Jump to content
IGNORED

A new Home!


Recommended Posts


  • Group:  Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  3
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  7
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   8
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  01/03/2018
  • Status:  Offline
  • Birthday:  06/07/1973

So I moved to a new town, about 2 years ago. As we all know that on its own is stressful. Praise God, He is always faithful and opens all the right doors... I'm very Blessed that the Lord shows me so much in my dreams.....I was battling to find the right church (Home). God showed me various churches and how He sees them - Scary! I'm now at the point where I'm seriously looking for a new Home but I'm battling. I'm trying really hard not to be judgemental, I just can't seem to go to a church if I don't agree with what they do, My question is, what is the best "recipe" to find the right church? I'm open to any suggestions....Be Blessed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Worthy Ministers
  • Followers:  68
  • Topic Count:  185
  • Topics Per Day:  0.04
  • Content Count:  14,204
  • Content Per Day:  3.35
  • Reputation:   16,629
  • Days Won:  30
  • Joined:  08/14/2012
  • Status:  Offline

My first request is that you use a larger type because I have a hard time reading it even with glasses and a large display.

Find a church that you feel comfortable in and that has a statement of faith that endorses the Father Son and Holy Spirit, and the Bible as the inspired Word of God.  I always looked for good Bible teaching in a sermon, and where the Holy Spirit is working to reveal and cleanse me of sin.  Most people look for genuine love.  But God was teaching me to love other imperfect Christians, even those who hurt me.  That was a tough school of hard knocks, but in each case I knew it was where God wanted me to be and we stayed there between 12 and 17 years.  There is no perfect church.  They are most often people in need of God's love--sinners saved by grace.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Royal Member
  • Followers:  18
  • Topic Count:  200
  • Topics Per Day:  0.05
  • Content Count:  2,795
  • Content Per Day:  0.65
  • Reputation:   1,502
  • Days Won:  1
  • Joined:  06/25/2012
  • Status:  Offline
  • Birthday:  07/26/1952

22 hours ago, K-Lynn said:

So I moved to a new town, about 2 years ago. As we all know that on its own is stressful. Praise God, He is always faithful and opens all the right doors... I'm very Blessed that the Lord shows me so much in my dreams.....I was battling to find the right church (Home). God showed me various churches and how He sees them - Scary! I'm now at the point where I'm seriously looking for a new Home but I'm battling. I'm trying really hard not to be judgemental, I just can't seem to go to a church if I don't agree with what they do, My question is, what is the best "recipe" to find the right church? I'm open to any suggestions....Be Blessed!

Hi, I'm wondering what you mean by "what they do"? I never found a church for many reasons. Looking back now at my life it's ironic because I think the first church I joined was the best one. They did a lot of things I didn't like but they had 1 very good thing I never found again. They had great worship services. They projected the words of the song we were singing on a screen so everyone could sing along. I miss those worship services. It was a small church maybe 70 adults most of which had children. Again looking back, I felt more comfortable there than any where else I tried. I used to get confused because an awful lot of them thought they were prophets and I knew they weren't. I probably would have stayed there but 3 yrs after joining it the church fell apart. And it fell apart because it was started by a man who had a false vision about the future. He believed that in 1984 there would be a total economic collapse. So they wanted us to sell our homes, give them the money, and they would buy a piece of land with buildings and we'd live there after the shipping and trucking industries had ended. We all knew the leaders believed this but then they found a piece of property and started calling in the members privately. No one was willing to do it, the leaders got angry, and people started to leave. It was a shame. It made me very leery of people who think they are prophets. But for a few years it was a good church. I even found a friend who I stayed in touch with until she died. But as I said, the worship services were great, the teaching was fair to good, if only they didn't have that prophesy of 1984 the church might have stayed together.

I don't know if this helped but I hope so. 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  3
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  7
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   8
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  01/03/2018
  • Status:  Offline
  • Birthday:  06/07/1973

Hi there,

Well the "what they do" is the following; the one church does not allow any of the gifts of the Spirit to be publicly displayed. There praise and worship is good but very flat as the Spirit is not allowed to move...another church has an amazing praise and worship but I'm concerned that the focus is on the "i" the pastor of this church and another one seem to focus on them and their wealth.....the funny thing is there's a connection between them but they are not related or even friends. Then there is other churches where the congregation with the money tell the pastor what he can and can't do or even talk about..... 

It is so sad because if you are called then God is your boss not man. Even myself I consider God to be my boss and not my real boss...

This is why I'm battling to find a new Home.....I don't want to be so judgemental but I just don't feel it's right to sit under their teachings.....

Maybe I'm wrong....

