When I announced that we started this search for a church in April of 2018, I did not expect that we would still be searching a year later. In all from start to finish, I am now nearly certain the journey will take us about 13 months (57 weeks to be more precise).
Timeline
While the general plan has remained consistent throughout, the number of congregations involved expanded twice. Some high points of the timeline follow:
- March 2018 – selected 10 churches to visit
- May 2018 – completed initial visits to 5 churches
- June 2018 – completed initial visits to 10 churches
- August 2018 – expanded our search: completed initial visits to 13 churches (also completed some repeat visits)
- February 2019 – expanded our search again: completed initial visits to 15 churches (also completed a significant number of repeat visits)
- March 2019 – identified two churches as finalists
- March & April 2019 – exclusively attended finalists for worship, participated in the life of both congregations beyond worship, and met one-on-one with a pastor in each congregation
- May 2019 – become members of a nearby congregation
Making a Decision
Since we concluded our first Search for a Church in February 2017, we were very familiar with the process and had a good idea of what this search would entail. The factors that were most significant to us did not change for this new search.
As we were busy with the work of discerning which of the two finalists to choose, I was challenged by two blog posts written only after we had narrowed our choices to two finalists.
Adam Copeland’s “I’m a ‘Church Leader’ who Doesn’t Really Go to Church” (March 18, 2019) resonated with me as someone who has spent most of my adult life in church leadership roles yet was without what most in my geographic area call a church home. It also troubled me, reminding me of conversations I had during my years in local church ministry with people who were “church shopping” yet in reality were looking for unicorns or similarly unrealistic programs or congregational cultures.
Clint Schnekloth’s rebuttal to Copeland’s piece, “Some Pro-tips for Church Leaders Who Don’t Go to Church” (March 19, 2019) spoke directly to why Copeland was having a difficult time connecting with and being an active part of a congregation and challenged me to remember that my decision was not about finding the best possible fit but rather finding a fit where I could contribute.
So What?
We are ready to end our search by joining a local congregation. We would formalize this tomorrow except that we will not be available to attend a Sunday morning service since I’ll be at the Mansfield Mission Center shepherding a volunteer group from Mansfield Bible Church.
I look forward to contributing to a local congregation as a church member and active participant, and am open to being surprised by some of the many ways that happens over time.