Have you ever felt like you didn’t really belong to the Church you are in? Or maybe you started going there before you found out everything they believe and now you aren’t comfortable. Today we are going to talk about how to choose the right church for you and how to make sure it’s the church God wants you to be a part of. We all know that “the church” is all the Christian people, however, you still need a church family to belong to while on this earth and so the search begins. Choosing the right church takes time so be patient. It’s advisable to visit a church several times to get a real “feel” for it. You also want to visit more than one church before making your decision. There are several important factors to consider when selecting your new church home. The firsts question you need to be answered is what their beliefs are. I went to the wrong church for the wrong reasons for 15 years. I can’t tell you the freedom in the Lord I felt when leaving that church! I had been going to my church for a long time before I realized they didn’t believe in women preachers. This knowledge floored me because my younger sister has been a pastor for a long time. They also did not participate in alter calls for people who wanted to accept Jesus which I thought was strange. I grew up a Baptist and they had them every week. When I asked why they didn’t I was told it was in their bylaws that there could be no alter call unless special permission was given from the board for special occasions. How crazy is that! My husband does not attend church with me and I just knew that if I stayed at this church he would love it and come someday. The church was a real country church and people wore their jeans and cowboy boots so I thought he would fit right in. My mistake was thinking I was in charge of when my husband would be ready and not leaving it up to God. When you go to a church that is not teaching anything but the milk of the word instead of the meat, you will have a hard time growing. I was literally starving spiritually! The moral of this short story is that you should not go to church somewhere just because you think it’s where your loved one will go. I broke away from that church and have never looked back. Now that I have chosen the right church that teaches the word, prays for the sick, and truly believes in living the Christian life, I am so happy. I did have to visit around first but when you find the one that’s for you a sense of feeling “at home” will come over you. Steps for Selecting Your New Church Home Visit several churches more than one time. Once you select a couple of churches you like, ask what their doctrine is and see if it lines up with the word of God. Be looking to see if the people are friendly and accommodating. If you have children, check out what classes and activities they have for them. Pray – Pray – Pray – God knows exactly where you are supposed to be so listen to the Holy Spirit and He will guide you to the right decision. Now that I’m in a great church it’s hard to understand why I waited so long to leave the other one. There were a lot of great people at that other church but it was not where God wanted me to be. Maybe you are not leaving a church but looking for your very first one. Get into a bible believing church that doesn’t add to or take away anything to what the bible actually says! Where does God want you to be? God has a ministry for all of us and if you aren’t at the right place you won’t be able to fulfill that ministry. One of the main reasons for visiting a church several times is so you can see if the pastor is led by the Holy Spirit, or do they just go down a list of actions. For example, they sing, read a verse, sing again, take the offering, etc. These things are okay, I’m not saying that they are wrong. What I’m saying is that if God wants to lead the service in another direction, are they open to the leading of His Holy Spirit? If God says stop and pray for someone you want the pastor to have the freedom to do that. We never want to limit God and what He has for us. The right church means having friends that will pray for you when you ask or bring food to you when you are sick. If you are in the right place you will be growing in your Christian walk and look forward to the next time the church doors are open! I hope this post has given you something to think about. The world is in chaos and we have to be strong in our faith. God Bless and have a great day!
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