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Okay, how can I keep this as simple as possible? 
I don't feel like I have a home church anymore.
In summer of last year, I left my church of over a decade because I finally admitted to myself that they had strayed from biblical orthodoxy. When my wife, daughter, and I came to the U.S. to visit, we attended the church my sister served at. They didn't have a pastor at the time, though, because he had moved to Texas the spring before. After we went back to Asia in August, I kept up with the church's sermons, but living so far away, I couldn't really plug myself in and become a part of things.
After getting stuck in the U.S. at the beginning of this year, we were able to attend services again, and I got to see the first sermon of the newly hired pastor the week before the lockdown shut things down. I still watch online each week, but I haven't braved going back to the church even though they've opened up for fear of bringing the virus home to my daughter.
I was thinking that this church would eventually become my home church if/when my family moves to the U.S. But my sister and her family just moved to a town three hours south of here, and my parents are hoping to move down there sometime within the next year or so. It's quite likely that, the next time we come back to visit, we won't even see my hometown. That would make it hard to be a part of this church.
Meanwhile, when I'm Asia, I usually meet with a group of mostly foreigners once a week in an apartment. They were doing Zoom meetings for a bit during the pandemic, but they're back to meeting in person again. They've never felt like a home church to me because they don't have a pastor, they just listen to sermon series downloaded online. They also don't have any reason to take offering since they don't have a building or any overhead costs. But they recently voted to elect elders for some reason. I'm pretty out of the loop on that, but it seems like an odd choice.
So, yeah...I'm not really looking for advice, because I don't think there's anything I can do. I'm just saying that, based on what churches I've been interacting with recently, I feel closer to Nathan James Norman's church in Michigan right now than I do to any church I've ever actually been a part of.
I don't feel like I have a home church anymore.
In summer of last year, I left my church of over a decade because I finally admitted to myself that they had strayed from biblical orthodoxy. When my wife, daughter, and I came to the U.S. to visit, we attended the church my sister served at. They didn't have a pastor at the time, though, because he had moved to Texas the spring before. After we went back to Asia in August, I kept up with the church's sermons, but living so far away, I couldn't really plug myself in and become a part of things.
After getting stuck in the U.S. at the beginning of this year, we were able to attend services again, and I got to see the first sermon of the newly hired pastor the week before the lockdown shut things down. I still watch online each week, but I haven't braved going back to the church even though they've opened up for fear of bringing the virus home to my daughter.
I was thinking that this church would eventually become my home church if/when my family moves to the U.S. But my sister and her family just moved to a town three hours south of here, and my parents are hoping to move down there sometime within the next year or so. It's quite likely that, the next time we come back to visit, we won't even see my hometown. That would make it hard to be a part of this church.
Meanwhile, when I'm Asia, I usually meet with a group of mostly foreigners once a week in an apartment. They were doing Zoom meetings for a bit during the pandemic, but they're back to meeting in person again. They've never felt like a home church to me because they don't have a pastor, they just listen to sermon series downloaded online. They also don't have any reason to take offering since they don't have a building or any overhead costs. But they recently voted to elect elders for some reason. I'm pretty out of the loop on that, but it seems like an odd choice.
So, yeah...I'm not really looking for advice, because I don't think there's anything I can do. I'm just saying that, based on what churches I've been interacting with recently, I feel closer to Nathan James Norman's church in Michigan right now than I do to any church I've ever actually been a part of.
