Finding A Church

For many of us, the church is already chosen! Either our parents were our denomination or we chose the church ourselves and now are members. But think about the person who does not belong to a church. If you were in their place and began to think about choosing a church, how would you go about doing so?

There are a lot of choices out there. For example, in the category “Baptist” there are nearly 100 denominations, such as Bible Baptists, Old Time Missionary Baptists, Sovereign Grace Baptists, Old Regular Baptists and Southeast Conservative Baptists, to name a few. The same is true for most of the other categories, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Lutherans and Pentecostals. Each differs from the others in some practice or doctrinal stance. There are literally thousands of options available to us when shopping for a church. It’s a little overwhelming!

So how do we cull through the choices? Some people look for a church based on locality to their home. For example, one woman says, “For an entire year I attended a church because it was literally around the corner from my house. Did I believe in their doctrines? Not many of them. Did I particularly like the people there? No! I was alarmed when I actually ran into one of them and they asked me to help out in the service. I just wanted a church to go to where I could slip into the back pew, have some churchy ambiance, and be alone with my prayers.”

Many people choose a denomination because their parents raised them in that faith. Traditionally, churches have been chosen for doctrinal reasons. But whether you select a church to avoid a long commute or for other reasons, will it keep you coming back? Will it make a difference in how you live your life?

While we know that there are hundreds of options when it comes to church shopping, how much choice do we really have? I mean, using a church for a quiet, cool place to pray on a summer afternoon isn’t exactly the kind of “choosing” that we are talking about. We are looking at how to choose a family, a fellowship where you can participate, be in agreement and belong. So when looking for this kind of church, how much choice is there really? From all of the different denominational movements, from all of the different doctrinal stances and emphases, from all the different congregations to choose from, how many are likely to be a good fit for you?

Pedigree often factors into the choice of church. When your family has attended one church for generations, there is a lot of pressure to continue attending that church. Perhaps family members put on the pressure for you to keep up appearances, or perhaps you know everyone there and there is comfort in staying under the shade of the family tree. If your cultural heritage is linked to a particular tradition, such as Mennonite or Amish, there is a temptation to choose a church where you feel you belong culturally. But is that enough?

Often, when searching for a church, we discover conflicting attributes in particular denominations or even within congregations. For example, a young adult might be drawn to a Pentecostal Assembly, looking for other young adults. However, the individual might be quite conservative and speaking in tongues may turn them off . Some characteristics or doctrines of a particular denomination might appeal while others do not. The search for a church just got more complicated.

The point of finding a church to join is not only to find a place to feel comfortable, to find a congregation that will accept you. The point of finding a church is to find a place where you can experience Him most fully and grow into His purpose for your life. That is a daunting challenge. How can you find such a place? How do you know when you’ve found it? How do you even start the search?

I’m not going to tell you the answer to these questions. I’m not going to tell you that the Adventist church is the answer you’ve been looking for. But I can tell you this: if the right church for you is the one where you can find God’s purpose for your life, then just any church where the service is lively and the people are nice will not do. There may be a lot of churches to choose from, but the choice narrows rapidly when you ask God to guide you and seriously commit to finding His future for you.

The only One who can guide you to the right church is God. Only He knows where you belong and only He can lead you there. So ultimately, is there a large and shiny menu of churches to choose from? Well, if the Holy Spirit is leading you, then there is only one choice, to follow the Spirit!