Why I'm still not going back to church, part 1b

Here's an interesting tidbit if you haven't read the comments from the first post. Several weeks before I was classified among the likes of Jezebel at the church that doesn't know what to do with women (it must be the boobs), several couples were up in front of the congregation to be prayed over. These couples were going to be opening their homes for small groups, something that I think is wonderful, and essential for a church that size. What I noticed right away was that the wives stood behind the men while the leaders of the church laid hands on the men and prayed over them. I guess they thought that the women would have no influence over the people in the church.

I failed to mention that between this church and the last church we attended a house church. We learned about this house church at, of all places, the above mentioned church. We thought this might be a better fit for us. I did not like the huge crowds on Sunday mornings and, in reflection, we determined the moments we enjoyed the most, and connected with people the most, were in small groups.

We joined this church for about a year. We noticed that there was a huge lack in teaching during this time. The group consisted mostly of people who were unfamiliar with the Bible and some were active in A.A. I think A.A. is a great program, but it became apparent that there was a thin line between A.A. and church. Plus, the person who was viewed as the leader didn't want that role. Add to that, the person who was the designated teacher would essentially open up the Bible to a passage, read it, and then ask, "What do you think about that?" Which lead to some interesting interpretations and times where we were, again, frustrated.

Again, when Brian approached the leader about our concern about there being solid teaching in the group, he was told that this group was not going to be that way. Alex was also being bullied by the leader's son (who chalked it up to boys will be boys). We decided this was no longer a good fit for us.