1. Were there specific people in the church that played a role in your decision?
  2. How does your current church align with your values?
  3. What aspects of your church make you feel the most connected to your faith?
  1. We were invited, so yes.
  2. They started meeting in someone's backyard during the pandemic because the church they were attending refused to meet.
  3. Surprisingly, the liturgy.
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I can relate to this. A person close to me passed during the pandemic, and in my opinion, the COVID measures ruined their funeral service. It's disturbing to imagine the whole church refusing to meet.
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You orthodox by chance Jimmy?
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Protestant/somewhere between Presbyterian and Baptist
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How did you come to this decision?
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  1. My current church I started attending and serving at about 12 years ago. I was freshly baptized and excited about Jesus, moved to Orlando to attend college and mingled with all the Christian groups I could find. I attended a Wesleyan missions group on Tuesdays, CRU on Thursdays, went door to door witnessing with a reformed baptist church on Saturdays, and found a Church of Christ locally to attend on Sundays (as my spiritual father was CoC and they were the ones who poured into me for months). Eventually, someone invited me to attend a wednesday service at a nondenom charismatic church, where I met my wife, and eventually made that my exclusive church. These days, ive also been enthrawled with Orthodoxy, and thus I am going through inquirer class and vespers on saturdays.
  2. I'm less inclined to assume my values are automatically correct before I understand the opposite poition first. For example, during covid, my church closed down for a couple weeks, which i found appauling, however, i appreciated my pastors heart to do everything to make the flock feel safe. We spent a lot of time developing and producing online content for the congregation so they could participate from home. My wife and I are childrens ministers so we prerecorded everything ahead of time.
  3. Coming from protestant tradition, the church seems to be secondary to a personal relationship in my own devotions, family pastoring, etc.
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  1. My wife was part of this Church
  2. It's amazing how well my thoughts and values aligned. I.e. one of my favorite books was written by member of this church. And later I discovered some other artists I've looked up to are members as well, and I didn't have any idea about this before.
  3. It's focused on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and helps me to get closer to him in so many ways and gives me possibilities to serve other people and thus become more like Jesus.
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Basically if I receive an invitation and I feel comfortable there, that will be my church.
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My faith doesn't rely on anything outside of what is inside me already. No church necessary.
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  1. Invited by family.
  2. I think I'm a little more theologically inclined than my current church, but it's a pretty big-tent church being a "Christian Church" nondenominational branch.
  3. The community service we do. It's a very "flat" organization which makes it easy to contribute when help is need. I really enjoy the Sunday service as well and help produce it every couple months.
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  1. Not really
  2. About as close as any I have been a part of
  3. The emphasis on connection to God and community as well as the expository approach to preaching.
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