I’ve been a little unsure as to how to take the search forward. I can’t really pick a favourite just now (though the early front-runners are QPBC, Re:Hope and Sandyford Henderson), and I don’t really want to spend a few weeks in each because that will take ages. I’d thought about just keeping going round them all one at a time, eliminating one after each rotation, but that’s all a bit too Pop Idol or Big Brother, and you’d never catch me being frivilous about something like this.
I think what I need to do is get beyond first impressions and find out more about the churches – what they do beyond Sundays, what they do in their communities and the wider world.
So I’ll go back to each of them one Sunday (both services, where possible), and even see if I can gatecrash something else, such as a midweek meeting. Different events and services have different people, atmospheres, purposes and formats, and so seeing more than just one service should help me get a much fuller picture of whether I’d be comfortable being a part of each church in the longer term. And more importantly, whether they’d put up with me.
Thereafter, I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll commit to somewhere for a few weeks or months, or think up some sort of round 3… an inter-church poker competition, perhaps.
Any other ideas?
G’day mate!
I like the idea of spending a week at each church ie. doing the Sunday double and a mid-week thingy.
Although, if you want to go with Gareth’s idea, I’m sure your Dad won’t mind lending you some of his clobber {;-P
My suggestion would be to put a call out for churches to submit tenders to tell you why they want you there and what they’re prepared to offer. Hee hee!
Have a fabbo Easter.
L
Simon, it’s time for a knockout cup competition. The Glasgow God Cup. There are 7 churches: write the names of them on pieces of paper, along with 1 marked “bye”. Draw 4 “matches”, of which one will be a non-match. Then visit the churches in each match on consecutive days/weeks/on the same day/whatever you feel like. Do a post on the relative merits of each one, the “winner” proceeding to the semi-final. Repeat with 2 matches, which will give you a grand final and the Glasgow God Cup champions. You could even have a third-place playoff, to placate those churches enraged at being knocked out so close to the final. Who knows, if you publish the fixtures the churches could get competitive and put some extra effort in.
why not pray about it and see what God says!?!
not assuming u haven’t, but i’m not so sure about all this church rating buisness, on a scale of how good the praise band were, the length of sermon and the comfiness of the seats/ pews/ floor!!
God might want u at the hard pewed, not-quite-so-in-tune singing church, which u may have eliminated in round 1! and i’m sure if He does He’ll guide u back, i just find that often we over-complicate things and when we stop and actually seek God in the midst of running around and doing stuff, everything becomes a lot clearer! now to practice what i preach…!
p.s. inverness is great, i had a great time up there- thanx for the handy hints!
Lynzy, you’re “right enough”, as the Invernessians would say – prayer is key to all this, and I can assure you it has been. I’ve (hopefully!) not been too over-scientific in this, but I really do think it’s been valuable to reflect on what kind of church I would be comfortable in and what aspects I’ve enjoyed or not. Those I’ve decided not to revisit are ones that just haven’t (with prayer) felt right for me.
However, prayer alone generally doesn’t get things done in your life – it’s got to be matched by actions. God will indeed guide me to the right church if I listen, but while I do, I must also be actively seeking one. Hence my visits.
Looking forward to meeting you at St Silas soon!
Been interested in reading your experience of the Destiny Church in Glasgow. Did you stay long enough to realise it is a cult and uses mind control techniques? Would be interested to hear about that.
John
Couldn’t comment, John, it’s been several years since I was there, and while the church wasn’t for me I didn’t see anything I’d have described as cultish or mind control.