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I realized yesterday I just jumped right in and didn’t introduce myself … so here I am … the first stab in the dark at an intro.
My username comes from an off spelling of the group The Cowboy Junkies. I love their music and I love the band and their story even more. I used to listen to their CD’s all the time in university. As I ventured into the online world I tried cowboyjunkie and it was taken so I changed the spelling and apparently no else in the world has thought of that because I have been able to use cowboyjunkey ever since.
I grew up in a non-religious house. I’m fairly certain both of my parents went to church growing up but stopped at some point I really don’t know their stories My Mom died nearly 5 years ago and whenever I try to bridge the topic with my Dad he doesn’t respond or moves on to something else.
The seeds of faith were planted by a high school youth group. It was the typical formula for a youth group but I always enjoyed talking with the guy running it after the formal part because he would just talk about regular stuff. We mostly talked farming (I grew up on a farm).The University of Guelph was where I really started my journey. I’m still on it and I really don’t see a need to stop at any destination. I’ve always run away from being pegged or slotted into something. I’ve always had a (mostly good) bullshit detector.
My first year I attended a Sunday evening service put on by the ecumenical minister at the university. Ever since then I’ve always loved Sunday evening services. I could sleep in and enjoy my day and then have a relaxing time to get ready for the week. At university I always took Sunday off and still do to this day. Its one of very few things that I firmly believe in – having a day of rest. For the service we gathered in an upper room of a church building and had all our chairs set in a circle. We’d check-in with each other and tell about our week and how were doing. We’d sing some songs, listen to a homily by the minister (she was Anglican). I always loved communion because we used a cup with real wine and passed it person to person drinking from it and we passed the bread around, tearing off whatever size we wanted.
Later on in university I got involved in The Navigators. (I had went to a few Campus Crusade for Christ meetings but thankfully the b.s. meter was working well then.) The group at U of G was special. The previous year a whole bunch of people graduated and left it with only 7 of us including the staff member. We would meet on a Sunday afternoon at house (so I got to sleep in), have a discussion lead by the staff member, eat a potluck meal, then hang out and do any planning needed for the weeks large group activity or any small groups. Near the end we abandoned the large group and focused on small and I loved that.
I also got involved with the student lead worship night that happened once a month. I did the sound there. I enjoyed it but over time I had a hard time fitting into the Christian culture (it seemed like all the cool Christians went to camp and if you didn’t, you weren’t in the club).
After university I got a job near Guelph and continued to live there. I realized I needed to look beyond the university for a faith group. One of the main problems with university groups is they disappear for the summer and disband for a month at Christmas. I went to a Baptist Church. Not long after starting the pastors started a Sunday night group at their house for all the people past university but before kids. I loved it. After a year or so I quit church because to me this was my church. Though I would sneak back after the service was done for coffee hour and then join all the other “college & career age” people for lunch after.
I moved out to Manitoba after few years to do a Master’s. Once again I found a Baptist church in both Brandon & Winnipeg and found small groups in them. One was a formal one, the other was informal. I met my future wife within a year and started going to her church. I didn’t find a small group there but I did get involved in the youth group and loved that. I still am in touch with some people there. I loved that time and was more sad to leave them then the rest of the people in church when I moved to Alberta to take a job out here.
We started at a church here in Taber and were there for nearly two years when took a bold step to just quit church. We didn’t go for nearly a half year until we found a house church that was going. It was a great thing to find but I think we caught it as it was losing momentum. It was great while it lasted but it seemed to fade away. Through it we did meet some people that are now very good friends (and ended up living only a few houses from us). After a while with nothing we ventured back into church but we went to a different one. They were always talking about their small groups so I gave it go. The group was good but we never really gelled and it faded after a year. Over this past year my wife has got very involved in the worship and in a different small group. We adopted a boy a few years ago (he’s now 8) and he loves Sunday School and loves dancing up a storm during worship. I’m going because most Sunday’s my wife is there early for worship and my son loves to go. I do enjoy going with him – we walk there together and have a Sunday morning of hanging out.
AnonymousWhat prompted the bold move to quit?
I guess bold move was more about my wife since she grew up in the church and had always went to church. For me it was a longing for the smaller, simpler churches that I had experienced in the past.
AnonymousI hear ya there. Big commercial churches are impressive for a short time, then they are just big.
Cowboyjunkey, thanks for posting your story! Sounds familiar… I look forward to hearing more and the story unfolds. Peace.
AnonymousThanks for sharing your journey, @cowboyjunkey.
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