How do I find a church?

[bakura91]

Ive been thinking about this for a while. Although Ive went to Christian schools for most of My life Ive only attended a few Sevices and a few Churches. I was an atheist for many years and before that I guess I just wasnt interested, but since becoming a Christian and joining this site Ive been wanting to find a church. Where I live there are probably a billion churches on every corner and I dont know where to start plus I still dont quite know the differences in many denominations yet.

[SincerelyAnomymous]

Welcome to the Christian family, bakura.

Have you tried talking to Christian friends? It would also help to look on the internet and not look up what's popular, but what is acclaimed better by Christians.

Three important things.

Spirituallity
Message
Pastor's personal life

It's also important that the pastor doesn't pressure you into going to their church. The church my sister goes to never pressured her about going to it.

And remember, a church is suppose to be a Godly experience.

[Okami]

Elaborating on Ferb's points of spirituality and message, I would also continue to say a church that cares about the context of the Biblical story (you'll find me backing up this point a lot around here ) as well as being community-oriented. What is the church doing to serve those in the community? What about helping missions around the country and around the world? Is the message they bring being preached, as well as practiced? Does it hold up Scripturally, or is it just tickle-the-ears type preaching?

Remember that a pastor is still human, still learning just like the rest of us. Yes, it is important that they be an example as a church leader - the same goes for elders, deacons, and the rest of a church leadership. It should be in the interest of the church to help hold these people to a standard of accountability, just as the leadership ought to do of their members. This is one of those things that is typically lesser known to the vast church community.

No church is "perfect" in any given area. A lot of things come down to your personal assessments, but it's also good to remember that you don't have to agree with everything or be entirely comfortable, because mistakes do happen. It's probably easiest to take a look into local church websites, read up on different denominations, learn some of the history - and of course, actually visit your local churches. See how they treat newcomers. Get to know people. Church is a place where we fellowship together and get to worship God together. Connection to people is absolutely key - and sadly, so many people have lost touch of this with glamorous sermons and messages.

This is just a brief overview, of course. It all depends on your own views of things and is a learning process and an experience that may take some time to learn the ins and outs of what you're personally looking for.

Good luck and Godspeed in your search, Bakura.

[Agloval]

I'm not an experienced church-finder and I know little about Christianity in America, so I'll leave giving good advice to other posters... beyond the obvious and probably redundant: pray about it.

(And then follow all the good advice. God bless you!)

[Okami]

pray about it.

I knew I was missing something important....Go figure that it's the obvious. :thumb:

[Warrior4Christ]

No church is "perfect" in any given area.

But if you do find one - don't join it; you'll only ruin it!


Yeah, I suggest just go and try some. Work out which ones look like they'd be good (assessing as above - website, denominations, presence (signage), word of mouth?), and try one per Sunday until you find one that you want to go back to. Look for welcoming people and solid teaching - don't be too tempted to "church shop" continuously and never settle because of insignificant problems they may have. Try to have an open/welcoming attitude yourself as you try them out. Good luck!

[shooraijin]

I'm in your boat, bakura91, as I'm moving to a new house and would like to find something closer than having to drive down to my folks' and go to the fellowship there (though I still will when I visit). Right now I'm looking for groups with a similar social network and beliefs not incompatible with my own specific preferences. I will say Google Maps (location, location, location) makes this a lot easier but on the whole it's pretty much been just going there and seeing what happens. This is a little hard for an introvert.

[Darth_Kirby]

I've been looking around for a church too, but to be honest there are two major functions that a church serves:

1: To be a place where you can have christian fellowship and be accepted by fellow believers.

2: To be a place of spiritual growth and learning.

Both of these things you can find outside of a church too (which I have been learning recently), but it is far more difficult than just going to a church. I recomend that you keep searching for a church (and pray about it), but if all else fails start looking into some christian devotional books and for christian clubs or organizations where you can meet up with fellow believers for fellowship. (I might note that while it is not essentially ideal, CAA has been a good place for fellowship thus far for me. ^^)

[Xeno]

This is a question I find myself also asking lately as I'm finding a lot of my previosly held beliefs come into question (see my thread in Testimonies and Spiritual Growth). It's previously always been easy for me, just go to a UPCI church, duh! But now I'm having to examine doctrinal beliefs and consider "trying out" churches, it's kind of foreign. Good to know I'm not the only one going through this. But I think the only way we can really be led to where we need to be is through prayer. God will not lead us astray.

[Dante]

Actually not all churches have the traditional format of having a pastor come to the front and give a message while the audience listens. The Quakers for instance, just sit in a circle in complete silence together as they try to listen for the Holy Spirit to speak to them. Then if any of the members feels they're being led about something, they'll speak about it for a short time before returning to silence.

I rather like them a lot, I'm just too spastic with attention deficit to sit in one spot for too long - I need shinies and distractions to keep my mind busy or it drives me silly. (I also need more young people my own age) As an artist, I also like to add fashion to clothing which goes against their belief that we should live simply. Although they are moving further and further away from that.

[Jingo Jaden]

I dig the salvation army around where I am at. They at the very least try to make things interesting. I don't always agree with them, but it is a lot more lively and better than your average sermon. They seem to care who you are and what you do, and helping the poor on a local level is always a good thing.

[shooraijin]

I went to a Salvation Army corps for a number of years myself. I don't remember if we have any Salvationists here.