So here we go...
Side-note: I had a lovely Skype date with my mom tonight. I love that woman. You know it's true love when she can make you do a belly laugh over technology, from 2,500 miles away.
The title of this post is "One Lord. One Church." because of what I saw happen before I left for Washington.
This burlap cover covered the signs of over 30 different churches in the Holland area. I thought it was really quite neat.
So anyways, it's comforting to know what my home church believed before I came here, because of what I'm about to tell you.
I have discovered, after my first month in Washington, that West Michigan needs a serious spiritual makeover. Not just a facelift, or some eye shadow, but a whole makeover. As a matter of fact, it might help if we just decided to wipe the foundation off our faces, the mascara from our eyes, the gloss from our lips, and see each other and accept each other in all of our flaws. So I guess not much of a makeover, but more of a "wipe clean", "fresh" start.
After some discussions with my cousin, I've really began to see the difference between the Christians in West Michigan, and the Christians in the Aberdeen area. First of all, Michigan has a higher percentage of Christians, while Washington has the lowest percentage of Christians among the states. While Michigan may have more Christians than Washington, my cousin and I have noticed that, generally, Christians in the Aberdeen area are serious about their faith and pursue a real relationship with Christ. In West Michigan, SO many people say their Christians, but it's generally at face-value. They usually may have accepted Christ in their heart, but are not living a godly life-style (pre-disciples).
*Please don't take offense to any of this... this is just what I have noticed with experiencing both environments.*
Something else I have noticed, especially at River of Life Fellowship, is how real everyone is, and how genuine they are in wanting you to grow in Christ without the judgment that is so easy to feel in other churches. If you struggle with a sin, congratulations! You are a REAL person... So let's help you dig this sin out of your life so that God can come in and consume your inmost being. As a matter of fact, let me pray for you right now!
I feel like in West Michigan, if you have a struggle, something is wrong with you. People might say "I'm sorry", or might be kind enough to give you a word of advice, but that's usually about it. I can't say I've ever really felt a genuine Christ-like relationship with people in West Michigan before... not even with people in my own family! If I have experienced this before, then I guess it's somewhat rare. Especially in the reformed churches (which consumes the Holland area). I find this interesting.
This probably sounds rude, but I feel like it's really true. It's been really difficult to adjust to this new way of seeking God. I guess I'm somewhere stuck between being passive and being proactive (off-topic).
Another thing I have noticed is the difference in the spiritual aspect of the churches (Christian Reformed (Faith CRC) vs. Non-denominational (River of Life)). On the first day, Jake talked about how our internship is a Word and Spirit internship, because you can't have one of these things without the other. If you have the Word without the Spirit, then the Word isn't going to be able to be active and living. On the flipside, if you have the Spirit without the Word, then the Spirit will not be led or activated by the Word.
Having heard this, I realized that at Faith CRC, we tend to focus mostly on the Word, and don't really pursue the Spirit. I tended to get good "nuggets" from the Word on Sunday, and thought about how they might change my life, but rarely did I use this information to activate a living relationship with Christ.
Some other differences are the way we worship and the way we pray.
Worship in Aberdeen: Imagine it's just you and Christ, hands are raised to accept what He has to offer (even if you don't feel like it), and you are soaking in His presence.
Praying in Aberdeen: "Dear God, I just pray that your Spirit would fill this place, Lord, thank you for protecting us, Jesus, and I pray, God, that you would silence any schemes of the enemy in the name of Jesus, and that you would protect us today, and that we would completely focus on you today, God. Amen."
As you can probably imagine, it has been pretty difficult for me to jump right into teachings and worship when the way we do things is so different... it's been hard to find that intimacy with God, when I'm still trying to figure out how to pray more effectively, and how to get more out of my worship without worrying about what people are thinking of me (God's working on my insecurity). I have to say that I'm doing better with my freedom to worship as if it's just me and God. My mind still wanders every now and then, and I have to make sure that I'm not doing empty deeds for self-pride, but it's definitely getting better and becoming more meaningful.
These differences, in general, are still so hard to overcome, though. I didn't grow up in a church where speaking in tongues was a commonality between church members, or where people were so open to share their sin issues, so it has been hard to not see this church as "weird". This, finally, is where the "One Lord. One Church." role plays... after seeing the differences at this church, it was SO good to remember that my home church in West Michigan confirmed that we are ALL one church, serving one God. Knowing this allows me to feel okay with worshiping God in a way that I had never worshipped him before. It provides me with a sense of comfort in leaving my home town to experience a new way of seeing our King.
I realize that this is a big hodge-podge of rambling, so thank you for spending time to read my thoughts! This doesn't include things that I've actually learned, so I'll be sure to get to those things later.
Love y'all (yup... still Oklahoma proud),
Kels
p.s. Shout-out to my Faith CRC family. Love and miss you guys!
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