My church affiliation journey:
0-17 years old: Roman Catholic (infant baptized and confirmed)
18-20 years old: Ambivalent (no church)
21-24 years old: Calvary Chapel (believer baptized)
-------->Graduated with Biblical Studies degree from conservative university
25-28 years old: Evangelical Free Church of America (paid teaching staff)
-------->Accepted to conservative seminary
29-31 years old: Various conservative churches
32-Current age: No formal church community
I'm thinking about attending a local liberal Baptist church next week (they do things differently). However, once I became a centrist, no church was a perfect fit. Several communities have made my family felt unwelcome because of our beliefs. I currently have a diverse group of friends (atheists, conservatives, moderates, agnostics). They all think I'm the "liberal Christian".
I'm starting to think that the way we "do" church is very wrong. Almost everywhere I look its the same old thing. Sugary donuts and cheap coffee, captive theater seating, trendy rock worship, flash meet and greet, Powerpoint advertising, guilt offering, verbose prayer, boring lecture-based sermon, verbose prayer, rinse and repeat. It's all one big production.