Wow, where to start? I was brought up and raised in a practicing, non-denominational Christian home. There aren't that many non-denominational Christian Churches out there...but i grew up in one called Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Ill. Every Sunday my family and i would leave for church at 10:30 a.m. in the morning (and still do) to go to church. Keep in mind that Willow is not a "normal" church. Thousands of people attend Willow every week, and when it's the Holidays...dear lord. So this is not your average, run of the mill, small church with a couple dozen members attending every-week.Willow Creek has a program called "Promise Land," that holds a completely separate service that ministers to younger kids (around 6-11). My parents would drop me off at this special kids service every week and go to attend their adult "main" service in the biggest room of church called the Lakeside Auditorium (because the giant windows overlook a lake on the Willow property). They would sign me in with their Promiseland cards, that the staff would run through their machines and could keep track of when i was present and when i was not. The church has so many youth, that every child is assigned a number in case that he/she goes wild (behavioral problems) and needs to be taken out of Promiseland, or if somebody gets sick and needs to leave. Anyway, their was a select amount of time upon arriving, you could run around and play in the large open room that was filled with board games, 4-5 video game consoles hooked up to TV's and a ton of Kids. When i would attend Willow's "Promiseland" i would view it as more of a social, fun and entertaining event more than a chance to enhance and understand God. Their would always be a service right after the "fun" time ended. A women would come in on the loud-speaker and explain to all the kids that it was time for the service to began. All the kids would gather around the stage and the church would start the service off with a worship session in which all of us would sing about 3-4 non-hymn Christian songs. After that the sermon would begin, one of the two youth pastors would usually deliver the message. After this was over we would not be allowed to leave the room until our parents came to the door of the "service room" and discretely showed our Promiseland ID card to one of the staff guarding the doors from run away kids. I attended this "form" of church for my whole Elementary career. After awhile i started to realize that they kept on repeating the lessons over and over again to the point it got so annoying i couldn't help but complain to my parents about it. The weekly sermons of Promiseland were also very basic and un-interesting. It seems that they did not think that kids could process much of anything, and just dismissed the possibility of any type of challenging lesson whatsoever. This really got to me after awhile and still bothers me to today. You think they would want to have a huge spiritual impact on kids, and this (if they want to) was lost due to under-estimation. As soon as i started attending Middle School, their was a transition process to "big" church so we could start attending church with our families and get more connected with our family's spiritual life. NOT! Nope, this did not happen...there is another Church ministry we as "fresh out of Promiselanders" had to now start to attend the middle school ministry called "Elevate." This form of a service was very similar to Promiseland's way of doing things; with the Video games, basketball (Elevate is held in the Church's very large basketball room/court), and all the other fun things. Me and my fellow youth would undergo the have fun, time for a sermon, and then small groups rotation every week. Elevate treated us a little bit better, with better quality lessons (due to us growing up for the most part), and a more deep small-group setting. I enjoyed my Elevate years. They would offer camps and would host youth dodge ball competitions instead of the service once and awhile. During this time my faith in Christ was also maturing and growing. I started to understand the faith of Christ and what it took to be a Christian. It was about half and half though; Elevate was responsible for about half of my growth, and i learned many things on my own about growing closer to Christ. As i look back now, i can tell that Elevate really under-estimated us and they could have went a lot deeper then they did. I had many great small-group leaders though, that i can tell cared for me and my peers. Directly after the service we would have a discussion about what was talked about during the service and the leader (along with co-leader) would try to get us to realize how the topic related to us as an individual. A little while into my the Elevate experience i got baptized by one of small group leaders named Trent Gillette. When i was asked by my mom if i wanted to be baptized at the coming lake baptism day at our church, i said "why wouldn't i?" to a chuckle from my mom. I could tell that there was a need for baptism and that it was the natural next-step in my spiritual life, even though most Protestant denominations don't view it as a necessary part of the Christian walk. I had a deep profound awe of baptism, i viewed it as a significant spiritual experience, i know i did. I was told that it was just a "profession of faith" but i knew inside that it was a lot more than that. God was cleansing me of the Adam and Eve given, Original Sin. I was being "born again" of the water. This is probably the most important event in my spiritual life at Willow, but i was not aware. When it was time to transition to the next Ministry at Willow Creek called "Impact" i accepted it with open arms. I was ready to move on out of Elevate and also to start my high-school and "Impact" career. As a Freshman in High-school i was well liked and i had a good amount of friends; i moved from Middle School to High-School very well. But in my spiritual life i started finding that Willow was not satisfying my spiritual needs, something was definitely wrong here. During the Impact service (Impact was now using the Lakeside Auditorium, Big church was now held in the new Main Auditorium). i would sit there with my small group and i would begin to investigate the individual elements of the service and how it all worked together. I had a feeling that this exceptionally "modern" church did not play by the rules of the true Christian church (i did not know what that church was yet). I began to investigate the different churches and their beliefs on core christian doctrines and i came to realize that my church Willow Creek did not resemble the early Christian church. I would look into Christian History, and try to put this whole puzzle together so i could understand this whole mess. I worked backwards through history; first looking at Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, then the Great Schism of the Western and Eastern churches. I was getting closed to the end of the puzzle and then i put the last piece in, it was the Roman Catholic Church. I could not understand how it could possibly be this church? The church my family and people i know have demonized their whole lives? But wait! Don't they worship Mary and their "Saints"? I was so full of disbelief and utter misunderstanding when i realized that the Catholic Church always was around the whole time! But i still had major theological differences with the Catholics. Then i started to understand the concept of Apostolic Succession, and that really clicked with me. I almost instantly became and avid Bible reader; i needed to proof text these Roman Catholic beliefs! As time went on I started agreeing more and more with Catholic doctrine, until i came to the conclusion the the Roman Catholic Church was the true church founded by Christ. One major theological turning point for me was when i found out about the Eucharist and how Holy Communion is more than just a piece of bread and a cup of wine that are just their to remind you of Jesus's death on that cross. Everything was starting to click, i could literally go on for days about reasons the Roman Church is the true church and that they have the true Christian faith. They truly have preserved the faith, and have have kept the Christian faith alive throughout the ages. Another thing that truly interested me was all the great saints from the early church and that their writings talk about the Church system and the Catholic Eucharist, Confession, Apostolic Succession etc. Just a mere look at the history of the Christian church shows you the truth that the Catholic church has the true christian faith and that all other types or forms of Christianity are break-offs the Catholic church and themselves. I now feel that i want to go to college to be a Catholic Theologian or Historian (religious Historian). I deeply feel that God did not want me to convert to Catholicism just for myself but to enlighten other people too, of the truth that God wants all to be aware of. Keep in mind that i have not converted yet, but i am waiting for the right time to make the transition. It's a lot harder than you probably think!
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you.
Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." (1 Corinthians 1:10-12).
Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:13)
No comments:
Post a Comment