"It's easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor." - Eric Hoffer

After weeks and weeks of struggling with the decision Pam and I concluded yesterday (Saturday) that we need to find a new church home. We're not looking forward to beginning that search again, but our problems with the ministry at Acme Bible Church (name changed for the purposes of this post) involve several core areas of what a local church is called by Scripture to do. And though the church is only about four years old these aren't things that are likely to change as the church matures. Instead, they're part of this ministry's personality and/or conscious decisions on the part of the pastor.

Church is a big deal for us. We were both raised in homes where hours each week were spent at church, attending and serving. Our parents set an example by making service to their respective churches a big part of each week's schedule. Attendance was never a question; not being at a church meeting, regardless of the day or time, meant a life-threatening illness had descended. True to our roots I don't think we've missed a Sunday in church since we moved here last October, and all but one or two of those have been at Acme.

And it's not just about attending. The Bible assumes that everyone in a local body of believers is serving, contributing in some way to the ministry. No spectators, no consumers. So Pam and I each found ways to be involved. Once we made the decision to be at Acme Bible Church the implication was that we would serve at Acme.

But the pattern became too constant; we drove out of the parking lot each Sunday bothered by the same things. At some point the number and intensity of our problems tipped the scale, and that happened Saturday as we had yet another conversation on our future at Acme.

One of the difficult aspects of this decision is leaving behind some people who were becoming genuine friends. Don't like that part. And maybe the hassles of starting a new search kept us at Acme longer than was appropriate. Oh well.

Pam's leaving Wednesday for AZ to spend several days with our kids & grandkids; she needs her Grammy fix. So next Sunday I'll go someplace...don't know where yet...and decide if we should return when Pam's back. We're prepared for this process to take weeks, maybe months, but we'll be someplace every Sunday. I don't miss meals, so why would we skip spiritual food?