Church Shopping

Have you ever shopped for a church? For a very long time I was on the church end of that transaction. I was the Sunday School teacher, the youth leader, the choir member and the bible study teacher. For me there was always a feeling of being on trial whenever a new person entered the church doors. Make them feel welcome, go out of your way, invite them to join an activity, etc. Maybe that's the problem now when I'm on the opposite end as the shopper. I wonder if these people are as friendly and nice and inclusive as they portray.
We (Michael and I) came from and met at the BIG Baptist Church on the hill where you are only known to be there if you have a smaller Sunday School class that you attend. And even then, the classes are so large, you can hide there just as well as in the massive Sanctuary. The options there are endless. There's traditional worship, contemporary worship, rock-n-roll worship, early worship, late worship and childcare provided so you could possibly drop your child off at 8 a.m. and not come back till 12:30p.m. It's all very eventful and busy. But if you're like us, and you can't find your class, or your niche or your place where you belong. It all sort of feels like cattle being herded through hallways - in one forum, on to the next.
So we shop. For Churches. Seems almost sacrilegious.
We've been to a Presbyterian church - very formal and very Scottish. I thought it interesting that there were that many people available in Augusta, GA to support a Scottish-based sect. Besides the hats that they wore for Easter, the whole thing was particularly boring. I fought sleep the entire time....and the benches were horrible on the back.
We've been to Methodist churches - two so far. They were both small and cozy, not unlike the church I grew up in. Unfortunately, they lack the diversity. Poor Addison was the only child her age at both churches. I do not want to sentence my child to a church life of boredom and adults. What kind of picture of God would that create for her? And I had to chuckle to myself at all the silver hairs that laid claim to their church. You got the feeling, and rightly so, that they own that place. They probably are the sole reason it still functions - through their financial support.
We are not picky about which division of protestant we are...we just want a community to belong to...that all of our family can belong to.
So we journey on. Next on the list is another BIG Baptist Church. I almost feel like a beggar asking all my friends, where do you go to church? But that's what you want at church right? You want to be amongst friends. Wish us luck.