First church experience

I took the kids to First Baptist Church Missoula yesterday for our first visit of our "church shopping". As I mentioned in my last post the pastor's wife is a college friend of one of my high school friends. They have been here several years and came not expecting to become pastor of the church, but as most christians know and all should know, His plan is greater than ours. So now he's the pastor of FBC Missoula. Paula Grace loves their girls already and Nathan and Charlie were making trouble together.

I can already tell that being a Christian here is different than the south. The churches are smaller which is fine with me. My draw to Lifepoint Church (our last church home) was never about size or style of worship. It was the scriptural teaching and my Christian walk was changed and I grew incredibly at that church. I had a hard time initially with the contemporary worship style but the pastor's style of teaching and messages won me over. And then I found a great class where I learned and delved deeper into what it means to be a christian. And I began to realize that worship is worship. It doesn't matter if it's from a hymnal or up on a screen or with or without instruments.

The pastor's message was great and he touched on this exact issue as a side point to his sermon on what "faith sounds like". I realized that this is a single issue facing baptists and other denominations right now. Resistance to change. The itself church is small. It is a one room nursery. But there are enough kids and toys that after a crying protest from Paula Grace when I returned after the service she was happily playing and so was Nathan. Curtis and Lucy invited us over yesterday evening and we went and the kids played and we talked. They told me about the church and how it was on the brink of collapse when they arrived 8 years ago as visitors in a new town. It had no pastor or interim pastor at the time and has endured some much needed changes.

We also talked about how life as a Christian is different here than the south. The pews may not be full (they average 80-90 on Sundays and that is pretty typical of churches in the area) but those who show up want to be there and are there to worship and learn. It isn't for show. And all the legalistic attitudes prevalent in the south are not common here. I don't know if we will continue attending FBC or try other churches but I'm excited about the opportunities present for our family here. I may start going to a MOPS bible study on Tuesday mornings that Lucy attends. We'll see!