A practical guide to finding a new Church

Don’t you wish it was easier?

It’s a new year. I’ve found that a lot of people I know personally or have interacted with on social media are looking for a new Church family. The reasons range from simple things such as moving cities to more complex ones like leaving toxic environments.

When I found my Church family in 2021, I couldn’t find many useful guides online. I found useful tips on what to look out for in a Church, but not as much on what the actual process of searching may actually look like.

So I decided to write something for you. Something I wish I had when I started my journey, and something I hope you can prayerfully use to find a good Church.

Here’s a practical guide on finding a new & healthy Church.

First Step— Articulate clearly your essentials vs desirables

To make this journey easier, this is important. You may find it useful to write this out.

The essential criteria should be things which you believe are paramount to your health, growth and wellbeing as a believer. Desirables are things which you really would love in a Church and align with your personality, but with which you could still grow without. To help prompt some thoughts, here’s some of the essentials and desirables I had and why I chose them.

Essentials

• Expositional preaching — It’s a form of preaching where the preacher focuses on deriving the topic & substance of their message from a particular bible passage & expounding on what that passage says & means, instead of deciding on a topic first & then finding scriptures to use to preach. I find I grow & respond better to expositional preaching.
• Diversity in age of members & leaders — Being a member of a Church with only members or leaders my age can lead to me missing out on the wisdom & experience of older Christians. Also, avoidable mistakes are more likely to be made where there aren’t leaders with experience.
• Diversity in ethnicity & race — Having been in environments for all of my life where everyone was of my ethnicity and/or race, I felt it was important for the next stage of my growth to be in an environment where I had the opportunity to engage more with Christians who weren’t like me in this regard.
• Good community life – Sunday services are great, but what truly will make you a family is what the Church does to foster community. Without that, I would never feel at home.
• A sober belief & practice of the gifts of the Spirit — I didn’t desire to attend a Church that was weird and did things which contradicted scripture, but I also didn’t want to attend a full-blown cessationist Church. In summary, a Church where the gifts of the Spirit are believed in, but only practiced in line with scriptural guidelines.

Desirable

• Reformed— I am ‘reformed’ leaning. I may not hold to all of the 5 points of Calvinism, but I hold enough. Also, I find that Churches that regularly practice expositional preaching tend to be reformed. However I would be happy to attend a Church that was not reformed if I thought it was a good Church.
• Senior leader(s) to have gone to a respected seminary or have a theology degree — Though not essential if I could truly respect their approach to scripture, I am more trusting of pastors that have spent time going to seminary or obtaining a theology based degree.
• Worship Style — I wanted a Church that had a simple worship style when it come to their music, with theologically rich lyrics. I also generally prefer a CCM sound. However, as long as the worship was done biblically, the sound was not essentially for me.

Second Step— Create a list of Churches

So, you’ve determined your essentials and desirables. Now you want to create a longlist of Churches to visit. Here are 4 ways that I think work best;

Word of Mouth

A lot of the time, nothing beats recommendations from trustworthy people. Know a trustworthy Christian in the city? A friend or someone you engage with on social media? Ask them what Churches they would recommend. Don’t know anyone in the city or want more recommendations? Put out a post on social media asking for recommendations.

Search Engines

Google is underrated when it comes to finding Churches. I actually found my current Church via Google. I recommend trying it out with different word combinations of criteria most important to you. What you’ll find is that if the Church has that listed on their website or someone left a Google review which contains the word, it will come up. So for example you can try, ‘Churches near me reformed charismatic hymns’ or ‘Churches in London expositional preaching elders’.

Established Church denomination websites & Church networks

One way to consider finding a Church near you is by looking at official denomination websites. This is especially useful if you’re looking for a Church in a particular denomination. Most of these websites contain a ‘find a Church near me’ tool. You can also take a look at official Church networks websites, which will likely contain more information on independent Churches as well. Some links to UK ones below, but if you’re not in the UK (or want more options), try typing ‘*your country or city* Church Network’ into google.

Links to official denomination websites. Evangelical Alliance Churches. Fellowship of Independent Churches. Advance Movement. Acts 29.

Church social media following lists

One secret I found, was that once you find a Church that you like or is worth checking out, looking at who they follow is a great way to find similar Churches. Churches tend to follow Churches in the same area as them and/or Churches with similar beliefs and cultures. So try this one in combination with some of the above.

Using the methods above, you should be able to come up with a long list of Churches. Aim for around 5–15, remembering to use the essential & desirable criteria from step 1. You can remove any Churches that don’t meet your essential criteria. If you feel the list is still too long, you can weed more out by seeing which Churches have the least amount of your ‘desirable criteria’. For practicality, at the end of the process you should aim to have a shortlist of around 5 Churches.

