musings

Church Hopping No More.

After four looooonnnnnnggggg weeeks of Church hopping, I have finally decided on a Church. I started with seven potential Churches, but was able to narrow them down rather quickly. I actually think it was toooo quick, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to pick their Church as fast as I did.

In this post, I will share couple reasons why I chose the Church I did as well as other things I’ve learned/noticed on my Church hopping trip.

The seven Churches that I considered were all solid Churches and I would recommend them to any and everyone. As for me, I decided to attend and be active in Grace Bible Fellowship in Mountain View. Below are some of the reasons why I decided on this particular Church.

1) The preaching/teaching from the pulpit is Gospel-centered, expositional, and faithful to the Word of God. I can’t emphasize enough how important preaching is in the vitality of a Church. What we believe dictates how we live. What we believe is entirely dependent on what we are taught. Therefore, the way in which the Church functions and lives is directly correlated with what is preached.

2) This Church is multi-ethnic. There’s nothing wrong with a single or mostly single-ethnic Church, but there is a tremendous value to a multi-ethnic Church. There is much to learn from other cultures and it is extremely beautiful to see the Gospel transcend skin color. Also, Silicon Valley is extremely multi-ethnic, and the Church ought to be also.

3) This Church is multi-generational. Like the previous point, there is nothing wrong with a single or mostly single-generational Church, but a multi-generational Church provides a unique dynamic that allows for youth, energy, and passion to be in perfect harmony with wisdom, experience and guidance. This kind of unity can only be had with the presence of both young and old believers in the same body.

4) This Church is a local Church for me. (only 15 minutes away) The keyword to take notice of is “LOCAL!” If possible, you should NOT be driving 45-60 minutes to attend Church! I know I just made a pretty strong statement, and I don’t mean to offend or call out anyone. Just my honest opinion on what I see in Scripture.

5) This Church has a well defined philosophy of ministry. Since I will only be in the Bay Area for a rather short period of time, a well defined philosophy of ministry helps me get plugged in quickly and effectively.

Now, moving onto other things that I’ve learned/noticed.

1) Church hopping sucks! I think it is absolutely necessary, but the past four weeks have been pretty tough. The hardest thing was the lack of a Christ-centered community. To be honest, it’s actually pretty fun attending different Churches from week to week or multiple in one day, because you get to see and experience different ways of corporate worship. BUT, it still falls short in supplementing and complementing my spiritual growth. Without anyone: to love and be loved by; to confess my sins to; to encourage and be encouraged by; to challenge and to be challenged by; to worship and pray together with; to study the Word of God with; without anyone to fellowship with I am stunted in my growth. God designed for us to be in community. To be without, frankly, is hard. I am excited to be a part of a community and to live together for the glory of God!

2) Surprisingly enough, you can actually learn a lot from a Church’s website. If you are just skimming through the Church website, there are couple things worth looking at. Different Churches use different wording, but in general I’ve noticed that the Churches understanding of the Gospel, their “core values,” and ministry distinctives are worth looking at. You would think that it would be important to read the “statements of faith,” but I found that most of these are extremely similar and rightfully so. For a Church to have a differing view on the Trinity or Jesus, would not be considered a Church at all. Eschatology will also differ from Church to Church, but I doubt anyone would choose a specific Church because of their doctrine of eschatology. If anyone does, he or she clearly has not read the book of Revelations. haha.

3) I probably have more, but I’m too lazy to write them down or to think about them. Talk to me in person aiite!

Church Hopping Musing #2

So, Christmas lands on a Sunday this year. How perfect right! My personal experience today has been quite different.

I didn’t know that sooo many Churches don’t have service on Sunday because of Christmas. How absurd is that?! I can’t seem to formulate a single legitimate reason for doing this. But anyhow, I suppose it makes my Church hopping stint significantly shorter. Two of the seven Churches I wanted to visit didn’t have service today. One of which I “visited” accidentally, because their website didn’t say anything about not having service today. Conclusion. Two churches down. haha. DON’T JUDGE ME!

Church Hopping Musing #1

So it begins…

Ever since I was saved by the grace of God, 3+ years ago, I’ve been at the same Church. Now that I’ve moved back home, for the first time in my life, I will be “church hopping” as a genuine Christian. I’ve technically church hopped before during my first year of undergrad at UCLA, but that hardly counts! At that particular time, I visited only two churches, and simply chose the Church that was more “comfortable” to me. Clearly, my approach and decision is unfortunately indicative of my unregenerate heart. BUT, by the grace of God, He used this Church as an avenue and vessel for my salvation (justification) as well as a large portion of my spiritual growth (sanctification). For that, Praise be to God!

The past couple of weeks, before I left LA, I gave a lot of thought on how I ought to approach Church hopping, and perhaps more importantly, what kind of Church should I be looking for? I think, at least I hope, that all people recognize that there is absolutely no perfect Church, but are there objective distinctions of a “good” or “healthy” Church? As I read Scripture, especially in the Pauline epistles and the book of Revelation, I was utterly convinced that there were. Not so much because any of the NT writers explicitly talks about this topic, but rather, because of the presence of “bad” Churches that are “rebuked” by Paul or John. Without getting into too much detail, Scripture talks about Churches that are “dead” or “lukewarm” or listening to a false gospel. I hate to argue from a reverse thinking perspective, but I think it makes some sense. If there are objectively “bad” Churches, than there must be objectively “good” Churches that believe or do things differently. Long story short, my questions were succinctly and clearly answered in a single book. The book is called “9 Marks of a Healthy Church,” by Pastor Mark Dever. I don’t mean to endorse or advertise this book, but this book pretty much summarized and refined my understanding of a “healthy” Church. I would highly recommend this book to all believers! I think it is crucial to those looking for a new Church, and for people who are already part of a Church, it may help solidify their love for their local Church or perhaps, and unfortunately, identify less healthy Churches.

