Church Shopping

Google can be used for a lot of things these days, but I never really thought that I would use it to try and find a church.  Church "shopping" is such an odd thing... and it is something that I always feel awkward doing.  We knew that one difficult thing that we would have to do, and one thing that could ease our transition out here at the same time would be to find a new church.  So we began the search on Sunday.

We visited a church called Redeemer Baptist Church in La Mirada (formally First Baptist of La Mirada).  It was a smaller church than I think either one of us expected.  The service was great, and I really felt like I got something from the message.  The people, while small in number, were great as well.  There were a good many young couples, and we even met a couple that had moved to the area from Georgia.  The people seemed really genuine, and offered a lot of good advice.  Who knows, maybe we'll get to spend some more time with them.  Megan and I both liked the church a lot, but we plan on visiting some others before we think about making a decision. 

The one drawback from the church is that there are practically zero youth.  We both feel called to work with youth in some aspect, and while I think we could get a lot from the church, I don't know if we would be truly using the gifts God has given us.  We will most likely try a different church on Sunday.

By the way, it is amazing that any churches can gain new members.  The whole process is strange.  Churches on average are built on their routine.  For a new visitor, it is a giant guessing game of what the routine will be, hoping you don't sit in anyone's "assigned" seat.  For the good churches, the ones that are like a community, it is always awkward to be the new person in a community.  I guess this is more of a microcosm of our journey as a whole.  We are new in this community, and we are trying to find our new "pew".