The church hopper

Is it safe to think that everyone or most everyone at some point has thought about going to a new church? Probably. If you do it alot, you may be a church hopper. "Hopping" to another church is defined as leaving for another of the same denomination because some momentary need isn't being met.

Betsy Hart, an evangelical writing in the San Jose Mercury News, criticizes the church hopper for being selfish. She says hopping is "invidious," and a trend amongst some Protestants. She writes:

Church "hopping" is the ultimate "all about me" experience.
I'm not talking about church "shopping" - say, moving into a new community, or deciding to start attending church altogether, and then visiting churches until becoming a member of one as soon as reasonably possible. And I'm not talking about leaving one's church after finding un-addressed scandal in a church's leadership, for instance, or when a person's conscience becomes persuaded that something foundational to the belief system of that church is very wrong.
I'm talking about the growing tendency in America's evangelical churches for folks who decide, after they have officially joined a particular church, that "Oh, that pastor down the street is a little more high-energy than mine," or "Gee, the music here isn't really meeting my needs right now," or "I really am not crazy about that new children's church director."
They just up and leave, and go to a new church in their community.
Until they hop from that one.

Check out the whole thing at the San Jose Mercury News.