charlotte area, I have been bouncing around different churches ever since. 

I can't seem to settle on a church but some of the similarities I see in every church I go to:

• Sermon style - Most denominations in the U.S. have a Sunday church service which is auditorium style or classroom style.  
• Music - Some services start off with three songs (no more, no less, unless it's a worship singing service).  Some services will also end in one to three songs as well.
• Offering - Before the pandemic, there is usually a plate, basket, nets, or trays that get passed around to collect money for the offering.  Now-a-days, I see mostly either a box with a slit on top at various points around the church facility or giving online.
• Building - Speaking of buildings, most Sunday church services are held in their own buildings.
• Hierarchy - Moving away from talking about sermons, each denomination, big or small, have a hierarchy of pastors, elders, deacons, lay people, and so on and so forth.  Mostly those who are pastors or directors are paid positions, while elders, deacons, lay person, and other types of leaders are voluntary positions.
• Financial structure - Most churches, in my understanding, are registered as non-profit organizations in the U.S.  But if you look at some of these megachurches, you would think it's a corporate business.  

Most Americans, especially the older generation, grew up going to a Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic church, which you have to dress to the nine on Sundays, sit still in pews, and listen and participate in a service.  There is generally a hierarchy of leaders which can be good (gracious accountability with love) or bad (politics and authority struggles, or distrust and immorality - I won't get into all the details there).  There are other types of churches but these are your main ones in the U.S.

The church that I went to in college was more or less the same as described above but there was a big emphasis on "homegroups" or small groups.  There were different ones and flavors but typically, the small groups start off with songs, prayer, and then a Bible study.  There might be food, there might be some game playing afterwards, but the point of it was to build relationships within these groups and function as the church functioned in Acts 2:42.  We considered ourselves a "Acts 2:42" church as this is what we believed is how a church should operate and this is how the early church gathers for fellowship and sharing in each others lives.  No auditorium, no rock band, no classroom style teaching.  We got together, shared our resources, broke bread, sing and pray.  

Some of these traditionally churches have been trending towards offering more of these small group style fellowships.  But I think because Charlotte and the surrounding areas are so transient and fluid, it's really hard to have the same group of people stay in one church or one location for a long period of time to build these relationships.  And I get it, these churches are trying and I'm not faulting any one of them.

I think my ideal church and the reality of the church has started to clash many years ago.  What I grew used to in college is something I can't find in Charlotte.  So, in the past 10+ years, I became a church nomad.  While a lot of the churches have very good things, I haven't been fully satisfied by any one of these churches.  But during the pandemic, God blew my idea of what church should be, sort of like a huge reset button.  What I came to dislike is the institution of church, organized religion, and things I mentioned earlier in this blog.

So, it really brought me to question about the church.  What is the church supposed to be?  What was Jesus ultimate mission regarding his followers?  Did Jesus intended to establish an institution?  I think various answers I have heard in the past is that Jesus never intended to start a new religion (much like John Wesley didn't intend to break away from the Anglican church and start the Methodist movement).  I've started researching this to see what others have written and researched about.  

I think until I find a satisfactory answer, I will continue to be a church nomad.