My PCA experience today.

[jhcampbell]

I don’t know if this is in the right forum.

I have been stuck going to a unbiblical nondenominational church that is painful to go to every Sunday. I have to go to that church because until I move out of my parents house that is what they made clear to me. Today I had my sister and brother in law drive me to a PCA church that was about 20 minutes away. I have been continually disappointed by churches so I was trying to keep my hopes down. The service was amazing and I loved the worship and using the hymnal etc. after the service I talked to the lead pastor and he took me to his office and he liked all of the books that I liked and reads a lot of the guys that I like to read. I was almost about to start crying because it has been very hard and discouraging going to a church that isn’t really a true church and finding a church body that I can actually relate to and find friends in was really encouraging. I will be seeking membership as soon as possible.

 

[Gforce9]

There is something quite special about going to a church where the means of grace are practiced and clear and where the exalted Christ is held high. You find this in Reformed churches. It is good to come face-to-face with yourself in truth and with God as he is. It is something that will both undue you and build you up. I'm happy to hear this great story. May our great God make a way for you to be there regularly.

 

[Clariz]

What a wonderful testimony, brother!
May the Lord smooth your ways to membership!

 

[MyCrows]

20 mins is a drop of water in the bucket for being with the Lord's people on the Lord's Day. Glad to hear you were blessed this day as He met with you and your kin!

 

[John Nyberg]

Psalm 122:1

“I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

 

[DrJack]

Every other week I drive 130 mi (one way) to church, and on alternate weeks 163 mi (to the ATL FCC congregation). Today I was lazy & only drove 1/2 hr to a local RP church! Seriously, I have driven far further for secular entertainment, finally it has sunk in to make the effort to worship my highest priority.

 

[darrellmaurina]

I don’t know if this is in the right forum.

I have been stuck going to a unbiblical nondenominational church that is painful to go to every Sunday. I have to go to that church because until I move out of my parents house that is what they made clear to me. Today I had my sister and brother in law drive me to a PCA church that was about 20 minutes away. I have been continually disappointed by churches so I was trying to keep my hopes down. The service was amazing and I loved the worship and using the hymnal etc. after the service I talked to the lead pastor and he took me to his office and he liked all of the books that I liked and reads a lot of the guys that I like to read. I was almost about to start crying because it has been very hard and discouraging going to a church that isn’t really a true church and finding a church body that I can actually relate to and find friends in was really encouraging. I will be seeking membership as soon as possible.

You do have a biblical obligation to honor your parents, and as long as you are under their roof, unless they command you to do something that is directly sinful, you do need to do what they say. Attending a Jehovah's Witness or Mormon congregation would be in that category. A nondenominational evangelical church probably isn't, though some are so bad that they might qualify. (Denial of the deity of Christ, oneness Pentecostalism, etc.)

But when you are living on your own and able to make your own church decisions, Dr. Jack is right.

Every other week I drive 130 mi (one way) to church, and on alternate weeks 163 mi (to the ATL FCC congregation). Today I was lazy & only drove 1/2 hr to a local RP church! Seriously, I have driven far further for secular entertainment, finally it has sunk in to make the effort to worship my highest priority.

In one state where I lived, I drove about 45 minutes to the closest Reformed church of any type (an RPCNA). In another, nearly two hours to the closest Reformed church that would accept my infant baptism (an OPC) until it closed, and then well over two hours in the opposite direction to a different OPC. Here in the Ozarks, until we began Hazelgreen Reformed Chapel, the closest confessionally Reformed options to Fort Leonard Wood that would accept people baptized as babies were an hour and a half drive to the west to Springfield, or over two hours east to the St. Louis suburbs.

20 mins is a drop of water in the bucket for being with the Lord's people on the Lord's Day. Glad to hear you were blessed this day as He met with you and your kin!

Again, MyCrows is right. a drive of 20 minutes is nothing. Many people routinely drive much farther to work every day.

For now, you have to do what your parents say. However, assuming that you are an adult and can earn your own money and find an apartment elsewhere, make church a priority as soon as you can. You have to do what your parents tell you so long as you live under their roof, but their sin is on their heads and you need to do what you can to get to a place where you can go to a bible teaching church.

For whatever it may be worth, this was a major issue during the Reformation with wives being forbidden by husbands from attending Protestant services. Domestic relations are not to be trifled with and the Reformers understood that. Telling this young man to defy his parents is not the answer. Encouraging him to earn enough money to move out, assuming that he is an adult, is probably the best option and may be the only option.

 

[jhcampbell]

You do have a biblical obligation to honor your parents, and as long as you are under their roof, unless they command you to do something that is directly sinful, you do need to do what they say. Attending a Jehovah's Witness or Mormon congregation would be in that category. A nondenominational evangelical church probably isn't, though some are so bad that they might qualify. (Denial of the deity of Christ, oneness Pentecostalism, etc.)

But when you are living on your own and able to make your own church decisions, Dr. Jack is right.



In one state where I lived, I drove about 45 minutes to the closest Reformed church of any type (an RPCNA). In another, nearly two hours to the closest Reformed church that would accept my infant baptism (an OPC) until it closed, and then well over two hours in the opposite direction to a different OPC. Here in the Ozarks, until we began Hazelgreen Reformed Chapel, the closest confessionally Reformed options to Fort Leonard Wood that would accept people baptized as babies were an hour and a half drive to the west to Springfield, or over two hours east to the St. Louis suburbs.



Again, MyCrows is right. a drive of 20 minutes is nothing. Many people routinely drive much farther to work every day.

For now, you have to do what your parents say. However, assuming that you are an adult and can earn your own money and find an apartment elsewhere, make church a priority as soon as you can. You have to do what your parents tell you so long as you live under their roof, but their sin is on their heads and you need to do what you can to get to a place where you can go to a bible teaching church.

For whatever it may be worth, this was a major issue during the Reformation with wives being forbidden by husbands from attending Protestant services. Domestic relations are not to be trifled with and the Reformers understood that. Telling this young man to defy his parents is not the answer. Encouraging him to earn enough money to move out, assuming that he is an adult, is probably the best option and may be the only option.

I should have mentioned that they have changed that rule since attending with my sister and brother in law. They gave me full permission to go and have given consent to let me keep attending there. The reason I’ve been going to that church as long as I have is due to the fact that I wanted to honor them.