Journey Into The Unknown part 6

It's Christmas Eve.  An early gift book that I started reading last night helps bring this whole journey thing into perspective. It is "The Triumph of Christianity, How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion", by Rodney Stark.

Just having read a couple of chapters, I can't give a good review of the book yet. I can say, though, that the church that grew from Jesus' small band of disciples into a movement led by those who saw him alive after his crucifixion and resurrection (see I Corinthians 15: 3-8) has been a great force for good in the world, in spite of some black marks. (I can also see in the book that a lot of myths about some of those black marks need exposure to the light of truth).

In any event, the Church, while contributing much to the world, has not been perfect. Somehow, I think Jesus knew that a gathering of disciples that included a traitor, a tax collector, squabbling brothers, and a hot-headed fisherman as its leader would not be perfect.

Now that we are looking for a new local church home, we acknowledge that there is also no such thing as a perfect local church. If there were one, that perfection would cease as soon as I joined it. Still, when looking for a church home, people tend to look for a congregation and a ministry that is as close to perfect for them as possible. We look for something where we are a good fit, something which as much as possible is an ideal church for us.
What I'm looking for on this journey is:

• A church whose focus is on a combination of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. We are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31), and that love should also be great enough to help our neighbors become disciples of our resurrected Lord and Savior (Matthew 28: 18-20). In other words, whatever ministries a church has to help others should include the goal of leading them to find their own Savior and Lord in Jesus Christ.
• A place where Lindsey and I can both exercise our spiritual gifts. (See I Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 for partial lists of how the Lord equips everyone with spiritual gifts for the benefit of the whole Body.) Both of us want to be full members of the church we belong to, and that involves more than just attending, listening, and giving.
• A place where theologically we are in sync with the rest of the church. Swimming against the stream may make one stronger; but after a while it also makes one weary.
• A place where we speak the same "language of music". For those our age, it's not that easy to find a place with music that "speaks to us"--that is, music that blends traditional hymns and more contemporary songs that will help us worship the Lord as we desire. For more about this concept of "The Language of Music", click on the link to see what I wrote about it more than 10 years ago. The short version is, we need to hear sermons in a spoken language we understand, and we also need to hear and sing music in a musical language that speaks to us personally.
• As much as possible, a place "where everybody knows your name", to borrow a phrase from a song. And as the song implies and the TV show "Cheers" that had the song as its theme showed, "knowing everybody's name" means that it's a place where people care about each other. So, we're back to the first item on this list of what I'm looking for on this journey: love, true friendship, a Christian family.

Tomorrow we take our first step on this part of the journey--finding a new church. As always, the Lord who gave us the Great Commission said "I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Thanks be to God!