SoulSurvivor

Shopping for God

Since I've moved, I have been shopping for a new church home. I haven't had one since I moved from Atlanta, so since then, I've been popping in here and there to holla at God in His house. I've gone to a few churches, and have always found a reason not to go back, wether it was too boring, too far, the service was too long, etc.

The last one I visited was close to home, and the service had to have been on a silent timer, it was so short...but long enough to get the message, you know? The music was ok, and there were projector screens for those in the balcony that couldn't see the stage, complete with descriptions at the bottom of the screen of exactly what part of the program they were at.

All of this was well and good until we got closer to the end of the service. The sermon was on preparing yourself to receive help from the Lord. He then asked if anyone in the congregation would like to open themselves up to "receive their help". I was moved by the message in the afore mentioned sermon, and this sounded like a routine altar call for prayer, so I decided to go down; prayer is powerful in numbers, you know. I went down front, and the congregation started applauding. A woman took me by the arm, and gently led me to a room in the back of the church. I was a little puzzled, but then figured that maybe they like to pray with the person individually with more privacy. So I willingly followed her.

We went into a little room, where other people were being prayed in various spots in the room. The lady sat down across from me and asked what I would like to pray about. I gave her a vague description of some things I was going through, and she began to pray over me. After the prayer was over, she grabbed a clipboard with about four forms on it and a pen and handed it to me. She started talking about New Member classes and things like that. I stopped her in mid-sentence:

Me: I'm sorry, I think there has been a little misunderstanding. This is my first time visiting this church, I'm not ready to join.
Her: Did you not know why you were coming down to the altar?
Me: well, I thought I was just coming down for prayer...
Her: okaaayyy...well, I appreciate your honesty. However, in the future, just know that we usually do individua prayer requests at the end of the service so as not to hold everyone else up.
Me: Ok...I'm really sorry...I just wanted prayer, and it was unclear to me that this was a cal for membership...
Her: yeah...it's alright...when you go back into the sanctuary, be sure to go along the side wall instead of back through the aisle.

As I walking back to my seat, I felt so...I don't know, irritated, confused, and a little put off. She wasn't outwardly rude, but she was curt. And to me, people shouldn't be acting like that in church! So I made a mistake, what was the big deal? I should have paid closer attention to the fact that only two other people went down for prayer. Then, at the end of the service, the pastor was informing the congregation about one of the members passing away. He said that the church would be "funeralizing" him on the following Wednesday. Funeralizing???? I have never heard of it put that way before, and it just did not sound right to me.

So that was my church experience. I may or not give it a second chance, I haven't decided yet. I'm not even sure of what I'm looking for in a church home. I'll just have to have faith that I will be led to the right place of worship.

This is one time that I don't mind paying full price for good quality. Time to max out my spiritual credit cards! Praise God!

posted by DramaQueen @ 1:21 PM