Our Stories So Far and My Story: A Second Home

In the first post of this series, I promised I would share a little bit about my story in the Church of God. My Church of God story actually begins in the United Methodist Church. My family has very deep roots in the UMC, both of my parents being raised in the UMC and their families’ involvement going back generations to the Methodist denominations that united to become the United Methodsit church. After my family moved to the Cleveland area when I was 7 years old, we began attending Strongsville United Methodist Church. Throughout my years growing up there, my family was deeply involved in the community. Most of all I loved my time singing in the Sanctuary Choir in high school. I also grew to treasure the seasons of the church and the liturgical year, and some of the most powerful worship experiences I had came during traditional Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter services.

During college and afterward, I had a hard time finding a church to attend in Columbus, Ohio and had some times of wandering. But my church in Strongsville was my anchor. The people there continued to care for me and welcome me whenever I was home to visit, and it was there the Jesus’ words, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” spoke to me so eloquently one Sunday morning and helped me cling to my faith in the midst of times of questioning.

I finally found a church home Columbus in a small Southern Baptist church plant in where some of my friends were attending. The worship experience couldn’t have been more different from the church I grew up in, but it was a time when my faith deepened and I experienced true Christan community. I also came to appreciate the diversity that can be found in the body of Christ. One of those friends who introduced me to the church and I began dating, and if you haven’t guessed by now, I’m the nice Methodist girl Joe referred to in his post. He told me about his call to ministry before we were even engaged and his plans to attend the Anderson University School of Theology.

When we moved to Anderson, I’d had no real knowledge of or experience in the Church of God, other than attending a few services with Joe at his home church outside of Dayton. In the years that followed, as he studied (and I proofread his papers), as we served in youth ministry in a Church of God church outside of Indianapolis, as I began working for Warner Press (the publishing house for the Church of God), and as we forged friendships with people in the movement, I learned more about the Church of God and have found so much to love about it. The Church of God’s pursuit of holiness and unity, the enthusiasm of those who hold to these ideals of the Church of God, the potential for Church of God to speak into the coming generations, and the sense of community and belonging I have experienced among the people are reasons why I am proud to be a part of this movement and am committed to serve in it.

Now our family lives in Dayton, Ohio, where Joe pastors a church, and I have been able to continue to work for Warner Press. There will always be a longing in my heart for the spiritual rhythms, liturgy and traditions of my United Methodist upbringing, but I also love the Church of God and its people, and I am thankful that it has become my second spiritual home.

If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to read the other stories that have been shared as a part of our “My Story” series, and we hope to have more Church of God stories to share in the future.

Do you have a story in the Church of God and if so, why have you chosen to be committed to the Church of God?

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