Two years after making the decision to leave the church we raised our son in we are finally trying out a new church. This is a church that I am pretty familiar with from my days working with Youth and some people from our old church are already attending. The Senior Pastor is one of our son’s mentors and conducted part of his wedding. We feel comfortable with the structure of the building, there is a wide variety of ages and stages of life in the congregation, and it is just a few miles from our home. After four weeks it feels like a place we can worship and get involved.

One of the things that prevented me from trying church again is the amount of energy I thought it would take just to show up. I am pleased to realize that this church does not need us. It is a vibrant church, mid sized and full of activity. We can show up and then leave without feeling like we are letting anybody down. After close to thirty years of active ministry, what a relief to not feel like I am carrying any responsibility. I know that I will want to get more involved in the future, but knowing that I can pick my pace is healing.

All of this brings me to two Sundays ago when the pastor gave the invitation to join the church. He went into more detail than he had the previous Sundays, so I felt like someone must be planning on joining. He instructed those who wanted to join to come forward at the beginning of the second verse of the closing song. After the first verse, the instrumentalist played an interlude and no one moved. With the first note of the second verse, six people made their way to the front of the congregation. I was shocked that I got choked up. My ears teared up as I watched them join the church. Six people transferred from another church and I was crying?

The next week two more people joined. What a joy to see people finding a church to connect with. With all of the talk of churches dying and the turmoil within our denomination, it brings me hope that people are still gathering to live out their faith in community when it is often easier to watch church online or get brunch. I loved our previous church so much for so many years and I love the people there still. When we realized that we needed to worship elsewhere right before Covid hit, we were not sure where would end up. We now have hope that we can find community again.