Is there anything inherently wrong with attending several differnt churches?

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indra_fanatic

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Crazy Liz said:
I think this is probably symptomatic of a problem. It could be any one of a number of problems. If a person is attending different churches just to sample and doesn't want to put down roots, there is a problem (often, but perhaps not always, the kind I described as "consumeristic values.")
I still do not quite grasp what is "consumeristic" about it, except that the person is "church-shopping", which oftentimes is completely logical and rational a behavior. I am convinced that God indeed does want us to be "smart consumers" in every way.

I initially left my home church for a while following some personal disputes that I eventually realized had nothing to do with the quality of the preaching or the soundness of the church body, so I returned after several months. I made my second, and final, decision to leave after my church embarked on a grandiose, and in my opinion completely wrongheaded, campaign to construct a $5 million youth megacomplex on its property that would result in the eviction of many local businesses and residents and essentially turn the church into a mall. We (the youth group, including junior highers) were actually told that the project would be like a modern-day equivalent of the Solomonic temple of Israel, and indeed children were urged to sacrifice their allowances to contribute to it. When it became clear that 100% of church leadership was behind this, I realized I had nothing in common with my home body of worship any longer, and made my exit.

My current house of worship (2 years) may occasionally get some things wrong (i.e. like a recent rather legalistic sermon series on health/fitness), but they spend all of their money on the right things--outreaching to the community and directly going into poor neighborhoods with food, toys, etc. and providing free bus rides for poor kids to church functions, so I think I'll stay with them.

and if a person fails repeatedly to put down roots, this may indicate other sorts of problems. Hopefully, such a person will try to get some perspective on this from a few brothers and sisters, because such problems are often hard to recognize close up.
Let's kick this one around some more, Liz. I'd like to hear more opinions here, as well as the types of problems you have diagnosed in real-life people you have known that church-hop or church-shop. What if there are specific reasons why someone is not being able to establish roots--such as he or she having nothing in common with the congregation?

A good example would be that of 4 Jacks over in the Marriage forum, who resented that his home congregation was so fascistically pronatalist that he was finding it utterly impossible to get along with people due to the fact that they so passionately disagreed with his and his wife's stance on children.
 
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bliz

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indra_fanatic said:
My current house of worship (2 years) may occasionally get some things wrong (i.e. like a recent rather legalistic sermon series on health/fitness), but they spend all of their money on the right things--outreaching to the community and directly going into poor neighborhoods with food, toys, etc. and providing free bus rides for poor kids to church functions, so I think I'll stay with them.

Let's kick this one around some more, Liz. I'd like to hear more opinions here, as well as the types of problems you have diagnosed in real-life people you have known that church-hop or church-shop. What if there are specific reasons why someone is not being able to establish roots--such as he or she having nothing in common with the congregation?

A good example would be that of 4 Jacks over in the Marriage forum, who resented that his home congregation was so fascistically pronatalist that he was finding it utterly impossible to get along with people due to the fact that they so passionately disagreed with his and his wife's stance on children.

Your actions described here do not sound to me like "church hopping" to me. Church hoppers are constantly moving from one church to another - as soon as they hear of a church with a new program or new preacher or get their nose out of joint over some thing, they are off in search of greener pastures.

Church shopping may look the same from the outside, but the motivation is different. A church shopper is new to a community or has left a church and is in search of a new one. Church shopping often involves visiting a church for a period of time, and then moving on to visit another.

What the OP describes is supplementing their home church experience with visiting another church, apparently on a regular basis. They are not leaving the home church to escape a problem or avoid discipline but to find a different kind of worship and teaching experience.

We have increasingly come to see churches as a consumer product and people "buying" churches they way we buy dish washing liquid - this one is on sale, this one is kinder to hands, this one has a great scent... This one has a better choir, this one has a better nursery program, this one has a funny pastor, this one doesn't preach so much about things that convict me.
 
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FollowingJesus

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bliz said:
What the OP describes is supplementing their home church experience with visiting another church, apparently on a regular basis. They are not leaving the home church to escape a problem or avoid discipline but to find a different kind of worship and teaching experience.
Exactly!

Someone earlier expressed an issue with mega churches and the quality of the preaching, however, I have to say that our Bishop is an awesome preacher of the Gospel. No prosperity preaching here, or I would have be BEYOND gone.

If there were more 'preaching' and less entertainment before the preaching, I probably wouldn't be as dissatisfied.

Our Wednesday and Sunday evening services are in a MUCH smaller santuary, and are more intimate, but we typically have guest speaksers (some from within and some from outside the church.)

