[aron]

Ohio,

Further marginally useful thoughts and experiences:

Rather than going back into church fellowship through the front door on Suday morning at 10 am and running the gauntlet of Pastor Bob and his disciples and their pet doctrines, which I was not in the mood for after the LCs, I started small and had fellowship with believers I met on the way. I was determined to "amen" as much as possible every christian I ran across.

So I started putting my "christ" out there, front and center, and gradually over time I began to build a nice little support network. I ran into organizational feelers along the way: "What church do you go to?"; and "Well, my pastor says..." but by and large I found people receptive to just plain old faith.

So eventually I ran up into organized christianity in various forms, and on various levels, from formal to informal, but it was within the context of existant, respectful, mutually worthwhile relationships based on faith in Jesus Christ. So I mostly avoided the "quenching of the spirit" kind of experiences you seem to be describing.

The Lord always provides a way for His sheep.