We’ve all heard the term “church shopping” at some point or another. If you don’t know what that is, put simply, it is the act of going from one church to another until you’ve found the right one that fits you and your family. Navigating your way through the journey of finding the perfect church for you can be challenging, especially if you don’t know where to start or what to look for. If you’re currently searching for a church to call home, here are my top 5 tips to help you along the way.
1) Start Somewhere You’re Familiar with or Do Your Homework
This statement is probably the best piece of advice I can give you. Attending the Church of Mickey Mouse because your favorite celebrity attends that same church is a horrible idea if you’re not familiar with the church or it’s practices and you’ve done absolutely no research. I can give countless examples of people who started attending churches they knew nothing about and got themselves in trouble. If there is a church that you’re curious about, but you know nothing about it, looking at church’s website should give you a general idea of what their morals are and what they stand for.
When I first started church shopping a few years ago, I was totally lost on where to even start. I had a list of a few different churches in town that I’d heard good things about, but I didn’t really know anything about them. I was lucky enough to have a background in the Nazarene Church, so even though it wasn’t on my list, it’s where I decided to start. It’s funny that I never even made it to any of the other churches because this church fit everything I was looking for.
2) Search for A Church in A Way That Best Suits You and Your Personality
There are two different ways to look for a church to call home. The first is to go from one church to another every week until you either find the perfect fit or you run out of churches and just pick one. The second way to go about it is to attend one church for a month or so, get a feel for the pastor and the congregation and then either choose to stay or move-on to the next one after your “trial period” is up.
I intended on trying every single church that was on my list when I first started thinking about going back to church. The problem with that is I’m very shy around new people which means had I gone with my original plan odds are I would have said forget it after church #2. The idea of having to meet multiple new people for however many Sunday’s in a row was a scary thought and I can honestly tell you God made sure I ended up where I needed to be on the first round.
3) Walk Through the Front Door
First impressions are everything! 69% of people form a first impression of places and people within the first 20 to 30 seconds of entering a building or meeting a person. This means that if you walk through a side door, where there are probably no greeters, by the time you get to the sanctuary you’ve already made your first initial analysis of what the church and its congregation are like. Odds are going through a side door will leave you completely unnoticed and you’ll feel neglected and unwelcomed. However, if you go through the front door, not only will you be welcomed but you’ll also be able to form a more accurate picture of what the people are like. Did the greeter look happy to be there? Did he or she recognize that they had never seen you in their church before? Did they introduce you to anyone else? You won’t be able to properly assess these interactions if you enter anywhere but the main entrance.
The first time I stepped through the front door of my church, I was extremely nervous, and I purposely showed up when I knew everyone was going to be in Sunday school classes. I purposely wanted to avoid attention and instead I was instantly greeted by not one but two people. I got a personalized tour of the church and the young woman that was guiding me was able to get a better feel for what I was looking for and was able to direct me towards a Sunday school class that she thought would best work for me. I’ve been in that same class for the last two years.
4) Pay Attention to Everything
I don’t mean pay attention to the number of materialistic things the church has. In the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter how pretty the stained-glass windows are or how big their grand piano is. What I mean by pay attention is pay attention to the people and how they’re interacting with not only you but watch how they interact with each other. Do they treat each other like family, or do they treat each other like acquaintances that just get together once a week? It doesn’t matter how big the congregation is, if the church is healthy the people will interact as a healthy family.
With my church, there was a sense of family the minute I walked through the door and I’ve learned over the last two years that this is what we are. We are a family. Everyone knows everyone and there’s not much we all wouldn’t do for each other. It’s one of the many reasons I decided to stick with the church I did.
5) Question What You See and Hear
1 st John 4:1 says “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
The reason I quote this passage is because a person should not be afraid to question what they are hearing. God doesn’t tell us to walk into a new church and automatically trust what the pastor is teaching. He tells us to test it. Is the pastor teaching from the word of God or is he teaching from his own book? If you hear something that doesn’t line up with God’s word or you hear something that you question, don’t be afraid to do your own research to discover the truth.
When I first started attending the Church of the Nazarene, God quickly gave me the sign that what was being taught lined up with His word. There had been a scripture earlier in the week of the first Sunday that I attended that I didn’t understand and ironically enough, what was being taught that week revolved around that scripture. As I started attending more frequently, I noticed that the pastor paid very close attention to detail and preached things that I knew to be truth.
No matter how you go about searching for the church that’s right for you, know that God is with you through this journey. Remember to listen to Him and He will guide you to where you were meant to be.