Church Shopping: Why Do We Do It?

It’s been a year since we moved to Taiwan, and I feel that we are settling in well to our church. However, it took us over half the year to decide on that church, and I know others that are still not really decided. I don’t think it’s a rare thing anymore to spend a lot of time “church shopping.” Why is that?

It’s been a year since we moved to Taiwan, and I feel that we are settling in well to our church. However, it took us over half the year to decide on that church, and I know others that are still not really decided. I don’t think it’s a rare thing anymore to spend a lot of time “church shopping.” Why is that?

Here’s a few of my ideas:

1. We no longer feel strong denominational ties. Some of us do feel a close connection to one denomination over another, but I’d say with each passing generation, this passes away a little more. We may have doctrinal issues that would put us in one church over another, but we don’t have those lifelong ties to one denomination any more. I’d say for the most part, many people don’t even know the difference between denominations.
2. We’re looking for community. I think this may be one big reason we’re not into the denominations. Our biggest priority now is to a place to fit in and feel at home, a place where we can be fed and feed others, to openly share with and serve with. That priority can over ride a lot of other things for people.
3. There’s just so much to choose from. Some act like this is bad, like we shouldn’t be treating our choices in churches cafeteria style. While I agree that we shouldn’t get too picky, I do find beauty in the diversity of the Body. I also think it’s ok to find a church that you like for its aesthetics, its type of worship music, its doctrine, or even its schedule (i.e. time of day or day of the week). That’s the point in being so diverse. Yes, it can make for a homogenous population within the church, but if we work on partnering with other churches or mixing things up every once in awhile, then we can still enjoy our praise songs while throwing in a hymn every once in awhile. With so many good choices, though, it does make it harder to pick a church.
4. We’re not always listening to God. All the above being said, we’re not always listening to God to see if He wants to stretch us by putting us somewhere we are less familiar with or comfortable in. We can be so hedonistic in our approach to churches that we miss listening to God’s voice and call.

So, there’s some of my opinions, having just finished finding a place to go to church. Just opinions. Feel free to add more of your own or reasons you might oppose one of mine.