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Royal Member
  • Followers:  24
  • Topic Count:  40
  • Topics Per Day:  0.02
  • Content Count:  1,459
  • Content Per Day:  0.61
  • Reputation:   2,377
  • Days Won:  2
  • Joined:  08/23/2017
  • Status:  Offline

On 1/5/2018 at 8:31 AM, K-Lynn said:

So I moved to a new town, about 2 years ago. As we all know that on its own is stressful. Praise God, He is always faithful and opens all the right doors... I'm very Blessed that the Lord shows me so much in my dreams.....I was battling to find the right church (Home). God showed me various churches and how He sees them - Scary! I'm now at the point where I'm seriously looking for a new Home but I'm battling. I'm trying really hard not to be judgemental, I just can't seem to go to a church if I don't agree with what they do, My question is, what is the best "recipe" to find the right church? I'm open to any suggestions....Be Blessed!

Early in our Christian walk, for my wife and I,  it was mostly about finding a church that believed the right things and did things the right way.  Somewhere along the line, it became more important to us to find a place where we were surrounded by good people, could grow spiritually, and had a chance to help others grow spiritually.  My list of nonnegotiable doctrinal deviations is much smaller today than it was decades ago.  Today, it's more about if a group will accept my lack of 100% support for their "distinctive" doctrines that distinguish them from other groups. :) 

One thing that is important is feeling comfortable in the worship services.  I am comfortable in a wide range of worship settings.  I like liturgies, hymns, newer songs, quiet reverent settings, and pentecostal/charismatic services.  I find each has a unique quality of worship that the others lack.  On the other hand, my wife has to be in motion and active, more passive quieter types of worship push her boredom (and sleep) thresholds.

I think another important thing is being in a place where you will grow (which might mean lots of encouragement and being surrounded by like-minded people or it might mean lots of challenges of various sorts) and can help others grow.

Another important thing is that range of ministries to get involved with.  Prayer groups, study groups, and other types of ministries is where real involvement in a church body often occurs.  We get to know people and share their lives in those settings much more than the main worship services.  A look at the list of available ministries other than the main services can often give an idea of how spiritually active a church really is.  There's a good chance that one of those small groups or ministries might become the most important part of the church to some people.

Doctrine can be a challenge because it seems like every church gets obsessed with some particular teaching (or teachings)  and pushes it to the point of being out of balance and unhealthy.  I've yet to be in any church that wasn't get unbalanced somewhere.  In my opinion, in the long run, healthy doctrine and teaching is more of a result of spiritual growth more than doctrinally dotting i's and crossing t's properly causes spiritual growth.  Churches and individual Christians whose focus is on spiritual growth and maturity will end up (in the long run) having more healthy teaching and practices simply because they are getting to know God better and better, the fruit of the Spirit will be appearing more and more, and their outlook and priorities will align more and more with God's.  Churches that are obsessed with doctrinal and spiritual correctness more than actual spiritual growth often give the appearance of being God-fearing but can be spiritually stagnant where people can be there for years and never really grow much.  I tend to look at whether there is an emphasis on actual spiritual growth and maturity rather than an emphasis on believing the correct list of things.  I've seen "Bible believing" churches that I have a lot of agreement with doctrinally but where little spiritual growth is occurring.  I've seen churches that on some matters are frankly off the wall but are serious about spiritual growth (which will often eventually take care of the off the wall stuff).  

God's got some place which will be a blessing to you and allow you to be a blessing to others. :)  

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Royal Member
  • Followers:  18
  • Topic Count:  200
  • Topics Per Day:  0.05
  • Content Count:  2,795
  • Content Per Day:  0.65
  • Reputation:   1,502
  • Days Won:  1
  • Joined:  06/25/2012
  • Status:  Offline
  • Birthday:  07/26/1952

6 hours ago, K-Lynn said:

Hi there,

Well the "what they do" is the following; the one church does not allow any of the gifts of the Spirit to be publicly displayed. There praise and worship is good but very flat as the Spirit is not allowed to move...another church has an amazing praise and worship but I'm concerned that the focus is on the "i" the pastor of this church and another one seem to focus on them and their wealth.....the funny thing is there's a connection between them but they are not related or even friends. Then there is other churches where the congregation with the money tell the pastor what he can and can't do or even talk about..... 

It is so sad because if you are called then God is your boss not man. Even myself I consider God to be my boss and not my real boss...

This is why I'm battling to find a new Home.....I don't want to be so judgemental but I just don't feel it's right to sit under their teachings.....

Maybe I'm wrong....

Hi K-Lynn,   I don't think you are wrong nor are you being judgemental. We're supposed to judge about what's right and what is not. We aren't supposed to judge on who's going to heaven and who isn't. I wouldn't go back to them neither. The spiritual gifts can be a difficult thing to deal with especially if the church is huge. That church I mentioned was so zealous for the spiritual gifts I know at least 1 elder didn't have the gift of prophesy but he thought he did and told everyone, quite proudly, that he was a prophet. He wasn't. I tried another church where many people were in fact wealthy. I'm not. I saw quickly that they placed too much importance on having money. To them, your money made you something and no money meant you were low. Paul talked about this in 1 Corinthians, I think. I hope you find a church but some areas don't have any really good ones. I seem to live in an area like that. I no longer have a car and can't walk much so I can't look for 1 anymore. It doesn't matter too much to me because I almost never had 1. But now in my latter years I wish I knew of one. I consider this board my church, and like a real church we have lots of disagreements.

