nannygirl, what is your Protestant background? By any chance were you part of one of the “older” Protestant denominations (Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc.?)
This is true of all autonomous and non-denominational churches–they are each run locally, and you have to take each church as you find it and not expect it to be run like other churches that you are familiar with.)
Hi Cat,
My background- I was baptised and confirmed as an infant in the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, but went to a very traditional Episcopalian church till I was about 12. I didn’t attend church again till I was 27 years old when I was “born again” during the “Jesus Movement” while attending a Charismatic believer’s baptism, speaking in tongues-type non-denominational church (Full Faith Church of Love -it was the 70’s

).
For the next 15 years or so, I was very involved, but started to question some things when they started promoting a well-known “faith-healer”. I walked out one day when they started preaching that if you were sick or poor it was because you didn’t have enough faith. I wandered around for a couple of years, looking for some place more orthodox where I would fit in. (I also attended an E Free church down the street for awhile.) My biggest criteria at the time was if anyone said hello back to me.
I ended up attending a fundamentalist independent Baptist church. (While I was there I started attending Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), an international Bible Study group and became involved in leadership, becoming the assistant children’s supervisor. I was in it for 10 years, loved it and learned a great deal about teaching young children.)
Then came a split and so did I. In the fall of 1997 I found a small group of reformed Baptists who followed the 1689 Confession of Faith that was meeting at the nearby Baptist seminary, so I joined them. In 2003 the pastor left to teach college and they didn’t find another pastor, so they disbanded. I was devastated. It was the best group of people I ever had the pleasure to know.
By that time I was confused and disillusioned with all the different teachings and denominations. I didn’t know where to turn. I had never considered Catholicism because I didn’t consider them to be Christians. About that time my former daughter-in-law started dating a Catholic man who had a huge friendly, fun Catholic family. I was fascinated by them because they were so “Christian”, but of course I had been taught that they were “of the devil”!

One day my daughter-in-law told me she was going to attend RCIA classes. I almost had a heart attack. All I could think of was that my poor grandchildren were going to be corrupted. So I decided that I would go to the classes, too, so that later on I could refute everything the instructor was going to teach her. Well, needless to say, I realized that the Catholic Church was the real original Church founded by the Lord Jesus himself. What a relief - end of confusion. I came into the Church the following spring in 2006. All of the creeds I had learned as an Episcopalian were the same at the CC.
I went to Holy Mass with my daughter-in-law for awhile, but decided to visit the churches in and around my own parish because of the distance. (I really love my “welcoming” church. Their Holy Mass is a very beautiful and reverent NO Mass. I would never confuse it with a Protestant service.

)
I was very surprised with the churches in my area. The few I attended were very much like my old Charismatic church, even down to the architecture. No crucifixes, bells or incense. No kneeling. It was extremely informal. That’s how it reminds me of a non-denominational Protestant church- with people clapping and lots of Protestant “hippie” hymns. People milling around in Hawiian shirts, shorts and tank tops. I really was confused by it the first time I experienced it. I really thought I was in the wrong church or I was having a flashback.

That said, I’m not putting anyone down, I’m just giving my opinion on what effect it had on me.