Looking for The Perfect Church.

Faithful church attainder..(CHECK)
Bench warmer..................(CHECK)
Active member.................(QUESTION MARK)

I really love going to church and I always feel guilty whenever I miss service for whatever reason. Two churches I love so dearly are Beacon Light Baptist Church (BLBC) and Cornerstone Church (CC). I attended BLBC when I was in school and I always looked forward to the following Sunday service. I have never been to CC physically but I have joined the church's online service a number of times. I really love the preacher, Pastor John Hagee and I always download his messages on iTunes every week. 

However, last year I moved to Canada and in all honesty, I really haven’t found a church to match BLBC and CC. Ar first, my going to church became a routine and not out of passion. During service, my mind would wander and sometimes, I would doze off during sermon. This got me concerned but I always consoled myself with the fact that “I just was not feeling the church”. 

I decided to go church hunting but the churches I visited, according to me, had question marks. Either the praise and worship was not “HOT” enough, or the service was “generally boring”. I pretty much had my reservations on the all the churches and after reviewing my reasons, I knew there was a problem somewhere. Later I realized why all the churches never met my expectations: I was comparing them to BLBC.

BLBC is one of the best churches I have attended in my life and it is a BLACK church so you can imagine the quality of the Praise and Worship. I had to talk to myself that my days in BLBC are over and I have to move on. I needed to stop comparing churches and as long as the WORD as in the real WORD is being preached in any church, then am good to go.

Searching my heart thoroughly, I knew I was just a user. I had never worked or volunteered in any church, not even in my previous church. I had made it my duty to go to church, take in the word and go home. I knew this did not glorify God because we all have been called to serve and there are so many areas one can serve in. I made up my mind to find a place where I can serve and add value to people’s lives. 

Three weeks ago, I finally began to serve in my church. I am now a leader in the youth department. I help out with the junior high students and since I started giving back to the body of Christ, I have felt more blessed. Also, my role as a leader has made me more conscious of my actions because I know people are looking at and up to me.

I honestly miss BLBC but right now, I am happy I can contribute to the lives of others. I am attentive in church and surprisingly, the preaching is not boring. The pastor preaches the WORD and that’s the main thing.

There is no perfect church and people are different including preachers, making them have unique styles of passing the message across. I know there are people who don’t go to church or people who are not getting the best from their churches because they have my previous attitude. If you will take your mind off minor things and look for what really matters in a church which I believe is in the content of the message, in addition to using your God-given talents to glorify Him, you will make your church experience better. 

Instead of us putting our focuses on happening churches, huge churches or whatever criteria we have on our check lists, let us focus on what is important and let us also look for ways we can serve instead of being bench-warmers and critiques.