[QueenAngie]

Good question:
how did you choose your church?

Did you grow-up in this particular church
that your parents and grandparents belong to?

Is it close-by your home?

Did you check-out several churches before settling on this one?

Your friends go to this church?

How did you choose?

[NJValerie]

My teen daughters actually chose the church that we attend, they had visisted with a friends family and instantly grew attached to it due to the awesome youth group that they have. The Church we had previously been attending did not have much of a youth group and wasnt meeting our needs outside of the regular Sunday service so it was a easy change for all of us and has brought all of us close to the Lord.

[QueenAngie]

NJValerie, I have to agree, a church has to meet the needs of your family.
We are blessed in that our church has a great teenaged youth group too.
They are getting ready to go this summer on a mission trip
and have been raising funds to go.

[NJValerie]

It has definatly furthered all of your relationships with God, especially my youngest (15), she is very active in all of the ministry opportunities and is praying that one day she can go on a mission trip outside of the US. It seems like just yesterday that I was praying that my children would not battle me to go to church, now they eagerly go at every opportunity they can! It has truly become their second home.

[mama2riley]

I started attending my current church in high school because the church my parents went to didn't have a youth group and this one had a great one with many of my school friends in it. I found it to be a place where my church was my extended family and I was growing and being challenged in my faith. I moved out of state to attend college and then during my dh's med school years, but now that we are back "home" we are attending there again and it has been a wonderful church for us and our family now as adults too.

[mcmama]

A couple of things:

We did a lot of trial and error when we first moved out of NYC. We pretty much knew we wanted to go with Episcopal/Methodist/Presby because those were all denominations in which we had common positive experiences. But mostly we leaned toward episcopal. When we got to NJ, we found there were a LOT of episcopal churches, but many of them are not healthy. We wanted the experience of not feeling like the place was going to fall down if we did not attend one Sunday.

We tried churches that were small and wanted to hurry up and get us involved for the wrong reasons (like, oh goody, new people, this isn;t the last gasp yet) or that were "establishment" churches - and we were certainly not established. We shied away from "establishment" churches, until someone suggested we go to an episcopal church the next town over to hear the music. My ex is an organist, so we went just for fun.

We were warmly welcomed - and encouraged to stay. This was an "establishment" church - but the established congregation had been intentionally racially integrated since the 1880s - and so the diversity was something that was valued and worked on, like our experience in NYC. That meant the communication was there. As a young family, we found there were other young families - and the old people were very enthusiastic too. In fact I have posted before about one old lady who would just not take no for an answer, we were just going to have to come back.

The Sunday school was weak, but I got involved in building it up. They didn't need my ex to help with the music, but my ex served as a substitute organist when they asked.

One of my concerns was that the church be stable - and likely to be around for a while so I could raise my family in it without having to make any changes. The first person to welcome me to the Episcopal church in NJ was a gentleman who I later discovered had been raised in St Thomas African Episcopal church in Philadelphia. Since St. Thomas' has been around since 1792, I guess he knew something about "Staying power" of a congregation through all sorts of good and bad times. He valued finding a church "home" for raising a family. He had tried some of the other churches we had tried in the area, with the same result. Because he chose to raise his family in the church we were visiting, and we had a few ideas in common, I decided that it would be a good place to raise mine as well! Like me, he valued being part of a congregation for the long term.

When you join a church, you join up with the doctrines, the program, etc - but I think you also look for what sort of people you will be worshipping with - and if they are people of faith, will they walk with God and help you do the same. The clergy come and go, but what sort of people worship there? So after a lot of trial and error, because of that gentleman and the others who greeted me that day, I knew that this was the place!

I have a lot of questions now about the direction of the Episcopal church - don't know what I will find when I relocate - but I will take the same approach to visiting churches that I feel comfortable with historically, and see what sort of people there are to join up with and how they will help me pray.

[MJ7]

We were visiting churches and this one was recommended to us. We went and really enjoyed the worship and the sermon. The kid's program was very high quality and professionally run. The kids came out happy. My husband actaully kicks me into gear now to attend.

[~Kimberley~]

I grew up in the church I go to. My great grandparents were 2 of the founding members. I have gone there 38 yrs. That is only part of why I go/stay there. I love the worship style and the preaching. I can feel the Spirt moving each week. I get excited about going each week instead just something I have to/should do.

[AussieD]

How did we choose our church? By visiting several and finding the one most that preached most faithfully from God's Word. Yes, it's great if the singing, friendliness, fellowship and other aspects are good too, but to our family faithfulenns to God's Word was paramount. We have been blessed in the eleven years we have been at our current church.
Similarly since we are on the move in God's time, we chose the area we wanted to move to because of the church we plan to attend. Again it was one we knew to place a strong emphasis on God's word. That the singing and other aspects are great too is a bonus.

[Firespice]

Well i was born and raised in the church, then in my college years I tried attending other church's with friends, but i never felt at home, and i would here the preacher say things that we contradictory to the bible and explain it way as "times have changed" and i don't like that.

So I came back to the church I grew up in, and i know its the place to be. It has everything. I feel the spirit, they teach right from the scriptures. Good places for the whole family. I like how involved they are in the community. They help you in all aspects of our lives - not just there on Sundays. We have made most of our closest friends there too.

HUGS

suzie