CHURCH SEARCHING

I don't believe I have posted any updates about church lately so I figured I'd start this random blog with that. (I usually start each blog with a general idea of where it is going...not this one!) Finding a good church/Christian community was one of my main goals while being here. This became even more of a priority after arriving and realizing finding good Christian friends was going to be a challenge.
Reflecting on my life I realized that every time I have found myself in a new place for whatever reason it was always in some sort of Christian context (such as college or a Christian camp or whatever). Now I am realizing what a blessing that has really been. I must interject that I am not saying I don't want non-Christian friends. I love all my friends, Christian or not. However, Christian community is vital in "the Christian walk". (Haha, I love all this random cliche stuff we Christians say and don't really think about. We just know where to interject them to make us sound correct. Either that or we just know everyone (Christians) will get what we are saying even though we rarely take the time to break down what we are saying into actual life language.) So I have been searching for a young Christian community the past few weeks. I was having a particularly hard time because Catholicism is so prevalent here. And even if a congregation is not Catholic, they usually meet in what used to be a Catholic church so they still have a name like "St. Katherine's" or something, so you may not know if they are Catholic or not until you go to a service or do research on them or something. Well, one of my professors from Judson (who I am friends with on facebook) heard I was having trouble finding a church so he hooked me up with one of his friends who lives in Dublin. She ended up giving me a list of a few churches she thought were good and might have people my age.
My roommate and I tried one out that was pretty close to us and enjoyed it. We heard they had a young group that met on Tuesday night so we tried it out also. It was AwKwaRD. We thought it would be 20 somethings but it was more like 30 and 40 somethings. Not what we were looking for. Typically I wouldn't choose a church based on how many people my age attended, but in this instance I really need a community I can engage with outside of church which is easiest with people who are in the same stage of life as myself. So, we decided to try another.
We decided to try one called C.O.R.E. which stands for City Outreach through Renewal and Evangelism. We both LOVED it. I try my best not to make decisions based on feelings....but I do believe that when you are where you are supposed to be you will just know...and we did. We got there nice and early, just as every awkward new person does. A group of three girls came in a while after us who we realized were American as well. My roommate over heard one of the girls say she was from Washington which is where my roommate is from as well. It sparked a conversation and before we knew it we had made a new friend! Her name is Dannielle and she and her friends are here for a year working at a Christian mission here in Ireland. They volunteer with all ages of kids doing things like after school programs as well as working the the homeless. By our second Sunday at church we were already sitting with friends. What a blessing! We also met more people that Sunday and joined a small group. Tonight we are going to meet up with the group for the first time so I am very excited about that! We met two of the people from the small group last week so we won't go in knowing no one which is always a bonus. So thank you to all of you who have been keeping this particular request of mine in your prayers these past few weeks. God is FAITHFUL!

Cheers!