Why do you love your church?

[JadeOrchidSong]

We love our church for it has a great balance of being gospel-centered and being authentic and welcoming. Everyone seems to invest in it while no one feels pressure to serve in any way. It truly feels like Acts 2: 42 to 47. I wish all my neighbors ccould join my church and worship the true God together. I have never had this strong feeling about another church.

So why do you love your church?

[Seasider]

You are surely blessed.

[DawnM]

I love it for many reasons.  The new pastor is phenomenal.  He gets to the heart of the matter pretty quickly and has a passion for people.  It shows.

 

My teens love the youth pastor.  He is amazing.  It is a rather large church but he has a knack for remembering names after just one or two meetings with a person!  My boys had had a bad experience in a youth group and asked not to go anymore.  So this year when they were asking me if they could go AND they kept asking each week, I was thrilled that it was a program that was actually worth going to.  I volunteer with the middle school youth group on Wed. nights and I am quite impressed.

 

My 4th grader likes going Wed nights too and asks to go.

 

The teens get a devotional from the church that they are supposed to fill in during the week.  It isn't mandatory but is encouraged.  The boys actually want to do it.  

 

DH and I took a financial class about 7 years ago at the church called Crown Financial.  It changed our lives.  So much so that we got trained and now teach it ourselves.  We have seen marriages saved in those classes and it continues to bless us.   

 

There are other reasons we really like our church, but these are some of them.

 

Dawn

[Chris in VA]

Well, dh is the priest, so I may be biased...

 

I love it because it's a group of imperfect people who share their lives in a community informed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of us are quite different in the ways we think, both theologically and politically, but we all are trying to love each other and to listen to God, and to serve him. Some of us are still seekers, drawn by the love the people have for each other, curious to see what of the Divine inspires that love. Some of us have known God and served him for years and years, yet still seek him and yearn for more intimacy with him. Some of us just come because we've always come.

 

We all walk together, knowing we are bound together by something or someone greater.

 

I love my church because there's space for all of us. We believe God wants us to know him and has made himself knowable to the point where we can have confidence in his love for us. We also leave room for mystery, not trying to explain everything but allowing that God, as worthy of our worship, is bigger than we are; sometimes that's comforting and sometimes that's frustrating, but we can share those feelings with each other as we try to live lives of faith.

[fairfarmhand]

Our women's group is A. MAZ. ING.  No cattiness. No cliques. No ugliness or bickering.

 

Women who love the Lord and try really hard to exemplify the character traits that he wants us to have.

 

I have never been to a church with such a phenomenal group of women. I am firmly convinced that our ladies are a HUGE part of why our church is such a warm welcoming place.

 

I could call right now 20 ladies who would keep my confidence and do nothing more than pray for a special, private need.

 

We are accepting of God's calling in many different ways in people's lives. For some, that is homeschooling, other, it's Christian school for their kids. Other are at the local high school. Some ladies work, others are at home. Noone tries to implement God's plan in anyone else's lives.

[mrsrevmeg]

http://revmegdad.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/9-reasons-i-love-my-church/

 

The above is a blog post my husband wrote on some of the reasons that we LOVE our church. Like the OP, I wish I could get everyone I know to attend my church. We aren't anything fancy, but we are sincere. The teaching that goes on at my church is beyond anything I ever thought we would find. I had basically given up on finding a Biblical, God-centered church. Every where that we went for a while seemed to be more concerned with music than with teaching. (keep in mind, I am not saying a church should not have good music-just that should not be their priority) My husband is a minister. After we left our previous church, he got several calls to come to other churches. most of them were churches that wanted light, fluffy kind of preaching. After we visited our current church, he decided he would rather be a nobody in a good church, instead of a pastor in a bad church. The people we go to church with are so nice, loving and genuine. If someone asks how you are, they really want to know-it's not just "How are you?" as they keep walking by.

