Lest you think I'm being too picky, or dramatic about finding a local church body to fellowship with, maybe I should briefly explain where I'm coming from, and what my goals are.
I am a person who is autistic. This means that I already deal with too much sensory stimuli every day, and going to a loud or "out there" church can be too much. Therefore, I need to find a church that isn't too "crazy," for lack of a better word. I also need to find a church that is going to allow for my differences. While I'm not expecting special treatment, I would like acceptance. I spend every day bending myself, trying to fit myself to a world that I just naturally don't conform to. Around family, I get to relax, and I'm looking for a church family, where I can just soak in the Word of God with them.
Autism aside, I am also an INTJ personality type. This means I'm looking for meat in services. I appreciate being around logic and intelligence, so these are things I look for in a church.
And most importantly - I'm looking for a church that isn't too far off with doctrines (I understand that none are perfect) and one that will be fine with my reading the Bible, and coming to my own conclusions (also an INTJ thing). Lastly, I'm looking for a church that isn't so liberal that it has/allows women pastors (that is against scriptures, as the pastor is to be the husband of one wife, as one of the qualifications), but isn't so off to the other side, where they think/teach that women must submit to men (also not in the Scripture. Women are only to be under the human headships of their own husbands.) I am a sister in Christ, and an equal heir to the Kingdom, and I desire to find a church that understands this from the Scriptures.
With all the above being said, it can be hard to find a good church. Not to mention the church also has to be one my children like, and my husband approves, as the head of this family.
The next Sunday, we didn't visit a church. We had a party the day before for a special occasion, and it lasted much later than we anticipated. That, along with our not really knowing which church to visit next, led to home church that Sunday. It was nice. Friends ended up coming over and we had great Christian fellowship.
That evening, we were outside barbecuing for supper, and I was enjoying the various bird songs, and watching wild rabbits scampering about. I felt led to continue my church research, so I got out my phone, and did some surfing and searching around, while hubby cooked the burgers.
Our friends had mentioned a church that they used to attend, and that had a lot of similarities to the type of church I was looking for. Some of those churches even practice the head covering. However, they are a-millennial in doctrine, along with some other differences from my family's personal studies. I tried to find one of those churches nearby, to visit. The closest one was a bit of a drive, so I thought maybe we'd check it out the next Sunday, if we didn't find something else.
I then remembered that there was another type of church that was even closer to our doctrinal beliefs, and that's the Plymouth Brethren, and they head cover (at least the ones I've researched, do). I recalled that their churches are usually named something Chapel, or such and such Gospel Hall. I searched on those terms, and found a few, but both were a commute. One we almost visited a while back, but found out that particular one didn't do much English, as most of its congregants were moved here from another country, and they tended to do some services in that language. The other one was just too much of a drive, and we had some dear friends kicked out of that one.
However, searching around, I stumbled on a non-denominational church that's not crazy rock and roll, and looked like it had good, solid preaching and teaching, from what I saw on their website. This church actually had a Statement of Faith, which lists what they believe and teach - the main core stuff. That's already a good sign IMO, because I've noticed that most churches no longer have a Statement of Faith on their websites (at least not the ones I've found, lately).
I read through the statement of faith, and I fit that church's statement even closer than I have any Independent Baptist churches! Further, they don't agree with having denominations (just as I don't, since denominations are against 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 3), they believe the gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 are still for today, but that speaking in tongues in church should be reserved for when someone can interpret, else it should be done privately - as per 1 Corinthians 14. They also don't believe that everyone can speak in tongues - correct - it is a gift, and some people have it, and some don't. I personally have different giftings from the Spirit.
They place themselves in between fundamental and evangelical, and that's pretty much where I seem to fall.
Anyway, we agreed with everything on their statement of faith - EVERYTHING. That's a first. Their church also doesn't do local church memberships, as they consider all born again Christians to already be a part of Christ's Body - the church. THANK YOU! I totally agree.
Anyhoo, this church is not very far from us, and is small. I prefer small churches, so that's another good point. We decided to visit that church the following Sunday...