Church Shopping...

We have always had pretty good luck with finding churches in the past.  Unfortunately, my job is making the process a little more difficult.  Since I work every Sunday from 6 am to 6 pm, pretty much all Sunday service times do not work for us.  Here's a few things that have drove me mad on the church shopping down here.

a) Very few churches have weekday services, lots of bible studies and small groups, but no real singing, sermon, praying services.
b) It's very hard to even find out what churches are down here.  Very few churches have websites (or even facebook pages for that matter).  If I was a member of a church, the first thing I would suggest is a web page of some sort.  What better way to spread God's Love and let the community know about your church and it's offerings? 
c) Most weekday services are at 7 pm.  No biggie unless you have a toddler who goes to bed no later than 8 pm most evenings.

Okay, off my soapbox now.  We had gone to a church (we'll call it Church A) back around the holidays.  They had a wonderful minister and I loved his message every time.  Unfortunately, this service was more of a bible study.  They did have an old man lead singing every other week.  But, I never recognized the songs (most were old old hymns).  I LOVE music in a church service.  It is truly when I feel closest to God.  The nursery there was wonderful and Logan always had a good time.  I just found that I wasn't drawn to go back week after week.  I want a church service I want to attend every week because I love it.  I really feel that if we could attend a Sunday service at Church A-it would be the place for us, but the Wednesdays are just OK. 

Fast forward a few months...we still haven't found a church home and Logan is getting older and I really want him to be involved in a church family.  I had a wonderful church family growing up (and they are still my family even though I've grown up and moved off).  I just want the same for Logan.  I've decided that we need to start trying out different churches.  We are not going to find a church if we don't start going.

Here's what I hate about going to new churches:
a)  The congregation is either overwhelming or not welcoming at all.  Some churches are just too much and others completely ignore you.  Fellowship is important, but I don't want you calling me week after week if I don't show up again. 
b)  You never know how to dress.  Since so few churches have website, it's hard to even know what the churches beliefs are.  I would hate to walk into a church wearing jean shorts when everyone is wearing dresses or walk in wearing a dress when everyone else is in jeans...it's just awkward.
c) I was raised in a traditional church and that is what I am comfortable with.  Although I respect those who worship by raising hands, yelling, and speaking in tongues, that is not for Jeff or I.  I'm not gonna lie-it freaks me out a bit and I feel out of place.

So, anyhow tonight we decided to try out Church B.  They had a website and an actual Wednesday night service.  We dress in dressy casual so as to fit into any dress code and off we go.  I like my first impression of the church.  There is a good mix of ages and types of people.  Several people welcomed us, but didn't ask us millions of questions.  There is a praise band (this scores major points with me!)  We decided to let Logan sit with us because he seemed content.  The service opened with wonderful music and Logan really liked it.  He danced and clapped along (so did I!). He also loved shaking every one's hands during greeting time! There was some raising of hands, but I didn't feel out of place or uncomfortable about it.  Then the minister started speaking and Jeff and I really liked what he had to say.  (Although he did get a big loud at times and it was hard to understand because everyone was yelling back-that was a big much for us...).  Logan decided he did not want to sit still and starting fussing (which was understandable as it was really his bed time), so I decided to take him to the nursery.  The lady who checked him in (he got a sticker with a number on him and I got a card with his number) was very nice and friendly.  She took us into the nursery and dropped us off.

There were two nursery workers.  They were both adults.  When we walked in, they barely said hello, but I though it was because they were dealing with two babies who were crying at the time.  I decided to stay in the nursery for a few minutes until they could interact with Logan and he felt comfortable for me to leave.   (Note-I am pretty easy going when it goes to leaving Logan in a nursery and he's pretty flexible and warms up to people really easily)

Uh...yeah...here's where everything started going wrong...

Logan and I stood in there for 10-15 minutes (long after the babies were consoled and quiet).  Other than asking Logan his name one time, the nursery care workers did absolutely nothing to interact with Logan or myself.  Logan and I went ahead and played with the toys (they had a really nice nursery with lots of fun toys including a newer model Wonder Horse-one of Logan's favorites).  But after 15 minutes of being ignored (really, the nursery workers had their backs turned to us), I decided I certainly couldn't leave him alone.  If they weren't interacting with him now, what makes me think they would do so when I left.  We ended up leaving the nursery,which they barely  noticed and went back into the service.  Logan was very tired by this point and was fussy, so Jeff and I had to leave mid service.

I really think we might have liked Church B, but there has to be a more nurturing nursery for it to work for us.  I did hear the nursery lady say something about it "being her week", so I am assuming they rotate nursery care workers.  We may try out this church one more time and see if the nursery is different.  I'm just not sure.  I was really disappointed because I thought we might have found a good fit for us. 

I guess we'll just have to keep shopping...