[soc.religion.christian] Choosing a local church

credmond@watmath.waterloo.edu (Chris Redmond) (05/29/90)

In the recent draft document about "Finding a Church", our
wise moderator responded to an inquirer beginning thus:

 I'm going to assume you are a Protestant. If you were a
 Catholic . . . I doubt that you'd be asking this question.

And the bulk of the document deals with the differences between
the various Protestant denominations -- interesting material
of which many people are sadly unaware.

However, another whole aspect of the question is not dealt with
in the document, and I think that aspect applies just as much
to Catholics as to Protestants.  The sub-question is this:
once I have decided that I want a Presbyterian church, (or, a
Catholic church), which Presbyterian (Catholic) church should
I choose?

Possible considerations:

Location (close to home).
Size (do I want a small, intimate group or a large, probably
  more formal one)
Music (style and, especially if the preferred style is
  "traditional", quality)
Preaching (style and quality, again)
Pastoral care (not too intrusive, not too distant, not too incompetent)
Age profile of the congregation
Midweek activities (Bible study? bridge? community service projects?)
Sunday school and youth groups

Perhaps it is not possible to give a sensible answer to "which of these
factors is most important?" but at least seekers should be aware that
Episcopal churches vary enormously on all these scales, as do Methodist
churches.  And Baptist.

CAR
credmond@watmath

mike@turing.cs.unm.edu (Michael I. Bushnell) (06/05/90)

Christ Redmond did raise an interesting point.  I'm a Presbyterian,
and I seriously doubt that I'd join a different denomination, but his
comment about "which local church?" is a good one.  Here's the
criteria I'd use:

Location: 
  Location is important, but not too much.  I need a church that I can
  get to conveniently enough to participate.  I don't want to have to
  say "I can't do XXX, because it's too much of a pain to get there".
  But, within that limit, I don't care too much where the church is.
  The church I currently am a member of is in the middle of a rather
  crime ridden, lower middle class neighborhood, and I have
  absoulutely no intention of automatically avoiding such churches in
  the future on that basis.

Size: 
  Surprisingly, this never mattered too much to me.  I'm pretty
  interested usually in "doing things" for the church, and that is
  certainly a lot easier in a small church.  But there are benefits on
  both sides.  I think I could be comfortable with any size church,
  and I don't think size is too much of a qualifier.

Music:
  I love music.  But then, worship is not an excuse for performance.
  I'd have to say that the music is important, but the penitence of
  the musicians is more important.  If I think they are genuine, that
  is far more important than far better music being performed during
  the service.  As for what kinds of music, I really don't care.  As
  long as it doesn't get in the way of the service.

Preaching: 
  It would be very important for me to talk with the pastor before
  joining *any* church.  I just want to be sure that I understand the
  theological climate of the church.  I'd want to ask some hard
  questions and also just scope out the situation.

Pastoral care:
  The above conference also provides a good indication of the pastoral
  care available.  It's certainly important.

Age profile:
  Doesn't matter too much to me, as long as I can be respected for who
  I am independent of age.  I want myself and any friends I might
  bring to feel welcome.

Midweek activities:
  Any that aren't there can be started.  Isn't a problem.

Sunday School:
  Same as midweek activities.


	-mib

--
    Michael I. Bushnell      \     This above all; to thine own self be true
LIBERTE, EGALITE, FRATERNITE  \    And it must follow, as the night the day,
   mike@unmvax.cs.unm.edu     /\   Thou canst not be false to any man.
        CARPE DIEM           /  \  Farewell:  my blessing season this in thee!