Would you give up on this church?

I have been watching church services online for a local church that I have been interested in joining. I had not attended in person yet because we have had high numbers of Covid cases and most members of this church are not wearing masks or social distancing. I was waiting for lower Covid numbers.

Over the last about three months I have been in contact with church leaders. I was also attempting to do zoom meeting for a Wednesday evening study with them on the sessions I did not have to work.

I had asked to meet with one of the pastors about a spiritual concern I had. She agreed and set a time. When I showed up, she didn't know who I was or why I was there. She kept questioning if I was sure I was to meet with her. I reminded her about emails we had exchanged. She had forgotten about me and never put our meeting down on the calendar. She did reschedule to meet with me another day and the meeting did go well.

This church observes Ash Wednesday and Lint. This is something I've never done before because I've never been part of a church that does this. I had questions, and reached out to the senior pastor about it. He replied to my email and offered to meet with me to talk about Ash Wednesday and Lint. I agreed and was hopeful about it. He never got back in touch with me about when to meet. I ended up reading about it online.

I just feel like an outsider looking in and I get the sense that I may never really belong in this church. I had been so hopeful about it though. It is very different from other churches I have been a part of. The people seem friendly.

I've just been debating about whether to move on to seek a different one or to keep trying to plug in here.

It is a large church and the oldest of it's denomination in our area. The church's history goes back to the late 1800's. It is a United Methodist church.

I've always been part of Baptist and other protestant churches until I settled in nondenominational church. Trying this Methodist church was a new thing, and something I was excited about. It was different, but not too different.

I moved to this area back in 2014, and I have visited several churches before the pandemic started. I've had a very difficult time finding a church that fits or that I feel I'm part of. This isn't the first church that has forgotten me. There are some slight cultural differences in the area I'm in now from where I'm from, and I think that might play into this. I just never really feel completely accepted or wanted. They are friendly to my face, but I'm not usually included. It all feels very clique-ish. An unpredictable work schedule for myself doesn't help because there are times I have to work when they have services or a small group study going on.

I'm thinking about all the responses and trying to decide what to do. Thanks to all who replied.