Looking for a New Church

In a few weeks I'll be headed off to the University of Michigan for business school. One of my top priorities will be to find a church.

There are lots of characteristics to look for in choosing a church - and lots of lists written by people much smarter than I am, so I won't try to come up with an authoritative list.

But it is good to reflect on the first time I had to choose a church - freshman year at Penn. Here are three reasons, (and three non-reasons) I chose the fellowship (ECF) / church I attended in college:

1) Strong Leadership - the church had fantastic pastors, fellowship leaders and small group leaders. There were plenty of guys I could look up to and many that would end up discipling me.

2) Faithful Preaching and Teaching of the Word - Pastor Paul is an outstanding preacher. I was incredibly blessed (and spoiled) to hear him preach every Sunday.

3) Love for Philadelphia - Through Quo Vadis / Teen Vision I was able to join our church in pursuit of loving the people of Philadelphia, especially the local youth. Renewal continues to have a dedicated community ministry.

Bonus: Non-Reasons

1) The 'People' - I actually felt quite lonely when I first joined the fellowship. Almost all my other friends chose different churches/fellowships. I realized I didn't really fit in with my fellowship - I wasn't into video games, online shopping, or studying like the guys in my year ('04). I was into girls and dating. Most of the '04 guys didn't date throughout college. Anyway, sometime mid-sophomore year I started becoming closer friends with the other guys. But it was lonely at first.

2) Race - I went to a predominately Korean church. Though its not uncommon for Chinese people to attend Korean churches, it IS a very different experience. There was speaking in tongues, morning prayer, praying out loud (loudly), praying non-stop for hours, etc. People spoke in Korean a lot and made Korean jokes that I never understood. I was out of place, but God placed me there anyway.

3) Girls - No offense to the girls at the church at the time I was choosing churches, but one of the reasons I chose ECF was because I was fairly confident none of the girls attending would be a distration. Let's leave it at that haha. I knew my inclinations and weaknesses and I wanted my fellowship to be a place where I could focus on the right things and serve with the right motives.

That's it for now. Read an old book.

Shalom.