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What has been your past experience in local church attendance? Explain the positive and the negative.
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My past experience has been serving as a Sunday School Teacher and Superintendent, Head Usher, and discipleship course member. The positive is that our church family led us out of some very dark periods due to some things that happened in our professional lives but also led us back to Christ and into some really awesome professional opportunities, in which I was called to utilize my pastoral and apostolic gifts that God helped me to discover and define in my role with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I now have friends that I love and love me back, iron sharpening iron. The negatives is when politics blend into religion and creates division within the church because of opinions rather than spiritual beliefs.
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in church I am able to meet people whose genuine faith is an inspirations. They are all out in serving, giving of themselves and showing mercy.
The negative is not all are given an opportunity to serve. There is hesistancy and fear for those who are older and established members to get replaced. It is always them in all areas of service until they are all burned out. -
My best experiences are when I visit a local church and they are warm and welcoming. They make a point of greeting you, talking with you, asking you if you have a “home” church and if not to invite you to make that church your “home” church.
My most negative experience in local church attendance was when I attended a church for a short period of time and the people were cold and acted like they didn’t care if you were there or not. A few people felt like they had the right to “run” the church as they saw fit because their family had been of that church for generations and had no qualms about overruling anything they didn’t agree with even if it would be beneficial to the church. -
My best experiences have been in churches that emphasize personal experience, personal devotion and Bible meditation, and small groups–but also see a vital need for the whole church to assemble, worship, and celebrate. My worse experiences have been in churches that are interested in preserving denominational–or non-denominational–status and are consciously promoting an agenda and a marketable image.
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I have attended the same church for over 20 years and I worked there for 12. Consistent church attendance was really good for my family and our church became family as well. The negatives were occasionally feeling like we “had” to be there because of my job and it was very difficult sometimes to ever not go. I do not believe that this aspect is healthy and there are times when all families need a morning at home