Reply #22: There are a lot of different presbyterian factions

[JVS]

I don't know where to tell you to go.

I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (a liberal church akin to Episcopalians), where Evangelical has to do with a 16th century movement (the original term for Lutheran was Evangelical, the term Lutheran was originally a slur) within Christianity rather than a late-20th century movement. Recently I've been going to a church that is part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, which is a more conservative branch of Lutheranism. The reason that I started going there was purely a matter of convenience. They have a Wednesday evening service and Sunday mornings are often difficult for me to make. After a few weeks of comparing it with various ELCA congregations, I decided to stick with it because I found two aspects that I greatly prefered. The liturgy was done in the formal style on which I was raised and am more comfortable, the preaching was more serious and urged a higher degree of self-examination. I was able to get more out of it, even if the church does not reflect my views 100%.

Personally I'm not to keen on the whole shopping around to find a church that fits one's beliefs completely. We don't seek doctors that always say that we are healthy, and neither should we seek spiritual guidance that will just back us up on what we're doing anyway.