That said, there is still such a structured approach to the service (in the name of worship*) that there is little room left for personal worship experience.

*By this I mean, "raise your hands", "on the count of three let's testify at the top of our lungs", "Give God a hand clap of praise", "walk around the sanctuary"...After awhile, I start to feel like a robot.

In the Sunday MORNING services, we don't do that type of stuff (there are just too many people), but as I mentioned, there is a LOT of 'entertainment' before getting to the sermon.
 
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Humbledmac

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If i'm understanding correctly, the reason you r visiting other churches is to get a different fill of a different type of service, correct? well if that's the case, i encourage it. now i'm not saying go to a muslim temple or a jewish temple and worship there, but if you want to attend a more conservative service, then by all means go ahead.:)
 
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FollowingJesus

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Humbledmac said:
If i'm understanding correctly, the reason you r visiting other churches is to get a different fill of a different type of service, correct?
Correct...

My church is VERY large, and has a big 'entertainment' component. (But the actual sermons are awesome!)

I'm just looking for an 'additional' place of worship the is more contemplative, and more congregation-oriented (ie I'd love to worship in a service that regularly had testimonies)...
 
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Crazy Liz

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Monica02 said:
Yes but different parishes all belong to one Church. Any mass at any parish will fulfill your Sunday obligation.
I guess that still doesn't answer my question. Do Catholics view church attendance only in terms of a "Sunday obligation," or is congregational life also considered important?

Among most protestants, congregational life is very important. In fact, I would say it is the main purpose of having churches - meaning congregations, not denominations. Some protestants look at church as a place that dispenses sermons and worship experiences. The reason many protestants speak against "church hopping" is that this is a consumeristic attitude - attending church in order to receive a sermon or an experience. Church hopping often indicates this is the only thing a person is looking for in a church. Only by putting down roots can they participate in what is even more important - congregational life.

So my question to you is whether congregational life is considered important by Catholics also, or is the main purpose of church to fulfill the Sunday obligation by finding a place where the sacraments are being dispensed. (BTW, I think the answer is not either/or, nor do I think of dispensing the sacraments as crassly as I just said it. I was trying to emphasize a contrast. I think the Catholic parishes I've been reading about where people are sleeping in the pews to keep their parish from being closed is a strong indication that congregational life is very important to at least some Catholics.)
 
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FollowingJesus

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Crazy Liz said:
Only by putting down roots can they participate in what is even more important - congregational life.
How are you defining 'congregational life', and where is it said that the Protestant position is that CL is 'more' important than sermons and/or worship experience.

Not that I'm arguing with you...it's just that I've never heard this expressed before...
 
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indra_fanatic

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bliz said:
It is a worry in every kind of church!

It is especially worrisome in megachurches because the question is begged: why did they become so very popular? It is human nature to shy away from things that make a person uncomfortable. Who wants to be told on no uncertain terms that they are going to hell, or even that their lives are completely on the wrong track?

Megachurches got the way they are because they started saying everything that the public wants to hear, which unless all members of that public are spiritually mature believers who truly are trying to discern His word and callings, is never the same as what God wants to tell them.
 
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indra_fanatic

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Crazy Liz said:
The reason many protestants speak against "church hopping" is that this is a consumeristic attitude - attending church in order to receive a sermon or an experience. Church hopping often indicates this is the only thing a person is looking for in a church. Only by putting down roots can they participate in what is even more important - congregational life.

Liz, you can't have one without the other, and indeed I suspect--or rather know--that some people have chosen to "hop" on the basis of no community experience (i.e. everyone being completely unfriendly, cliquish, etc) at the church they are sampling, despite great teaching. On the flipside, an awesome fellowship experience is meaningless if the doctrine is so flagrantly bad, or so pusillanimous and weak, that it's impossible to grow in the right directions at that church.

As for the quality of the sermons, people can be turned-off for two reasons: (a) they are wanting to hear only what they want to hear (i.e. nice, nonjudgmental fluff--which is what leads many people to spiritually insipid megachurches), or (b) they are rejecting that mentality and are desperately seeking out pastors that preach the Word with conviction. The people in category A are in a bad place whether or not they shop churches, but IMHO someone who chooses to leave a congregation that is clearly not trying to do its job is to be commended, not criticized.
 
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FollowingJesus

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homerdoner said:
church is supposed to be the body of christ..that is 'all of us'. therefore church is living and not something we go to!!! its about relationships and giving and sharing and commitment to others and the community etc etc. jesus didnt go to one church... he lived it
Just because people 'go to church' or 'come together for worship' doesn't mean that they are doing something wrong. In fact,

Hebrews 10 (Contemporary English Version)

25Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord's coming is getting closer.