ETA: I forgot to mention the youth group. Our youth pastor is a really great guy. The youth in our church are treated like they matter now, not just some time in the future. (I don't know how many churches I have heard say The young people are the church are the church of tomorrow) There is not any of the acting stupid and ungodly that goes on in some groups. They do have fun, but not by doing things that ought not to be done. (sorry, I have been around around tooo many bad youth groups in my day)

Edited October 15, 2013 by mrsrevmeg

[JadeOrchidSong]

ETA: October is pastor appreciation month

Wow, it is great to hear about great churches out there. I am going to share with my pastors and my church the reasons I love my church. I am the only immigrant there and I feel deeply connected. I feel truly blessed! Maybe this is small, but I love having real mugs to drink real organic green tea at the pew during the service! I hate those flimsy paper and plastic cups to no end.

[milovany]

Because it is what it is and I can't change what it is. That sounds funny, but the first time we went to an Orthodox church locally, my husband and I were the only two there besides these two men upfront chanting the service.  We were really out of our element.  But I asked one of the guys after the service, "What would you have done if we hadn't have come?" -- because in the churches I was used to, if there was no congregation, there was no service -- and he gave me the answer my heart wanted to hear.  "We would have continued the service."  The church has its prayers and its ways and its liturgy and sacraments and practices, and they don't depend on me. They're there as a gift to me if I want to receive them. 

 

I love it because it's rich and deep and true and reverent and majestic.  I love that it challenges me to grow in Christ in all ways -- spiritually, emotionally, and even physically.  I love it because it's old.  I love it because it fills me up and yet presses me to consider others more than myself. I love that I'm not just talking about my local parish, but about a worldwide church that's united in its faith. 

 

Locally and practically speaking, I love our priest and the way he guides this flock.  I love his tenderness and compassion for us, and yet his firm hand that's guided by the ancient wisdom of the church. I love our people; we don't necessarily have "like mindedness" in every day matters, but we're united in our Orthodox faith as we say the Creed and receive the Eucharist together. 

 

I love our location.  Our building is in a neighborhood but literally just over the county line and it's a country-ish piece of property with a creek and huge field behind.  Very peaceful. 

[QueenCat]

I feel at "home" at our church. I have real friends there, that I can count on. There is no doubt that I am in a community of Christians. We don't necessarily agree about everything (especially politics) but we care about each other.

[ktgrok]

It is welcoming. My first experiences there have included going through the annulment process. Having to do that was nerve wracking for me, but everyone was sweet at they could be. No judgement, no shame, just warmth and sympathy and support. 

 

It is TRULY family friendly. There are kids everywhere. There is a nursery for little ones, but most parents seem to keep their kids in church. Ages 3-K can , but don't have to, attend Sunday School/Faith Formation during the 10am service. My daughter does, and loves it. And I feel good about her being there because they will call me if anything happens, or if they can't reach me will, as the main person said, "walk up and down the aisles of the church with her to find mama" if need be. Although she loves it and has zero issues with me leaving her, I wanted to know that if something happened or she was upset they would find me. Meanwhile, lots of other little ones her age are in the main service, and that is totally ok too. 

 

I have my 1 year old with me most of the time, in a carrier. We stand in the back, where there is a huge, open area. We pace, we look at the stained glass, at the candles people have lit, etc and no one bats an eyelash. Mainly because there are a whole bunch of other parents wandering around back there, also soothing restless little ones. By the end of Mass the side walls are also literally lined with parents holding restless babies, soothing them to sleep. 

 

We also have people with various handicaps, elderly people brought in by bus from local nursing homes, just the whole gamut of the human experience. 

 

And people of every color, nationality, and socioeconomic status. 

 

That's what I love about my parish, really. That I'm reminded every single week that we are made in the image of God, and I can see that in the faces of all the different people. I see the human being from ages 2 weeks to 90 years old there, in all states, and it is powerful some how. 

 

 

[KrissiK]

Pastor teaches the Word of God. No apologies.

It's small, everyone knows us.

Wonderful people who love God.

