Church Hunting: TC Church

TCC

We settled here almost by default, based on existing relationships with a couple families we already knew. Honestly, it felt very comfortable for me and because the group was so tiny, it felt very informal, unlike church, basically a small familial group. I got along well enough with all of the men, and began to develop friendships with several. And I came to really enjoy the pastor's weeknight Bible study. Sunday's preaching was not strong, but neither was it weak or generally wrong. But, he's a fairly good teacher in a small group and well studied, I found myself very engaged during the weeknight study. Frankly, I loved it and it was the first time in nearly a decade I really wanted to go.

My thinking is this, ditch a lot of the Sunday ritual. Have the pastor/teacher, sit down, form a circle of chairs, and do that. Because the content and impact of the small group is much stronger than Sunday sermons, and because of the small size of the group, you can do this. There's nothing that mandates we have to keep up the Sunday rituals. Do only what contains and fosters meaning, that most brings us back to the resulting dynamic that the early church had (which we know was effective).

Unfortunately, in a small group, Rebecca found herself very uncomfortable with a small set of people. She went because she knew I liked it and was encouraged seeing I wanted to go. But her experience was different and she didn't integrate here.

When the pastor gave a particularly well meaning but insensitive and poorly put message on a subject that made both her and her visiting father very uncomfortable, she turned to me and said "I don't want to come anymore." And I understood. There wasn't anything to say. And we didn't. And that was me genuinely liking a lot of the group. But it's the dynamic and health of the group. And as much as I've come to wither at church, and as much as I want to want to be with Christians, I need my wife to form those connections more than myself.