A Change of Perspective

Yesterday was our first official day of "church shopping".  Now, I don't like shopping for things like shoes or clothes.  I definitely don't like church shopping.  Who likes going into a place where you don't know one person (much less where the bathroom is), leaving your screaming children with childcare workers who don't know to make them stop, listening to a sermon from somewhere in the middle of a series they are going through, and filling out visitor cards?  I guess we do because we did it twice yesterday. 

As we were pulling out of the driveway I was running through my head all the things I wanted in a church.  Of course, I wanted a preacher who preached the Word, a welcoming church family, etc.  But I also wanted some selfish things: childcare that didn't depend on me serving multiple times a month, a ladies group that met during the weekdays so we could have nights as a family, a Sunday School class with a solid group of people our age, and the list went on. 

The first church we visited is a growing church that everyone we had talked to had recommended - even our Mormon neighbor!  The second "church" we visited was actually a chapel on base.  Chaplains are required to attend a chapel service, and we would like to do that as a family. 

I won't post what I thought of the churches or if they had all the items on my checklist, because that is not what I walked away caring about.  After sitting in both of those places I realized how few people actually go to church here - very few.  We drove in and out of our neighborhood while many were still sleeping or out mowing their lawn.  My heart broke.  I suddenly recognized that my checklist was all about me and not about what I can do to serve and witness to others.  For so many months before we moved here I was bothered by the fact that I really didn't have any "lost" friends.  As a matter of fact,pretty much everyone I saw went to my church.  (That's what happens when you're a stay at home mom.)  I prayed asking God to show me someone I could befriend and witness to.  Every time I just heard Him say, "Wait."  Wait?  Really?  Now I know why.  I have my work cut out for me here.  Apart from Chaplain wives I have only met one believer.

So, please be in prayer for our family as we shine our lights in this darkness.  Pray that we can find some Christian friends and that we can impact the friends we make that aren't.  God wants to use us to share His love here - we just want to know where and how.  At least it is a whole week before we have to church shop again!