Okay, I’ve been reading this website for awhile now, and got up the courage to answer a few questions, so I’m going to come out and ask something.
I’m 17 y/o and I feel that God is telling me to go and find a church. I was playing piano for a church for a bit, but then I quit because they got a new pastor who was very unbiblical. Then I moved a couple states over to start college. My parents aren’t big church-y people-they tend to get irritated by that one person who’s a big hypocrite-but my mom says she thinks a church would be good for me, what with all the temptations that come in college and my dad says he’s willing to go with me when I go to a service of a new church so I won’t feel pressured or anything. But I really don’t know where to start. The church I went to was a small non-denominational church. Where I’m living now, all the non-dem. churches are the size of Texas with big light-up screens and huge ads and stuff. I don’t want to go to a mega-church. But I really don’t know what denomination to look at. I tried doing research on the Internet, but it’s so hard to make sense of all the theological twaddle. So, I guess what I’ve been taking forever to ask is what denomination would be right? I don’t want a sermon on why ___ church is wrong, I just want to know what all these denominations MEAN. Aren’t we all Christians? Any help on this would be appreciated. *fyi, I’ve already been to a Lutheran church, because my mom used to be Catholic, then didn’t believe, then became Lutheran, and I was baptized that as a baby, but I didn’t feel that that was where I should be.*
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First of all it is a good idea to make sure it is a Bible believing church. That they believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible, inspired word of the living God. If the church truly believes this, there won’t be a woman preacher, and when asked what their view is on homosexuality they should be against it. I have yet to find a church where either the pastor isn’t full of himself, the church isn’t run by the people with the most money, or they are not following false doctrine.
Not to sound harsh, but the majority of churches are into the new age stuff, where the goal isn’t to lead people to Jesus, but to fill the seats and the offering basket.
Don’t fret though. Pray and ask God to help you find a church. There are good ones out there.
One Church I found that I really liked was a home church. They eat at 5:30 and church starts at 6:00 on Sunday evenings. An elder prepares a sermon and then there is discussion. You are free to ask any questions and because the service is not on a timer(ex. sing from 6 to 6:15, preach for 30 min…) God is free to move. Sometimes they sing longer, or someone has a question and the sermon changes.
I like it. One way to perhaps find a home church is to ask home school families. They may know of one. Hope you find what you are looking for.
yes, and not only are the majority of churches into new age things, they’re also in emergent church beliefs–big danger.
In your hunt for a church, you will likely hear a lot of debate about Calvinism and Arminianism. You’ve probably even heard it talked about a fair bit on this site. Don’t get too uptight about what these labels mean. It is far better to find a Bible-believing church with solid Biblical teaching than it is to get nit-picky about whether they’re Baptist, Lutheran, non-denominational, Calvinist, Arminian, etc.
Keep in mind that you won’t find a perfect church. There will always be something you don’t agree with, or someone who really drives you nuts, or a tradition that seems silly and pointless, but if the church believes and teaches the Bible, you can overlook the little things.
I am in no way trying to start a CCM debate here 🙂 , but I just have to say beware of a church that uses loud “Christian” music with pointless repetitive words to “attract people to come to church.” I have no doubt that most of the time, the people who start doing this have their hearts in the right place, but every church I’ve been in or seen that introduced hard-core CCM music fell apart. I don’t think it’s just because of the music, but because the music opens the door to all sorts of warm an fuzzy doctrines and practices. I’m not trying to slam CCM music or those who use it in their churches; I’m just sharing what I’ve observed.
Above all, pray about it. God will show you where He wants you to be.
The first thing that you need to make sure of the church is that it is a Christian-based church. Another thing is to see that it’s growing- not too much because then it shows that the pastor is just preaching what the people want to hear. But look to see that it is steadily growing.
Another thing to look at is if they preach EVERYTHING from the Bible, and not just the encouraging verses that do nothing with your lifestyle. But see that they preach on where you go after you die, either heaven or hell. I know of many churches that have pastors that are afraid of preaching about hell. We shouldn’t be scared of hell, therefore pastors should be talking about where people go if they don’t accept Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. After all, heaven and hell are not just words.
Another very important thing is to look at the youth. Are they conformed to this world? Do they listen to all the recent songs by famous Hollywood stars? Do they dress exactly as the world does? Because if they do, then don’t expect the youth to be eager to do work for God. They will be so busy with what they are doing in their lives, that working for God will only become second or third in their life, not first as it should be.
Another thing is the music that the church is okay with. Many, and I mean MANY churches allow the congregation to listen to “Christian” music which sounds just like the temporary music, but just with different words. When you listen to music, you should ask yourself, does this help with my walk with Christ? Does it encourage me to work for Him? Or does it make me want to tap my foot or dance inappropriately? Satan has captured many young Christians with this saying, the words are good, they talk about Christ but that is NOT how we are to live.
These are just a few standards I would recommend looking at that help with finding a good Bible-based church. I hope it helped 🙂