"God is the Lord of angels and of men -- and of elves."
- J.R.R. Tolkien
Friday, June 19, 2009
Over at another post, the comment thread is veering off the subject. I decided that this new discussion is worth it's own post. I want to share something I wrote with all of you and get your feedback.
By the way, what I'm assuming here is that you are looking for a new church because you moved, not because you are leaving your previous church for other reasons. That's the subject of a whole 'nother post. There are legitimate and illegitimate reasons for leaving a church. I'm assuming below that you had a legitimate reason for leaving your previous church.
Here's the advice I give to people looking for churches.
First, make a list of all the things that are important to you in a church. List everything you can think of. Spend some time on this.
Second, prioritize them. Spend several days on this. Pray about it. Talk to your spouse. Work on it.
Third, take the paper, and after number 3 tear the list off and throw away everything below. Go find a church that meets the top three, and don't worry about the rest. You'll never find a church that meets all your criteria, but if you find one that meets the top three, you're doing very well.
And never worry (or complain) about the other stuff again.
I know people always say, "I know there is no such thing as a perfect church." Then they proceed to look for one that's as close as possible.
People need to stop that. Find one that has what really matters, and then DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE REST. (Unless it is to help, with a humble attitude.)
What do you think?
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Comments on "How To Find A New Church":
2. Shrode
- 06/22/2009 9:37 am CDT
That's another good point.
"perfect church" people tend to drift around forever, without ever joining. If a person is not careful and deliberate, they can become a perpetual visitor. And yes, here in Texas, especially in a large city in Texas, you could attend church every Sunday, and still be a visitor 5 years later.
Sometimes these people will hang out at a church for a month or three, and then move on. Stretching it out that way, you can avoid church membership forever.
What I tell people is that if they haven't found a church in a year, they went way too long. In my opinion, depending on the circumstances, 3-6 months is reasonable. But by the end of that time, you should be able to actually join somewhere.
I told one friend, this specifically. Attend a different church every 2 weeks. Visit both Sunday Mornings, visit every other event they have in that 2 week time frame, including small group meetings. Everything that's open to the public, go.
Do that every two weeks for three months, at the end of three months, pick one. Attend for two more weeks to be sure. Then Join.
That comes out to about 8 churches. I think that ought to be enough, especially if you narrow it down to those 8 ahead of time by distance, doctrine, the website, and word of mouth before you even step through the door of any church.
Leave a Comment:
I think this is pretty good advice. While there are certainly churches that are more healthy than others, it's simply not practical to look around at every church in the area - especially if you live in Texas where there are about 10 churches every square mile.