Series: Looking for Membership in a New Local Body
Posted 06-23-2008 at 06:22 PM by danmpem
Day 2
I moved back home to Vacaville, CA. While I am very happy with a local body in Dixon, the drive is too far to be taking every time there is an event or small group meeting, not to mention every Sunday morning. I am not very familiar with the various bodies here in Vacaville, save the megachurches.
Yesterday, I made a list of churches out of the phone book. After calling each of them and getting worship service schedules from their answering machines, the list made it down to 15 possibilities. These denominations ranged from Baptist & Presbyterian to Lutheran & Evangelical Free.
Today, I called their offices once again and spoke with several pastors, office managers, and small group leaders. Currently, this week I am scheduled for two small groups, one college fellowship gathering, and one adult Bible study class.
In the last five of the six years of being a Christian, all I have been exposed to is a seeker-sensitive and emerging church atmosphere. Doctrine was of secondary concern, and the gospel was something to be taken for granted.
While I'm going to look into all of the churches I have written down, the ones so far that look promising are Valley Evangelical Free Church and St. John Lutheran.
A Note on What I am Looking & Not Looking For
Essentials:
Reformed view & teaching of soteriology
Expository preaching
College community of any size
A group of older people to guide the younger
Opportunities for serious one-on-one discipleship
Confessional/Doctrinal Statement
Music during worship service
Non-essentials (I'm not concerned which way these go):
Credo/Paedo views on Baptism (I don't currently have a position or conviction)
Eschatology (I do have one, but I'm not getting picky)
Confessional/Doctrinal Statement (I'm okay with WCF, LBC, 3FU, etc. I just want them to at least have one. Where I come from, that is asking a lot.)
Denomination Affiliation
Music during worship service (I don't care if they are E.P., I just want the option of not having a rock band leading worship)
I moved back home to Vacaville, CA. While I am very happy with a local body in Dixon, the drive is too far to be taking every time there is an event or small group meeting, not to mention every Sunday morning. I am not very familiar with the various bodies here in Vacaville, save the megachurches.
Yesterday, I made a list of churches out of the phone book. After calling each of them and getting worship service schedules from their answering machines, the list made it down to 15 possibilities. These denominations ranged from Baptist & Presbyterian to Lutheran & Evangelical Free.
Today, I called their offices once again and spoke with several pastors, office managers, and small group leaders. Currently, this week I am scheduled for two small groups, one college fellowship gathering, and one adult Bible study class.
In the last five of the six years of being a Christian, all I have been exposed to is a seeker-sensitive and emerging church atmosphere. Doctrine was of secondary concern, and the gospel was something to be taken for granted.
While I'm going to look into all of the churches I have written down, the ones so far that look promising are Valley Evangelical Free Church and St. John Lutheran.
A Note on What I am Looking & Not Looking For
Essentials:
Reformed view & teaching of soteriology
Expository preaching
College community of any size
A group of older people to guide the younger
Opportunities for serious one-on-one discipleship
Confessional/Doctrinal Statement
Music during worship service
Non-essentials (I'm not concerned which way these go):
Credo/Paedo views on Baptism (I don't currently have a position or conviction)
Eschatology (I do have one, but I'm not getting picky)
Confessional/Doctrinal Statement (I'm okay with WCF, LBC, 3FU, etc. I just want them to at least have one. Where I come from, that is asking a lot.)
Denomination Affiliation
Music during worship service (I don't care if they are E.P., I just want the option of not having a rock band leading worship)
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