gratitude: church

Our church here is a blessing to us.  Three Village Church is perhaps the quaintest church I've attended, with its red brick exterior, white pews in two straight rows, and silver chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.  And it has a stained glass window.  The window is often covered by a screen, so during the sermon they project a picture of the window on the screen so we can still see it.  I think that is cute of them.  But for all of its charm, it is not stagnant or old-fashioned.

Matt moved to Long Island a couple months before we were married and started to attend TVC during the summer.  After I moved here, I came with him a couple weeks was ready to stay.  There wasn't anything grand or earth-shattering about it, it didn't have the flashiest website or a giant worship band.  However, we saw our time here as limited and did not want to spend one third of our stay church-hopping and resisting the urge to settle somewhere.  I was anxious for fellowship, and this church spoke Truth.  We were staying.  Within a couple weeks, we'd joined a small group.  

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As we settled in, we met others and I was able to attend the weekly women's Bible study.  We enjoyed the solid teaching of our pastor.  Unfortunately, he resigned a few months after we started attending.  At first this was discouraging, and I wondered how the church would react.  They loved  their pastor dearly, and the congregation was full of weeping women at the announcement.  But the church pulled together, our youth pastor and associate pastor took turns preaching until we brought in an interim pastor this fall.  And the church has grown.  We became more involved, and I taught VBS this summer and am now teaching Sunday school.  

Our small group is no longer small, having grown steadily over the past year.  We enjoy the fellowship and accountability that comes with our weekly meetings.  We take turns leading the week's lesson, and our varying background and professions mean thorough discussion.  We are a little family, helping each other with home improvement projects and celebrating milestones.  

I am so thankful for this church that welcomed us and continues to provide solid Biblical teaching, week after week.  It is the body of Christ that makes me feel at home, wherever I might go.