Now that the backdrop is set, I will post musings here and there that I see or ponder about during my, hopefully short, Church hopping stint. As I write these posts, I will be extremely careful not to name specific Churches or give enough information that one may rightly guess the Church. The purpose of this blog is not for me to identify good or bad Churches, but it is a way for me to highlight my journey, primarily for my brothers and sisters at my old Church, whom I deeply still care for. Please pray for me. That God will make it clear to me what Church I ought to invest my life in.

The first thing that I want to talk about has absolutely nothing to do with anything. haha. As I write and talk about Church hopping, I can’t help but notice that the words “hopping” and “shopping” are SOOOOO close!!! Not just in spelling but in practice as well. I’m going to press on this point for a little bit. I don’t know if “Church shopping” is a coined phrase or not, but I think many people have that kind of mentality going into Church hopping. This consumer mentality in Churches have been a persistent problem in the American evangelical world and I’ve already felt it myself. For me personally, preaching is of great importance and perhaps rightly so, but I found myself subconsciously ranking the delivery and the content of the preachers that I heard. Yes, I should be mindful of preaching, but it should not be the only way in which I value and pick a Church. Whether we own up to it or not, I think we all have our own dispositions and I think we have to identify them and make sure they don’t influence our decisions in a negative manner. Just to name a couple, how “hip” a Church is or isn’t shouldn’t make it or break it for a Church, or how big or small a Church is, or how multi-ethnic a Church is or isn’t. Are these valid factors? Of course, but should they be the primary factors? I don’t think so. Don’t be a shopper, be a hopper! haha. Lastly, on a more humorous note, the only difference in spelling between the two is the letter “s.” I may not be original is saying this, but think of that “s” as your ugly SELF-centered motives! The difference between a shopper and a hopper is that the shopper cares about him or her SELF, but a true hopper ultimately cares about the glory of God through the context of a local, healthy Church that he or she is intimately and covenantly connected to! heheh. 

Today, I visited two Churches and both, coincidentally, were a multi-site Church. Specifically in the context that the preaching pastor spoke at two different congregations/locations with both congregations being part of the same Church in some way, shape or form. It seems like to me that the multi-site model of Churches is somewhat of a recent phenomenon in the evangelical world, and I’m not quite sure if I agree with that approach. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t its anti-Biblical to have a multi-site Church, or that a single-site Church is somewhat “more” Biblical than the other. I think for me, it’s hard to justify the reasons for having a multi-site campus rather than an autonomous Church plant. I think the argument for multi-site Churches is that certain pastors are more gifted and or influential in some way, shape or form, so it is more “effective” in reaching the lost and making disciples. I think that’s a legitimate motive, but since when was salvation or sanctification a product of a man’s gifting or influence? I think never is the right answer! haha. God is the one who calls, and God is the one who grows. All we’re called to do is to preach the Word faithfully, and let God do the rest. BUT, don’t just listen to me, think about it! Not so much to make a hard decision on the issue, but as a way to study Scripture more intently perhaps.

Bless the Lord, O My Soul!

After years of disobedience, I have finally been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May all the glory, honor and praise be given to the One who is solely responsible. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

-October 23, 2011

“The Lord’s Supper, which was instituted by Jesus, and which is the only regular commemorative act authorized by him, dramatizes neither his birth nor his life, neither his words nor his works, but only his death. Nothing could indicate more clearly the central significance that Jesus attached to his death. It was by his death that he wished above all else to be remembered. There is then, it is safe to say, no Christianity without the cross. If the cross is not central to our religion, ours is not the religion of Jesus.

-John Stott

Prayer of Blessing to the Lord

For me, reading the Old Testament is usually interesting. To be completely honest, some of the books, e.g. 1 & 2 Kings, are EXTREMELY boring and seemingly useless. hahaha. Don’t judge me! I still read them word for word!

Anyhow, one of the main things I love about reading the OT is learning about the men and women of God who lived before us. I find it extremely helpful, for my own spiritual walk, to read about and to examine their relationship with God, their victories, and their failures. Biblical characters like Abraham, Moses, David, etc. are individuals who have had a unique relationship to God and their lives provide a endless amount of wisdom for us.

Today, I was reading through 1 Chronicles 28-29 and was really blessed by king David’s prayer of blessing to the Lord. When I pray, sometimes, I find myself at a loss of words. I don’t quite know how to or what to pray about, but praise God for amazing examples in the Bible. I have found that praying the prayers of other men and women of God to be extremely powerful. The passion and the truth that is evident in some of these prayers is absolutely astounding! Embrace it!

The following is the prayer that I read in 1 Chronicles. Read it. Meditate upon it. Make it your own prayer and pray it.

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hands are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

                                                   1 Chronicles 29:10-13