Third Step— Whittle down your list even further

So you’ve shortlisted the Churches you want to check out. How do you decide which Church may be the one you eventually call home? Well below are some things I recommend you do and also keep in mind to help you whittle down your list & choose the Church you may be able to call home.

Visit in person

No matter how many recommendations you get, visiting is the best way for you to get a feel of the Church. Checking out online services are also useful if you’re restricted for any reason, but if you can, aim to check out in person the Churches you’re interested in as this will give you a proper feel of the culture of the Church. It will also enable you to get a better feel of the theology of the Church & how that is practiced practically.

Ask about their safeguarding & financial policies

Every Church should have safeguarding & financial policies, period. The safeguarding policies should be able to be read by anyone, and so ask to see it. If a Church does not have one, or has one that does not contain useful information, it is clear that safeguarding is not a priority for them. It would be best for you to remove that one from your list. Here is an example of what a safeguarding policy document should look like.

It would also be important for you to find out how the Church engages with finances. How transparent are they? Do they abide by the law and give an account to their members on how finances are spent? A Church that disobeys the law in this regard and is not transparent with finances is a huge red flag.

Speak to members

Before I joined my current Church, I had extended conversations with members of the Church. I asked about their journey to joining the Church, what they loved about the Church, their experience, etc. Why is that important? Because by speaking to members, you’re able to get a better feel of the culture of the Church.

Don’t get me wrong, there are different personalities in Churches, so everyone is different & that should be taken into account. However, in conversations with members (especially long standing ones), you’ll be able to spot some healthy (or unhealthy) cultures. For example, if there is a consistent unhealthy focus & praise of a particular leader (making it seem like they would be nothing without them), it could mean idolatry. On the opposite side, if it’s made clear that leaders are respected & loved, but the main emphasis is less on them and more on Jesus (primarily) & the Church community as a whole, that is a green flag.

You’ll also be able to find out whether what the Church & leaders claim to do in their policies are actually done. For example, you can ask about the last time the Church had a meeting regarding finances. If their official policy says it’s done annually, but the members say the last one was 10 years ago, then that’s something to be aware of.

Leadership structure & accountability

Now there are quite a few thoughts & beliefs regarding leadership structures in Churches that is worth reading into, but one thing is clear. A leadership structure that gives one person authoritarian power in making decisions is a breeding ground for abuse.

The best sort of Church governing structures ensure there is joint decision making & accountability at the top, whilst also being accountable to members. What this means is that instead of one person leading the Church & calling all the shots, there tends to be a group of leaders with equal authority leading, whilst also allowing members to input into decisions. Practically, this takes many forms and won’t always look the same, but I personally believe ‘Elder-led congregationalism’ to be the most straightforward.

Ask about their structure. See if you can read any documents on it. If a Church is small and/or really young they may not have all of this in place yet. For example, if it’s a young Church of 20 people, they may have only one person leading. But it should be clear that there is a way to keep that single leader accountable, and that they are also making steps into an efficient system.

Have a conversation with senior leadership

Never join a Church if you’ve not had a conversation with one of the senior leaders.

Joining a Church is a big decision, and so whilst visiting you should aim to ask for a conversation with a senior leader. Ask to go out for coffee. Biblically senior leaders should be hospitable (1 Timothy 3:2), and asking to have a chat should not be a hard process. They’re leading the Church that you’re considering joining. If it’s difficult to schedule a conversation with them now, that will likely not get better as it expands.

In the conversation, ask them questions you may have about the Church, but also ask them questions about themselves! They should be quite open with their testimony, their journey into leadership, etc. Through the conversation, questions you may have not even had will likely be answered. But most importantly, you’ll be in a better position to determine whether the leaders are people you can respect & follow.

Don’t rush your decision

I think one of the most important things I can tell you, is that this is not a decision to be rushed. With my current Church, I spent 7 months visiting regularly before I decided to become a member.

It’s okay to visit your shortlisted Churches for a while. It’s okay to just observe the cultures & community. It’s okay to not want to rush to commit to being a member of a Church. It’s okay to take your time.

Don’t let youthful zeal & hype be the reason you join a Church.

Conclusion

The past few years have been an interesting time to be a Christian.

It seems that we are constantly seeing & hearing disappointing stories about the Church, and how people have been treated in the Church. Despite this, I do believe there are still healthy Churches out there.

Doing your due diligence does not erase the risk that you may experience hurt in a Church. As long as there are humans, there is that possibility. However, doing your due diligence can significantly reduce the risk, like with any important decision.

Above all, I want to encourage you acknowledge God in all of your ways. If you do so, He has promised to establish your steps. I hope & pray you find a healthy Church to call home. I’m rooting for you.

Maranatha.