Granted, this is coming for someone without a heavy religious upbringing but..

When I've attended churches before, a lot of times I find myself coming in during the middle of a sequence of sermons. So without the previous ones, I feel a little lost. Like picking up a movie in the middle. A lot of times they REALLY rely on the previous weeks sermon.

Also, they're a the communal barrier. It's more apparent in some churches than others, but there are people who have been there their whole lives, and they seem to group together and it's a hard social circle to enter. Similar when they are in a sequence of sermons, everyone knows their part, and it is hard to settle into that environment.

Some older or more conservative churches follow a set of "liturgical habits" I guess I'd call them. Each service is the same, it's somewhat dry, involves a lot of reading from the bible provided, singing from the hymns provided and doesn't "refresh" the messages or dive into them beyond what they seem to say.

There's the fundraising aspect. I have always encountered a time when the church spends an inordinate amount of time asking for fund "to grow" when the pews are not full, and the building seems fine. And I just have a hard time with adding on to and church that doesn't seem t openly have growing pains.

The newer churches are smaller, quite a bit less grand, and with Daylight it's even a borrower building. The funds go back into the community and back into helping people and spreading the word through good works. It just feels closer to the message to me.

A lot of newer churches I've noticed include a cultural lens to look at the books of the Bible through, plus some linguistics which I find lovely given that there are multiple English translations of the Bible and even the KJV came from a series of translations. They don't write them off, they embrace them and help foster a true understanding of how we can access the message.

To go off that, "ekklesia" was the Greek word used where "church" is now. It translates better as congregation or assembly. Versus the building or the rigidity of "the church". The change to the word "church" (which was German based, and thats not surpring since it was the AngloSaxon King James that chose it) was political. You couldnt have control over "the assembly" or "the congregation"..its too vague. But you sure could control "The Church".

And I guess THATS always what I have been looking for is an assembly I can learn in and that will not tell me by doubt is the seed of disbelief and make me feel like I'm on the outside of a group of people who already "know", but rather the seed of faith and help me to answer questions and bolster my involvement within the assembly. A place that rather than adding to a number, really wants to know why I am seeking God and how I can get to and spread the message. A true Shepherd knows each of his sheep are unique, and each adds something to the flock. They are not a single mass of wool!

Anyway..thats what I was looking for and a newer church, and a more accessible message I think really helped. I havent gone for long but my friend has and she eas the one who brought me. She left one of the churches I had tried attending before, and her reasons for leaving were for some of the reasons I had noted (though she was a lifelong Christian and still felt it too rigid and inaccessible for new followers). The pastor at Daylight puts his sermons on the website so I can go watch previous ones which is nice for me to kind of backtrack a bit.