There are many times when you need to find a good local church. Sometimes you need to find a better church, sometimes life changes and you need to find another church, and sometimes you need to escape a bad church. Anything with people in it can become corrupt. Even the Garden of Eden didn’t survive people. Just don’t be that person.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25 NLT)
Don’t blame God for religious confusion
There is no such thing as the perfect church. Not on earth. Not full of saved sinners. But there are churches who trust the Holy Spirit to lead. Churches who believe the Bible is the infallible word of God. And churches who strive to teach Godly principles.
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all (Ephesians 4)”
- How did the early church meet together? – If we lived 2,000 years ago, what would a church service look like? And, why couldn’t it look like that today? No schedule. No building. No offices. No bureaucracy. No hired servants. No church (as we know it today). Just Christians meeting together, holding each other personally responsible to serve the Lord, and building one another up. Wow!
- Are you a “Noble Berean?” – The Apostle Paul commended the Bereans for doing 2 very important things. One of these things is often discussed but the other is largely ignored. In order for you to be a “Noble Berean” you have to do both…
- Do you have “itching ears?” – People will turn away from the truth, they will grow weary of the plain gospel of Christ, they will be greedy of fables, and take pleasure in them. People do so when they will not endure that preaching which is searching, plain, and to the purpose. Those who love souls must be ever watchful, must venture and bear all the painful effects of their faithfulness, and take all opportunities of making known the pure gospel
How to find a good local church
Among the many good local Bible-believing churches, those that are part of the Calvary Global Network and the Southern Baptist Convention are often very good, so these websites can help…
- Where is the nearest Calvary Chapel? But be careful, many churches add “Calvary”
- Find a Southern Baptist Church – But some are reformed so check their statement of faith
- And there are good online churches, such as Harvest Christian Fellowship
- If you have other resources, please write or add them in the comments below
- What is the One True Church? (many ekklēsía one sṓma) – Among the thousands of denominations, sects, and churches, is there one true church? Many churches claim the title. What does the Bible say?
How to serve in your local church
When you find a good church, it usually takes a lot longer than you expect to get connected and feel part of the community. Don’t rush things. A good church will be careful about giving responsibility and authority to an unproven person. Don’t be frustrated if this takes a while. It should be a comfort to you.
I solemnly command you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the highest angels to obey these instructions without taking sides or showing favoritism to anyone. Never be in a hurry about appointing a church leader. Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. (1 Timothy 5:21-22 NLT)
- 5 instructions to local churches – And, Paul gave specific instruction about the operation of the church, he gave specific instruction about offices and positions in the church, he gave specific instruction about church hierarchy, and he gave specific instruction about clergy versus laity…
- 8 gifts of service for your congregation – You may not have thought about the following attributes as gifts. You may have thought God could only use superstars. But, God is very clear that these 8 gifts are given by him to you for service in your congregation…
- The shocking 1-step solution to problems among brethren – While Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh with his disciples, various problems came up between them. One, of the most odious and most ridiculous problems, was the question of who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ proposed a solution for how to solve that problem. Do you have problems between brothers and sisters in Christ? Are they this odious? Are they this ridiculous? Are you willing to ask, “What would Jesus do?” His solution might work. Are you willing to step outside your comfort zone? His solution might work! Are you willing to to resolve those problems in Jesus’ way? His solution might will work!!!!
- We told him to stop because he isn’t in our group – If you had been walking in John’s footsteps, would you do what he did? John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t in our group.” (Luke 9:49)
- Who is a deacon? – The King James Version puts too much emphasis on the offices of the clergy, such as bishop and deacon. There is no “office” of deacon in the Church, but there are abundant opportunities for servants[G1249 διάκονος] to serve[G1247 διακονέω] with service[G1248 διακονία].
- What about a statement of faith? – Most Christian churches and organizations write a statement of faith to document their understanding of the Bible so you can know what they believe. We have resisted doing this for fear that we would put an arbitrary gloss on one portion of scripture over another. But, in this age of world-wide communication through the internet, I think it would be wise to have something available. Therefore, I have attempted to list some Bible verses that I believe are non-negotiable truths…
I’ve left [previous church] and I’m looking for a new church (UK) I’m struggling to make connections, the atmosphere is either very somber or very party like. How will I know where I belong?
My wife and I will keep you in our prayers. We have a similar testimony. We left another church many years ago and it took us a while to find a new church where we felt comfortable. Looking back, it was more about personal preferences and habits than anything Biblically and Godly that made us uncomfortable. We were so used to the way things were done that we equated them with godliness. It took a long time to let God show us the difference between right/wrong versus thoughts/feelings.
We had left a very staid old-fashioned legalistic church that referred to itself as the one true church. And we eventually settled in an evangelic megachurch. I can’t begin to describe how many things were different. From the size, the number of people, the kind of services, the kind of worship music, to the number of ministries, and on and on. Many of the practices and some of the teaching was very different than we were used to. Even now, many years later, occasionally, we hear preaching that seems unbiblical, and it drives us to our Bibles to check up on whether it is correct or not. Usually, we realize our previous church had taught false doctrine or had chosen one of several possible controversial options as being the one and only true doctrine. Sometimes, we can’t reconcile our understanding to the teaching, so we table it until the Lord reveals his will in our lives. Thankfully, these are usually minor quibbles. But we have never had to change our understanding of sin, atonement, justification, redemption, and righteousness.
Your letter has made me realize I don’t cover this aspect of finding a new church well enough. In the meantime, here are my favorite 2 versus during that period of our lives:
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 NLT)
That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. (Acts 17:10-12 NLT)
One of the most important things we had to do during that time was change translations of the Bible. When we read the King James, which we had grown up with, all we could hear was the ministry of our previous church in the voices of the pastors with the emphasis and thoughts they used. We tried several other good translations (like NASB, NIV, and EST) but finally settled on the New Living Translation, which helped us hear God instead of man.
Someday we will spend 10,000 years in heaven reminiscing about this journey, but if you would like to do a zoom call with us, we would love to hear your story, and what God is revealing to you. We live in southern California, which is about 8 hours later than you, but I’m sure we can find a time that works for all of us.
I am wondering who the author of this site is and what local church body the author is a member of. What I have read so far on the site seems biblically sound, and because I am looking for like-minded believers in my area, I would like to know what sorts of congregations in my locale would hold similar beliefs. Thank you.
Greetings Carol,
My wife and I have lived in Southern California all of our marriage and have been blessed by many really good churches in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Riverside Counties. We have visited many good churches throughout the United States. Each of these different churches have different gifts and focus on different needs. Some will be more appropriate for some people in some stages of life. Others will be more appropriate for other people in other stages of life.
It takes a while to find a church in any area that resonates with you. It’s important to ask God for help in being open minded to his direction, but not so open minded that your brain falls out. If you are too closed and too picky, you might be guilty of having itching ears that only want to hear what you want to hear. If you are too open and don’t check the Statement of Faith, you can end up with false doctrine or even worse. We hesitate to recommend any specific church because we want to stay independent.
We pray that God will direct you to other Christians that you can fellowship with and where you can grow mutually in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, remember there are no perfect churches because there are no perfect people. I don’t believe that any earthly church is the universal church, which is described as The Body of Christ composed of all men, women, and children throughout all ages and all lands that have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. But, someday, we are all going to be reunited in heaven like this…
But until then, we muddle along and do the best we can. If you let your light shine as a good witness of the gospel, the Holy Spirit will guide you where he needs you, by taking you to them, or drawing them to you.
Regards,
David & Rachel