That said, hopefully this topic can get off of the hijacked issue of 'church hopping' and the 'evils of mega churches' and back to an issue of 'broad worship experiences'.
 
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homerdoner

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FollowingJesus said:
Just because people 'go to church' or 'come together for worship' doesn't mean that they are doing something wrong. In fact,

Hebrews 10 (Contemporary English Version)

25Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord's coming is getting closer. .

thanksfor your reply...

again it depends what you call "worship"! the term 'church' and 'worship' tend to get very misused... in a sterile church environment these terms become something they shouldnt be; insular and misrepresentative..

worship is a lifestyle not a meeting, its something we should live. when paul says "meeting" that doesnt mean in a church necassarily. we can meet anywhere, house, pub, club,gym,park, on a boat .......anywhere. church is a body not a meeting...

when paul says for worship he dosent mean singing with a church band and worship leader tugging us on (??and manipulating/controlling the congregation-in my opinion this happens alot!)

if people go to meetings that doesnt make them encouraging or worshippers. its about people and we get so hung up on having to go to 'church' 9the institution) which can blinker us and prevent us from reaching into the community as it is often irrelevant and exclusive and alien.

to conclude..."it was for freedom that christ has set us free"

"That said, hopefully this topic can get off of the hijacked issue of 'church hopping' and the 'evils of mega churches' and back to an issue of 'broad worship experiences"

would you like to continue in another post then? id be happy to as this is an important issue that deserves a good debate?
 
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FollowingJesus

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homerdoner said:
would you like to continue in another post then?
No. I was the OP, and posted the topic I was interested in getting feedback on. I'd prefer if the OTHER topics ('what is worship', what is the church, whether or not we should go to church, mega churches are evil, going to church doesn't make you a worshipper, etc) continued on a new post.
 
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homerdoner

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if you wish... i think this isnt as off topic as it might seem though...read my edit aas i explain better i hope!!
if church is all around us then it doesnt matter where we go or how we live our churches... you were asking if it was ok to go to different churches... my opinion is that you can do whatever you want as long as you remain in relationship withGod and people and community around you as that is your church...
anyway if you think this is off topic... no probs ...i will desist from further posts and bid you good day and best wishes till we meet again in .
 
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wild01

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FJ,
Just my $0.02, I don't think that there is anything paticularly wrong with going to more than one church, however I do feel that it is Very important to make a somewhat permenant decision about which church is your home church. And, barring a complete theological breakdown of that body, sticking with that body. Your first commitment of both time and money should go to your home congregation.
I give this advice for several reasons, firstly-it is unfair to your church and the other churches for you to become spread to thin in church obligations.
secondly, if you have failed to make this decision before attending another church you will be more likely to burn yourself out. (btw in my experience pastors are very understanding of the explenation 'I'm sorry but my home congregation is ____. I need to make my obligations there my first priority')
thirdly and perhaps most importantly, our human nature sometimes causes us to avoid holding ourselves accountable to whatever message we may have needed to hear at our home church if we allow ourselves to just float between congregations. You might find yourself changing your commitments constantly based solely on which congregation made you happiest in the last month.
now this is not to say that you couldn't decide to change congregations. Just that if you keep changing back and forth it's definately a sign of a problem.
 
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FollowingJesus

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wild01 said:
FJ,
Just my $0.02, I don't think that there is anything paticularly wrong with going to more than one church, however I do feel that it is Very important to make a somewhat permenant decision about which church is your home church. And, barring a complete theological breakdown of that body, sticking with that body. Your first commitment of both time and money should go to your home congregation.
I give this advice for several reasons, firstly-it is unfair to your church and the other churches for you to become spread to thin in church obligations.
secondly, if you have failed to make this decision before attending another church you will be more likely to burn yourself out. (btw in my experience pastors are very understanding of the explenation 'I'm sorry but my home congregation is ____. I need to make my obligations there my first priority')
thirdly and perhaps most importantly, our human nature sometimes causes us to avoid holding ourselves accountable to whatever message we may have needed to hear at our home church if we allow ourselves to just float between congregations. You might find yourself changing your commitments constantly based solely on which congregation made you happiest in the last month.
now this is not to say that you couldn't decide to change congregations. Just that if you keep changing back and forth it's definately a sign of a problem.
Good advice. Thank you for your input!! :)
 
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