The biblical Church was a family, they shared everything and took communion in a intimate, meaningful manner. It wasn't about the one speaking or lessons given. It was about coming together as one body to worship Christ Jesus and be in community and service with fellow believers. With my home church I cant help but serve and give to my community of believers, my family. After attending another church for only a month iv already been compelled to serve and give to that body. I know with my servants nature and unhealthy inability to say no, I would end up serving both. This is darn right impossible and i would be spending all my time volunteering the crap out of both. This is where it gets iffy for me. It would be unhealthy to serve two body's half way. This is unfair for both.
I strongly agree with the words of my good friend Josh when he said, "We can't be consumers."
As Christians we are called to serve. And serve our Church.
"Sadly, too often people “church hop” to more than one local body with the intention of picking and choosing something from each one because they feel they cannot find one church that “meets their needs” or gives them everything they think they should be getting from a church. They may attend one church for the music, another for the preaching, and a third for the social gatherings. The problem with this line of thinking is that Christians are to align themselves with a group of believers in order to give, not to get. We are to be actively serving and ministering to one another with the spiritual gift we have received from the Spirit, and when we spend minimal time in each group, we cannot do that effectively. In addition, we give the impression that we are not committed to the believers or the leadership in any one church, and that is a poor witness to others. While there may be legitimate reasons for someone to attend two or more churches, and nothing in the Bible forbids it, it is hard to see how such a practice could fully benefit either the believer or the local churches they attend."http://www.gotquestions.org/two-churches.html
Though even with all this said I can't say that attending two churches is wrong. I wish i had an objective, "heres how it is", black and white answer. But i cant find one.
So far this is what i believe,
1. We are called to serve and be active within our Church.
2. If another act is taking away from the time and money we invest in our Church we need to manage our efforts so that our Church is not compromised.
3. Church isn't about the speaker, or the worship. If it was, people would be leaving all the time because the Church is not constant. It goes through extreme changes throughout is lifetime. It NEEDS to be about the community. The family. And just like all families, they will face change. people will leave, people will come. Tom Lance is a great example of a man who has remained loyal to his family through all (and there is a lot! just ask him!) the changes. We must be yoked together in order to persevere through lives ups and downs.
Yet with all this said can you still come to the conclusion that it is wrong to spend your excess time attending another church service, and learning from a different speaker who has a different interpretation of biblical scriptures? I can not say. But I can speak for myself and say that I will spend my excess time serving my body of Christians, rather then being served by the body of another's.
-Writers opinion.
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