find a new church

On November 8, we will officially become members of St. Mark Lutheran Church. I’m very excited about it! They have plenty of other young families in their congregation, a preschool on site, and a vibrant music program. It’s a very good fit for our family.

We’ve been going to St. Mark Lutheran pretty regularly the past few months. I think we’re going to stay there, but I guess I’m not quite ready to commit yet. We like the pastors, but haven’t really met any of the members. It’s hard to find the time to stick around after church, but we’re going to have to make a stronger effort.

Alright, so this year for Lent we went to St. Mark’s. We went to the Wednesday night services all the weeks that we could, and also to the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services. Now it’s time to start going to some regular Sunday morning services, and going to the fellowship hour afterwards. The people have been friendly so far – it must be obvious that we’re not regulars. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll have to take a later start time on Sunday mornings at work, but that’s not the end of the world.

I’ll report back in after next Sunday.

We visited Our Saviour’s again for Good Friday, since my home church wasn’t having a service (I don’t know why, but I was sure peeved when I found out – but that’s a discussion for another day). It was a really nice service – readings of the Seven Words intersperced with songs from the choir. The choir is really good, and they have a seperate conductor, instead of being conducted by the organist/pianist. The organ itself is pretty nice, too – small-ish, but the space has great acustics, so the sound doesn’t suffer, only the range.

Instead of a traditional sermon, there was a skit (it was terrible, to be honest, so that’s something to watch out for), so we didn’t get to hear the new pastor preach. We’re still planning to go back on a Sunday in the near future.

We’re still no closer to choosing a new church, but at least we found a good Tenebrae service.

We were all set to go to another church this morning, but my husband woke up sick. Very disappointing, both for him and for me. He has to work next Sunday, so it will be at least two weeks before we have a chance to try again.

We visited Our Saviour’s. Turns out we know a few people there, sort of – my friend SL’s family goes there, as does our insurance agent.

The building is beautiful, they seem to have several different musical opportunities, there was a good number of children at the children’s sermon.

However, we found out during the service that it was in fact the interim pastor’s last week. So, as far as all of that goes, it wasn’t exactly representative. Too bad, because we had a good first impression of the pastor. Oh well.

We’ve decided to go back in a month or so to hear the new pastor.

It’s going to be hard to leave the congregation I was baptized into, and the church I was confirmed and married in, but it’s become glaringly obvious that it is no longer a good fit for me. I’ve given them all I have, and gotten almost nothing in return. I have no peers there, I’m not growing. I don’t even enjoy participating in the music ministry anymore.

Ideally I would want an ELCA church with a strong music ministry, a strong program for young families, a strong children’s program, a liberal-leaning philosopy, and the occasional high-church service. I’m not sure such a place exists at all, much less in my city, so I know I’m going to have to be flexible with some of these.

My committment to the council of my home church ends in February. December is not a good time for church-shopping, of course, but I can spend some time this month thinking about what I need in a church, what I want, and what I can live without. In January, I intend to visit one or two churches around town. After that, I’ll probably visit other churches at least every other Sunday until I find a new church home.

Those are my plans. Now I just have to implement them.