A question of Denomination

The past year and a half has been a huge learning curve for me. I'm "between churches" as a result, and here's how it happened.

I grew up in Denomination 1 (not going to denom-bash in this post, so they're numbered for now) and was pretty happy as long as I was a pew-warmer. My dad pastors in D1, and he's happy too. Mom has a ministry within D1, and she's also happy. A couple of years ago they up and moved to Australia. And I got involved in D1 leadership - first starting Kid's Church then a praise team, and then I got going and wanted to make all sorts of changes - I was on fire, man! Unfortunately the pastor black-labelled me, along with a couple of elders, and life got really difficult. All my passion for worship was snuffed out by the big boot of The Authorities and church became a chore. I'd come away from doing church with a frustration headache each week, having rushed from praise team to kid's church and never got a morsel of spiritual food for me. The lack of progress, the unwillingness to try something new and better, really got to me. At the beginning of last year I resigned from everything and took to just having a "day of rest" from church - and what a blessing that was after the previous nightmare!

And then I was invited to visit Denomination 2. Came, saw, stayed to worship and didn't miss a week for over a year. During that time I was drafted onto the worship team as musician and then later put on the worship committee to plan worship for the church (though the pastor had concerns that I wasn't a member, after a previous bad experience with non-members in leadership positions). So that's where I worship now. And I love it! It's alive, it's relaxed, it's real, and it's growing and changing to meet needs. Hey, my son even drags me off to church every week! That has to be a good thing!

But I don't agree with all the beliefs of D2, and I've started wondering about some of the beliefs (or perhaps the way they're implemented) of D1. As a result I've kinda developed my own set of beliefs - which is probably a good thing, after all you have to know for yourself what you believe and why. Having some of them challenged has strengthened my faith and clarified the why's for me in a big way.

But I wonder - is denomination important? How do you define who you are without being within a certain set of "rules of the club"? Can you just be a Christian without being a denomination? If you're comfortable with one set of beliefs and just as comfortable worshipping within another set, is that a bad thing? Can you filter out the bad and absorb the good from each one? Do you have to actually belong somewhere to be part of the body of Christ?

And how do you deal with the lonliness of being neither here nor there? How do you find someone who understands both points of view to bounce your feelings and ideas off? It's something I'm struggling with at the moment - and I tend to just shut up and not say anything to stir the pot - it's easier that way...

Current Music: Hillsong "Hope" - again!