 |
| Pray for Japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Currently, I am in the process of trying to find a permanent church home where I can worship. I have visited about 4 or 5 churches over the past six months to a year, but so far none of them have struck me as a permanent place for me to stay. Part of the problem is that I am looking for a church that has an early worship service because we go to visit our son every other Sunday while he is away at school. The early service allows me to go to church and still be able to drive to the Eastern Shore to take him out to lunch.
Two weeks ago, I began visiting another Baptist church in Bowie. This church is a little further away from my house than the other Baptist church that I visited in December, but it also had an early service. The early service at the previous church was more of a contemporary, praise worship service, while the one I visited two weeks ago was more traditional. I prefer the more traditional worship service.
There were a couple other things about the more recent church that I liked over others that I have visited thus far. After the worship service of my first visit, someone from the welcoming committee approached me and took me to the welcome center where they game me a tote bag along with some info about the church, a CD, and a pen. Later that week, I received a hand written note from the pastor who also spoke to me after the service. Perhaps most important, I noticed in the morning program that the church had scheduled a special prayer meeting for the persecuted church.
Given the recent burden that I have felt for the persecuted church, that point really stood out for me. Unfortunately, that service was scheduled for last night a 6pm, which I feared would be difficult for me to attend since my son would be home from school for a visit. As it turned out, I was able to attend that service. I would like to say that it was an awesome time of prayer for the persecuted church, but I can't say that in complete honesty.
First, I have to say, that I think the overall congregation size is fairly small. For the early Sunday morning services, attendance is usually around 25 people. The later service has more attendance, usually around 125 people. When I saw that the church would have a special service of prayer for the persecuted church, I thought that perhaps the church had a burden for the worldwide church. Sadly, counting myself, the pastor, and an accompanying musician for the worship team, there was a total of 8 people in attendance.
The other thing that made the evening difficult for me was the structure of the evening. I have been to a number of prayer services during the years that I was an active member of the different Baptist churches that I have been a part. During periods of corporate prayer, I have been used to the periodic interjection of an "amen" or "hallelujah." Last night, when somebody was praying, there were sometimes one or two people interjecting longer phrases during the prayer. At times, there were three people speaking at once and it was very difficult for me to follow along.
Despite the difficulties, the mere fact that the church would have a special prayer service for the persecuted church was a major plus for me. Last night, the emphasis was on the persecuted church in Asia. There were four separate areas that we would pray for. Prior to each prayer segment, a speaker would give a little background of the area with specific areas of persecution or concern. That speaker would then give a prayer addressing those areas. It was quite an education. The areas we prayed for were India & Bhutan, the Philippines, China, and the 10/40 window.
I still am not sure whether this most recent church is where I want to end up. I do feel the need to find a regular place of worship. I have a history of wanting what I perceive to be a perfect place. Unfortunately, I don't think that I will ever find a place that lives to my ideal. I was very uncomfortable with some aspects of last night's prayer service. I don't know whether my discomfort was a result of my own prior experiences or something more. I am hoping some of you who have experienced different prayer services can share whether or not you have experienced something similar and how it made you feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment