I was pretty much raised in church...I started out my early years as a Lutheran Brethren...then a change of address brought me to the Presbyterian Denomination...in junior high I was involved in two youth groups...a Nazarene youth group as well as within a new (to me) Presbyterian one. In High School I briefly attended a Lutheran Church...and also was involved (somewhat) in another youth group of which denomination I cannot recall...then early college back to the Lutheran Brethren...and then after another move I went back to a Presbyterian church where I became a member...and in that church I got married...then we moved to a new city and after "church shopping" felt led to attend a Methodist Church...and then to a Non-denominational one...then back again to a different Methodist church (where I am now) that seems to be where I feel led by Spirit (aka The Holy Spirit) to be.
Each of these church experiences have helped challenge me to think and grow in my Faith independent of a certain denomination. In fact, it was eye opening to me how different churches reading the same Bible could interpret what they read SO differently and yet with absolute conviction believe THEY were right and that others were "misled". Good people...devoted Christians...on completely different pages! And with this I felt compelled to search for Him beyond church walls. Church became for me a community, a resource, a place to challenge and develop my own beliefs and to listen to His Voice, not to mindlessly follow, to use as a crutch, or for pre-interpreted "cliff notes" to His Word.
This may be why I am hesitant for church membership. I am reluctant to "profess my beliefs" as pre-described by an organized denomination. I need to not feel constrained to a predetermined mindset...to commit to a solid understanding...but to be free to be led by Him and His Word beyond church doctrines & traditions. It's in this freedom that God can Reveal who He is beyond the definitions of the church and of man.