I hope you find one. 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  3
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  7
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   8
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  01/03/2018
  • Status:  Offline
  • Birthday:  06/07/1973

I would like to thank you all for your answers. I agree that there is no perfect church and that we are all sinners going to church to become perfect. But I must admit I'd rather be in a church where the spirit flows....

May you all be blessed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Royal Member
  • Followers:  18
  • Topic Count:  200
  • Topics Per Day:  0.05
  • Content Count:  2,795
  • Content Per Day:  0.65
  • Reputation:   1,502
  • Days Won:  1
  • Joined:  06/25/2012
  • Status:  Offline
  • Birthday:  07/26/1952

On 1/6/2018 at 6:43 PM, K-Lynn said:

I would like to thank you all for your answers. I agree that there is no perfect church and that we are all sinners going to church to become perfect. But I must admit I'd rather be in a church where the spirit flows....

May you all be blessed!

I agree with you. Whenever I went in a new church if I didn't feel the presence of the Holy Spirit I probably didn't go back. If I liked everything else I'd go back at least a few more times. Some might say that's very subjective and a bad way to choose a church, but that's what I always did. I wish I had a car so I could search for a church. In years past I worked all night Sat nights which made going to church very difficult. But that's over.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

  • Group:  Royal Member
  • Followers:  34
  • Topic Count:  1,989
  • Topics Per Day:  0.49
  • Content Count:  48,687
  • Content Per Day:  11.89
  • Reputation:   30,342
  • Days Won:  226
  • Joined:  01/11/2013
  • Status:  Offline

On 1/5/2018 at 6:31 AM, K-Lynn said:

So I moved to a new town, about 2 years ago. As we all know that on its own is stressful. Praise God, He is always faithful and opens all the right doors... I'm very Blessed that the Lord shows me so much in my dreams.....I was battling to find the right church (Home). God showed me various churches and how He sees them - Scary! I'm now at the point where I'm seriously looking for a new Home but I'm battling. I'm trying really hard not to be judgemental, I just can't seem to go to a church if I don't agree with what they do, My question is, what is the best "recipe" to find the right church? I'm open to any suggestions....Be Blessed!

Question: "What should I be looking for in a church?"

Answer:
In order to know what to look for in a local church, we must first understand God's purpose for the church—the body of Christ—in general. There are two outstanding truths about the church. First, "the church of the living God [is] the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). Second, Christ alone is the head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 4:15; Colossians 1:18).

In regard to the truth, the local church is a place where the Bible (God's only Truth) has complete authority. The Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:15-17). Therefore, when seeking a church to attend, we should find one where, according to biblical standards, the gospel is preached, sin is condemned, worship is from the heart, the teaching is biblical, and opportunities to minister to others exist. Consider the model of the early church found in Acts 2:42-47, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

In regard to the second truth about the church, Christians should attend a local fellowship that declares Christ's headship in all matters of doctrine and practice. No man, whether pastor, priest, or pope, is the head of the church. All men die. How can the living church of the living God have a dead head? It cannot. Christ is the church's one supreme authority, and all church leadership, gifts, order, discipline, and worship are appointed through His sovereignty, as found in the Scriptures.

Once these two fundamental truths are set, the rest of the factors (buildings, worship styles, activities, programs, location, etc.) are merely a matter of personal preference. Before attending a church, some research is necessary. Doctrinal statements, purpose statements, mission statements, or anything that will give insight into what a church believes should be carefully examined. Many churches have websites where one can determine what they believe regarding the Bible, God, the Trinity, Jesus Christ, sin, and salvation.

Next should be visits to the churches that seem to have the fundamentals in place. Attendance at two or three services at each church will be helpful. Any literature they have for visitors should be scrutinized, paying close attention to belief statements. Church evaluation should be based on the principles outlined above. Is the Bible held as the only authority? Is Christ exalted as head of the church? Does the church focus on discipleship? Were you led to worship God? What types of ministries does the church involve itself in? Was the message biblical and evangelical? How was the fellowship? You also need to feel comfortable. Were you made to feel welcome? Is the congregation comprised of true worshippers?

Finally, remember that no church is perfect. At best, it is still filled with saved sinners whose flesh and spirits are continually at war. Also, do not forget the importance of prayer. Praying about the church God would have you attend is crucial throughout the decision-making process.

https://www.gotquestions.org/looking-church.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...