musings

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.