When we moved up here, one of the many things we wanted to do was find a church. We tried two different ones last year and gave up for a little while. David and I seem to be searching for entirely different things when it comes to a church. We are both Catholic (altough I never went to church as a kid), but we both agreed that we didn't want to head back to the Catholic church. So, we went pursuing other Christian options. David is all about the sermon. The music is almost an annoyance to him and he'd rather hear the message and leave. I, on the other hand, rather enjoy the music. I like a good sermon too, but the music is also nice. We agree that the church needs to have a good kids program. We want the kids to have a good time, learn about God and enjoy coming every week.
One church we tried last year was 98% senior citizens. The music was played on an organ. Now I like the elderly, but I was hoping for something different for the kids. They didn't have Sunday School or anything. The kids had to sit in service with us. This is not a bad thing, but at the time, Emily was 2 and Ben was 1. Getting them to sit for an hour was not about to happen. I spent about 45 minutes chasing both of them around the parking lot while David listened to the sermon. We didn't go back.
The next church was better at least from my stand point. The church was modern and the music was contemporary. They used a guitar and keyboard, so I thought we were off to a better start. It was a nice sermon. We both seemed to enjoy it. The kids had their own rooms based on age and they had a nice program for them. Emily was a little freaked out and that prompted us to put her in preschool for the year. She hadn't really ever been away from me. So, we stopped going for awhile. In the meantime though, this church called us probably 20 times. That was enough to make me abandon this ship and look elsewhere.
We just started going to a church called The Heights. It's close to the house, they have a great kids program and several of the Moms from the Mom Group attend. They are super modern (the church not the Moms). Checking in our kids required a finger print, photos and beeper system. Wow, I was impressed. They also had a nice coffee bar and you can bring your beverage into the service with you. Who doesn't like a second cup of coffee on Sunday morning? The music starts and it is really good. The singer used to be in a Christian band and it's like being at a rock concert. I'm enjoying myself and I look at my husband who I know is awaiting the sermon and merely tolerating the music. I will say, although the music is excellent, it is a bit long. They played for almost 30 minutes before the sermon began. My feet were actually starting to hurt from standing in one place too long. Plus, I'm used to wearing flip flops not anything with a heel. Around this time, my beeper went off. I didn't make it through the first set of double doors when I could hear the wail from the lobby, "I want my mommy." That's my boy. We've been to this church twice and each time it was the same thing. So, I calmed him down and brought him into church with me. He was actually so freaked out that he just held on to me and then David for the rest of the service. Emily is now doing just fine in church. The first time, she went in the 3 year old classroom and they did a craft and story time. We were sending Ben and her together hoping that he'd do okay with her in the room. Ben did not like the 3 year old room. So, last week, we put them both in the 2 year old room. It's really just all toys and some outside play stuff. Emily loved it. Now, we are dealing with the aftermath of the germ infested toys. Emily was stuffed up yesterday. She woke up today at 4 AM with a cough, congestion and a fever. It never fails. We sanitize afterwards, but I think she probably sucks her thumb when she feels insecure while we are gone and our sanitizing efforts are sabotaged.
I think we will continue to give The Heights a shot. Hopefully, Ben makes it through the entire service at the day care soon. We'll shout out a big Hallelujah that day!
1 comment:
I just tried to leave you a long comment and it got lost - hopefully this one will go through. I'm glad that you're trying to find a church and I hope that this one works out for you! I know how difficult it is to find just the right one, especially when the children are younger. When we first moved to Rantoul twelve years ago, we had to try many different churches before settling on the one that we've remained at all of these years. Jim generally likes our Pastor's message style, but I never have. Yet, somehow it's where we've been meant to be, at least for this point of our life. Sarah, on the other hand, has two churches because she attends the one at her Dad's regularly and it's Nazarene and then she attends with us to our Baptist Church. And, both Jim and I were raised Catholic. So, I guess we're an eccentric mix. :-) I always enjoy your stories as they bring a smile to my face - thanks.
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