Have you moved to a new city and lost as to where you should start going to church? Maybe you are just ready to move your membership and find a new church home for other reasons. Or maybe you have just accepted Jesus Christ into your life, and you want to secure your membership at a local church? Whatever the reason, I got you!
Choosing a church home is important and should not be entered into lightly. A church home is a place where both believers and non-believers congregate together, pray, worship, and fellowship together. Churches are places that a person should go to and feel energized, and loved when they enter and exit. But I must be honest, that although it should be a safe, happy place, there are still mean people who attend. But don’t allow that to stop you from getting your praise and worship on. I have to be honest and share that I have been turned off by members in the past because of hurt feelings, but I also have strong faith and refused to allow one bad apple to keep me from attending church and praising God.
With that being said, here are some tips for you to review when you are deciding on a church home for you.
1. Visit frequently.
It can be tempting to attend one church service and automatically decide to join a church. However, I encourage you to visit several times and get a feel for the overall culture of the church, including music, members, indirect messages, such as tithes and offerings, etc. Sometimes it is easy to allow a one-time visit to sway you into saying yes, because you are super happy and love your first experience, but it is necessary to visit a few more times and make a thoughtful decision.
2. Evaluate ministries of interest.
This is an important step because depending on your interests, spiritual gifts, or goals, you want to ensure that there are ministries or openness to begin ministries at your future church. For example, if you have children, does this church have a children’s church or youth ministry to support your children’s development? Are you a woman that enjoys meeting with other women, weekly or monthly, for encouragement, or support? Does this ministry exist? Be sure to evaluate what ministries are and are not available. This will help aid you in your decision-making process.
3. Speak with the Pastor.
Do you have access to the Pastor or is that important to you? There are churches that have as small as five members, and some as large as 10,000 members on any given Sunday. All individual’s goals vary when it comes to church size. Does it matter if you attend a full megachurch or are you a small family kind of church-goer? Here’s a great article on defining megachurches. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/27/us/what-is-a-megachurch-explainer/index.html.
However, an important question that you need to understand is whether you care to speak with your Pastor or have access to him or her. There are some people who do not care whether they get to hug or speak with their Pastor. However, there are others who want to hug their Pastor, ask for prayer, and want to have a connection with him or her. Which one are you? Does the Pastor of this church have limited accessibility? These are all valid questions to ask yourself.
4. Pray and seek God for guidance.
Sometimes we think we know what to do in life, and we forget to consult The Ultimate God who knows what is best for us. Pray and ask God to lead and guide you to the church home that He sees fit. Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you,” which means that God will answer you, guide you, and help you. Talk to Him. He is waiting for you.
I am excited about your journey in finding a new church home. This is a huge decision, and I would love to hear your thoughts on the four points that I have listed above.
If you are someone that has a tough time making decisions, and you are afraid to make the wrong decision, would like to learn how to get your life on track, or have some goals that you wish to accomplish once and for all, feel free to contact me for a complimentary consultation.