Nattie Writes!

~ What I really want to talk about is something that has been on my mind. I'm just going to spew it out. It may have merit. It may just be boloney. I'll let you be the judge.

Last week I got a letter from my pastor inviting me to take a member class to learn more about the church and possibly become a member. On one hand I feel it is time to put down some church roots. I have been attending this church for seven years now. I'm not the most faithful attendee, but I like this church. On the other hand I am skeptical of church membership. I'll explain why. Maybe if you get an idea of my church background you'll understand.

• From birth to age five I attended a Wesleyan church with my family. I have vague memories of children's church and still have the small Bible they gave me for graduating from the nursery to the children's program. I remember our minister playing the trumpet. Trumpet playing and Wesleyan churches will forever be tied together in my memory.
• My formative years were spent in a Nazarene church. We attended there from the time I was five to about 13. Why did we change? Well, we moved across country and this was the church my mom liked. We got heavily involved. I attended VBS, Pioneer Girls, etc. Meanwhile, I was attending a Baptist school. This is when I started to get a bad taste in my mouth about splitting denominational hairs.
  
  My best friend and I had a disagreement over some doctrinal issue between the two denominations. I don't remember what it was now, but it was a big deal to us at nine years of age.
  
  We went to our principal and she said (words I will always remember), "Do you believe you will both go to heaven?"
  
  Bingo! Those other little things didn't matter. We both believed that Jesus died to save us from our sins and we'd asked him into our hearts. That was all that mattered.
• In Junior High I was sent to a non-denominational school but the church that backed it was Reformed Church of America. A lot of my friends went to the RCA church. It is a big-named church in California, and I'm not going to badmouth it here. So I asked my mom if we could go there. She still attends this church.
  
  I left that church when a group of us in the high school youth group wanted to hold an independent Bible study and we were discouraged from doing it. We met off the church campus and did it anyway. But that really upset me. I can understand that they might not want us misunderstanding the Bible. But they didn't offer to help us. They just wanted us to go to their church functions which weren't feeding us what we needed. Everything was feel good. No sin was discussed. It just didn't sit right with me.
• So in high school I found The Vineyard. A friend who had gone to the RCA church changed to the Vineyard. I really learned a lot there. The Vineyard was started in the '60s and '70s by a group of people from the "Jesus Movement" which was huge in California among the hippies. This church was very charismatic which was a huge change for me. I really discovered what worshiping God could and should be there. But they also believed that everyone should speak in tongues. That didn't line up with the Bible for me. Some will speak in tongues. Some will interpret, and so on. Each person has their own spiritual gifts. Not everyone is the same.
• * My senior year of high school I attended another Wesleyan church with my dad. He was raised Wesleyan and was comfortable there. I still attended the Vineyard occasionally for deep indepth Bible studies and awesome worship services.
• Then I found what I will call the perfect church in my mind—Calvary Chapel. They were less charismatic in their worship, yet they still worshiped God whole-heartedly. They were very sound in their Biblical teaching. I loved it.
• Then I strayed from my faith. I had prayed the Sinner's Prayer when I was six and I believe that I tried to be a Christian all that time, but something hadn't clicked for me. I was trying too hard to be a Christian instead of letting God become the Lord of my life.
• When I moved to Indiana I wanted to try again. I was going to find a home church and I was going to make Christianity work for me (shakes head). I attended a Wesleyan church where the pastor was the same one from my childhood. It was nice, but just not there for me.
• Then I found the Nazarene church I attend now. It felt like home. I was pretty comfortable with their doctrine. I missed the worship and deep study of Calvary Chapel, but this was a pretty good second. The people were nice which is what has kept me there. It was at this church that I rededicated my life to Christ and where I say my joureny really began.
• While I go to church, I don't expect them to give me all of my Bible learning. Sometimes I study on my own. Sometimes the studies are guided ones like Elizabeth George or Beth Moore, but I independently study the word.
• What bothers me about becoming a member is the old philosophy of so many churches that you aren't a Christian unless you are a member. I'm not saying my church is that way, but I totally don't buy that theory. Parking in a garage doesn't make you a car. Neither does going to church or being a member make you a Christian. I'm an independent Christian. I do think fellowship with other Christians is important, but part of my problem growing up is that I was trying to be a Christian like my friends. I was trying to fit the cookie-cutter mold. I also believe accountability is important.
• So I am wavering. I want to become a member of this church for the right reasons, not the wrong. I don't want it to be thought that I'm a better person because I'm a member of a church. I want it to be known that I am becoming a member because I support this church and its mission which is the Great Comission. *sigh* I think I'm making it too difficult.
  
  I'll attend the class. I'll talk to my pastor about any doctrine that I think is bunk. Like why do different denominations have to have their own name for things? Why does one have to call it "sanctification" while another calls it "being indwelled by the Holy Spirit"? That stuff ticks me off.
  
  I will never believe one denomination is better than the other. To me the defining thing is "Will we all get to heaven?" Do they believe in the death and resurrection of Christ?

Anyway...I've spewed and if you are still reading this. Good for you. So over the next six weeks you might hear me rant about those little word that denominations split hairs over. Grrr. I will say one time and one time only—growing your hair long will not get you into heaven, wearing suits on Sunday will not get you to heaven, being a perfect cookie-cutter Christian won't get you to heaven. Okay, I think I got that out of my system...for now. :-)

Copyright Natalie Rose York