[bolt.]

There are a lot of reasons why I "like" my Church (and a few things I don't like too)... but, musing on this question, the question of why "love" describes my relationship to that group of people, I only have one answer: "I have come into love for my Church, because my Church first loved me."

 

(A heavy-truth, because it is exactly what I experienced, actually/accurately the basis of my relationships there, and because it is exactly the way love works in the Bible, and it feels so right to have that going on in the Body of Christ.)

 

Others made it a home for my heart, and I make it a home for the hearts of others.

[J-rap]

Our pastor is very humble, and does not presume to have all the answers.  It's a fairly conservative denomination and in many ways our family is quite liberal, but this pastor admits that his conservative views might not be shared by all, and that we each need to be prayerful about the issues and come up with our own conclusions. 

[kbutton]

My answers are not particularly spiritual. Our pastor runs his ideas by many, many people before presenting them to the whole congregation. It's a big church, so I am sure he still ruffles feathers, but he doesn't do things willy-nilly or abuse his authority. I think it's rare for someone to lead with authority from the trenches rather than stand above and play the power card. If the church tries something new, and it doesn't work, they try something else. On the other hand, they don't change without looking at why something didn't work or what their priorities are--they make an actual attempt to make it work. Their new ideas aren't just the same idea rebranded so that it fails again for the same reasons the first try failed. They make tough decisions based on what they have to work with and what they feel God is calling them to do. The people who are serving truly enjoy it.

 

I feel invited to serve and want to give back. I am limited in what I can do at church because of practical realities at home (weird work schedule for hubby/special needs son), but no one makes me feel bad for not committing to things I can't actually do. I do not feel obligated to force myself into a job that I am not suited for just because no one else will do it either.

 

Even though we've been there for a while, people continue to introduce themselves. It's not taken for granted that everyone knows each other.

 

Our pastor is very candid about his own struggles. He doesn't flaunt them for show, and he doesn't wallow in them as if things will never change. He continues to grow personally and shares how that happens from the pulpit. I never hear guilt trips via his sermons, but I certainly feel as though I am challenged and confronted with my own shortcomings lovingly and carefully. One sermon in particular probably kept our family together. It's probably obvious from my response that we came to this church rather spent, discouraged, and feeling a bit abused. This church has been healing.

[KarenNC]

Great minister---wonderful sermons, very involved in community issues, personable, open about struggles she's had.

 

Like the youth programs--this year my daughter's group is learning more about neighboring faiths, including visiting various houses of worship, and I plan to have her participate in the 8th grade Our Whole Lives human sexuality program. Although she couldn't participate this year because of schedule conflicts, the youth group typically sells tshirts at the local PRIDE event to benefit Time Out Youth (a group for LGBT and questioning teens)

 

Dedication to social justice---half the undesignated plate collection each week goes to a local nonprofit, the recipient varies monthly (groups that serve homeless kids, literacy, women coming out of incarceration, gleaning, humane society, public library, lands conservancy, Jewish Family Services, interfaith work, clean power, NAACP, hospice, health care for poor, education, etc); establishing a social justice relationship with a town in Guatemala not to convert people but to help them find ways to alleviate suffering; many other varied social justice activities

 

Room for spiritual exploration--we are a non-creedal religion that values a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, encouraging spiritual growth, recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of each individual, and the interdependent web of existence. I'm currently enjoying an adult religious education class on some of the major sacred texts of the world.

 

Supportive welcoming community that isn't blind to our faults---we are currently doing the work to renew our status as a congregation that is intentionally welcoming to people who are LGBT and taking a hard look at unconscious racism.

 

It's far from perfect (the music could definitely fit my personal tastes better, but Gregorian chant isn't everyone's thing ;) ), but overall, it's the best fit for us right now.

 

[Aelwydd]

I love our church because we can go twice a year and not receive postcards, phone cards, or visits from "concerned" ministers or lay persons. That's right--I LIKE being left alone to my own spiritual devices, lol.