Change?

Yesterday, I visited a church down the street from us. I have been attending Crossroads for 3 years now, but suddenly, it seems too big. I guess it started when they started changing Kids Club. I had a paid position there and liked being in my one year old room with the sames kids and parents showing up week after week, and the cool gang of volunteers I was lucky to have...we had an awesome time! Then they moved to the new building, changed the structure and I was offered another paid position of "coordinator". Great, fine. Now, we aren't holding weekly meetings and we aren't really a cohesive group any longer and I find myself not wanting to go work at all on Saturdays (strike one!) I have since stepped down for the time being, in search of my "niche".

That said, along comes Christmas. Until my new computer arrived, I had no way of printing things. So when the tickets for the Christmas services were to be downloaded and printed from home, I emailed them to reserve tix for my family, parents and sister. I was told to print them from home, this after I explained that I had no way of printing from my home. Strike two! When I finally called to reserve tickets, I was told they were all gone. REALLY? All those services and not one seat left? Of course, my entire party could go an hour early and stand in line in hopes of getting into service...but I wasn't going to do that, and neither were my kids. I was told by numerous friends after the holiday that there were lots of empty seats in the crowd. Pretty welcoming though, eh?

After said holiday incident, I thought a lot about the church I had come to call home and realized that it felt no more homey to me than Sakes Fifth Avenue would...had I ever ventured in there. I walk into the sea of people and realize that it's sometimes like walking into high school or a fashion show...yes, there are some friendly faces, but it's beginning to feel pretentious, and that's one thing I don't do.

The church I went to yesterday was a Vineyard church, in Milford, and it's TINY! The kids' area was VERY small, but they weren't overrun with kids and no one looked as though they felt left out. When I walked into the building I noticed the coffee station and all the friendly people around it saying hi and such. When I walked into the auditorium, it was so incredibly small...I grew up in a large Catholic church and have been at Crossroads, so anything with less than 500 people is going to be small! The music was wonderful, and message was talking directly to me and the people seemed nice. I am going back this weekend to see what I think and maybe search around the area for a few more to check out, but I think my mind is made up...change, even though I dislike it, looks like it's happening!