Growing up in a Baptist Church, we attended ever Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night, without fail. Somewhere along the way, my views on church started to change and my views longer aligned themselves with the Baptist church. So, instead of looking elsewhere, I just quit attending all together. Not the right approach, but when our minister and his son both died in the same week of very difficult cancers, I really had some serious questions for God and I needed some answers.

Over the course of 2 years, I searched for answers, not hard, but I searched. I talked with people/friends/etc to ask, why? Why would God allow a pastor and his little son to both die? No one had an answer. But, something happened one day Friday after work. I got a phone call from my sister and she said that her best friend’s mom had just died and the wanted me to attend the funeral the following week. I was close to my sister’s friend, so it wasn’t a strange request and it was easy enough to change my schedule to attend the funeral. But something happened that day. Something changed me while I was sitting in church. For some reason, I was at peace with all of those questions that I had about God and church before.

That day, after leaving the funeral, I was asked what I thought about the service and I just replied that, I would start attending that United Methodist Church going forward. And that is what happened. From that day forward, I have been a member of the Methodist Church.  I look back on my time in Texas and I was very active in the church. I was there for everything. I was always willing to give if a child could not afford to attend a camp.  The church was a huge part of my life there.

Then I moved to the east coast. And I searched and went to 10 different different Methodist Churches and I just couldn’t find a fit. My now wife and I attended a Methodist Church and it was ok. I was not blown away by any of the sermons. I never left better than I came into the sanctuary.   I often was more at peace after listening to the church sermon from my church out in Texas than I was at any of the churches that I have attended here. And then today. Today, on my Facebook wall, I saw a post about a United Methodist Minister, Jeffery Herships, holding church in Denver bars. And it hit me, man, this is awesome. Not because you could have a beer or a glass of wine with the sermon, though that is cool. But this guy is going where the unchurched are. He is going to meet the people in their environment. He says the exact same thing that I told friends just yesterday, Church can be anywhere.

I’ve often struggled with the idea that church has to be Sunday morning at 9:20 am or 11:00 am in a big building. Why can’t church be on a mountain top over looking a city? Why can’t church be out on the water and a group of 5 sail boats are all anchored out? How says that church as to be on Sunday morning? I have watched this video a few times now and have emailed it to friends that work with the United Methodist Church and we have all said the same thing, church is changing.  And for me, going to church is important and it is something that I want to instill in my sons, that there is a higher being and that it is ok to believe in God. But I also want them to understand too, that church does not mean that you have to wear a suit and tie on Sunday morning to a big building, because those people that are in the video that are getting a sandwich in the park, are not dressed up, but they are being ministered to. They are receiving a blessing from God.

So what does church look like for you? A big sanctuary on Sunday morning? Or spending time with others in the presence of God wherever you are?