I’m not a church-goer but many of friends/family are. This suggestion may be slightly off kilter but it’s based on past situations/ conversations with them.
I’m absolutely clueless as the the wider organizational structures of denominations, and maybe you wouldn’t want to ask an, I dunno, over-arching authority for suggestions on a more compatible church.
But many phone books list churches, by demonination, in the yellow pages, often with service times. Could you just visit some of the other churches several times for services and see if one fits you better?
If that idea is full of beans, my apologies. Your situation is outside my experience, and I suspect some subtleties and nuances maybe didn’t register. But at least you’d still be attending church services, in your faith and denomination.
Not for a lot of people, such as myself. The robes, the vestments, the building, the gilding, the statues, etc. all have their subtle effect on the human psyche. That effect is the feeling of being closer to the divine. If you can automatically do it on your own, that is all well and good, but many of us still do not have the mental discipline to feel immensely spiritual out of the blue. This is where symbols, icons, and mythologies come into play.
For me, it’s not even a question of “affirming” faith anymore. I’m all about experiencing deity directly using different props to achieve that effect.
Not to push changing denominations too much, but I’ve never heard of a Southern Baptist church that doesn’t practice believer’s baptism by immersion, and while they have a national convention, it is by no means a governing hierarchy – if anything, it errs on the side of being almost powerless (see here for more information). As for the formality of services, it varies widely – there are Southern Baptist churches that have more traditional, solemn services and there are Southern Baptist churches that sound like rock concerts.
I also respond to ritual. It helps me to focus and provides a sense of peaceful worship. So I became a member of the Anglican (Episcopal) Church. But then they undated the Prayer Book (which seemed to make sense at the time) and became less formal. I too miss the higher mass, but appreciate the ritual that is still there.
I mention this church because they do accept baptism that has already taken place. And, I have been to at least one imersion. I assume that is still an option.
I see nothing wrong with attending two different services and keeping your membership where it is.
Are you the only one that feels this way in your congregation (perhaps it’s hard to tell) - I’d definitely have a friendly chat with your pastor or someone else in leadership. They may not be interested in adapting to your needs (“this isn’t a democracy” is one term I have heard used :rolleyes: - sure it isn’t, but that doesn’t make leaders infallible).
It may be that someone in leadership has ‘sensed’ that something is adrift and is just waiting for some feedback, this may not be the case, but where’s the harm in trying?
I’ve heard a lot of criticism of ritual from modern evangelicals, IMHO they don’t realise that what they do is often just as ritualistic/formulaic as anything you’d see in a high(bells & smells) church, it’s just different rituals that take the guise of ‘free worship’ - there’s a tendency to throw out the baby with the bathwater and consider any tradition to be outdated or worthless - a terrible waste. We might just as easily argue that worshipping God by singing is out of date, after all it’s been around a very long time.
Humans are creatures of habit, ritual provides a way of harnessing this.
Rastahomie, I hadn’t heard of the Restoration Movement before, but it sounds very much like the non-denominational churches my parents grew up in. We moved to a town without an “Assembly” when I was in kindergarten, and ended up trying a couple of Southern Baptist churches before we found the right fit. The more conservative-ish Baptist/Southern Baptist churches aren’t as different in theology from yours as you might think. Might be something to think about, anyway.