We moved to New Orleans on July 9, 2007. For about the next 7 or 8 weeks, we drove back and forth to Brewton, AL to continue working at Alco Baptist Church. Since finishing our work there, we have embarked on the journey of trying to find a church home here in New Orleans. Neither of us have ever really had to do this before, so it’s been a new experience for us. It’s been a lot harder that we thought it would be. The part that’s been really hard is not feeling like we have a place where we belong. Somewhere we can get involved and build relationships. We’ve now visited a total of 4 churches, and I think we may have found where God wants us to be, but I can safely say that this has been a learning process more than anything else.
First of all, if you’re searching for the perfect church, you’re never going to find a church home. It doesn’t exist.
Second, there is a difference between a standard “We’re glad to have you this morning” and one that’s really sincere. They’re not that hard to distinguish. Then of course there’s the “We’re glad to have you this morning and we’d love for you to come to lunch with us today.” Not heard very often, but very effective at letting someone know you really care about them. I think I’ll come away from this experience knowing a little bit more about how I should approach new people who visit my church. I’ll know a little better how to make them realize that we really do care about them, and we want them to be a part of our church.
Third, there are obvious things such as essential doctrines that cannot be compromised. But beyond that, the details about how they organize their services, what kind of worship leader or pastor they have, and lots of other little things are just that….little things. We’ve been drawn to a particular church because of the sincerity of the people there. The pastor, the worship leader, the congregation are all there because they have been saved by a gracious God, they want to worship that God, and they want to draw others into the worship of that God. When you’re in a church like that, the details don’t really matter anymore.
We’re still praying about where God wants us to worship and serve while we’re here in New Orleans, but I have a feeling we may have finally found the place.
-Diana
