So you’ve moved to college. You’re settling into a new semester, building friendships, and…looking for a church.
Finding a church as a college student has its own set of challenges. For many, this is the first time you’ve had to look for a new church on your own. Before now you either went to the church your family went to or went based on the recommendation of a friend.
I remember what a strange feeling it was to be church “shopping” for the first time on my own. There is a feeling of independence to it, which can be both exciting and scary. What do I look for in a church? Which things are truly important, and which are merely a preference? How do I avoid churches that don’t hold to the Bible, and would I notice the red flags on my own?
The independence of looking for my new home church was exciting, but it was also scary to be making such a big decision that could potentially make or break my faith in this new season of my life. So for those of you who also have to make this big decision: you are not alone. Here are three things you should be looking for in a church:
1. Look for a church that values and teaches the Bible.
This may seem obvious, but this sadly does not describe every church. What I found is that the difference between a church that is rock solid and one that isn’t is sometimes very subtle. Both churches meet together every Sunday to worship God together. Both churches probably have “great” pastors and both churches have friendly people. The red flags of a church that might be slipping down a slippery slope won’t always scream at you.
Sometimes the pastor will preach a sermon that is saying all the right things (and isn’t technically heretical) but is the pastor using those verses within their biblical context or is he using the verses that agree with his opinion? Is he preaching what that passage says and means or is he using Scripture to back up his own personal preferences? Does he say what the Bible says unashamedly, or does he waver on the things that aren’t culturally popular or politically correct? Does he preach the full gospel?
When I started looking for a church, I found that one of the churches I liked the best and had some of my favorite sermons had a pastor who thought that our salvation is somewhat dependent on our own good works rather than solely the grace of God. I would not have known this merely from his sermons alone. He was preaching the Bible and he was speaking the truth. But as I looked more into the theological convictions of the church and its leadership, I found that there were some red flags.
I also attended a church that was super trendy and contemporary. It was the kind of church that all the twenty-something Christians went to. We sang all the latest worship music, and there were many ways to get involved but we didn’t have to open our Bibles once during the sermon. That was a red flag to me.
Yet another church I attended for a brief season of my life had a pastor who rarely opened up his Bible and walked through large passages of the Bible verse by verse. Instead, he merely quoted various verses that agreed with what he was trying to communicate. These verses were never taken out of context, that I saw, but it led to a lack of spiritual depth because he never dug into passages within their proper contexts.
These are a few red flags to look out for in your own search for a local congregation.
2. Look for a church that values diversity.
If I’ve learned anything from studying theology at Bible school, I’ve learned that surrounding yourself with people of different backgrounds, different cultures, different races, different ages, and different theological perspectives is one of the best things you could do for your faith. It also happens to be a beautiful picture of unity within the Body of Christ.
A good way to do this is by finding a church that values diversity too. This doesn’t mean you need to go out of your way to find a church that is multi-ethnic or bilingual (although it could be cool), but if you attend a church that is filled with people that are all the same: beware. If you find a church whose congregation is made up of only single or young married twenty-somethings – that might not be the best church for you. If you find a church whose congregation is only made up of white, middle-class families – that might be a red flag, especially if the surrounding towns and cities are much more diverse.
Especially when college is a season that you live with people the same age and in the same season of life as you, it is important that your church family is more diverse. You need the old lady that mothers you a little bit. You need the young family that wants you to babysit for them. You need the children who want you to play pretend with them after the church service. You need the guy who never went to college to teach you about everyday Christianity by the way he serves Christ as he works at Walmart. You need the family who just moved to the States to teach you about what Christianity looks like worldwide. You need the old couple who worked as missionaries for forty years to teach you what it looks like to serve Christ for a lifetime. You need people to learn from, people to go to, people to serve alongside, and people who need you. That’s the Body of Christ – that’s the Church.
Another thing to keep in mind when looking for a diverse church is that you might want to visit some churches that are different than the church you grew up in, or the theological tradition you were raised in. If you only ever go to one type of church for your whole life, you will miss out on the wide range of ways people worldwide worship God and the wide range of theological traditions within the scope of Bible-believing Christians. Just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
I have learned more about God and His Church by visiting Hispanic churches and Pentecostal churches and Anglican churches than I ever would have if I only ever went to the churches I was comfortable in because they were like the church I grew up in. This doesn’t mean you have to commit to going to a church like this every Sunday, but in this season of visiting new churches, I encourage you to go to a few churches that makes you a little uncomfortable because they’re different than what you’re used to. Go to a church where you’re the minority, or where the worship style is completely opposite than what you grew up with. I promise it will be worth it.
3. Look for a church that values prayer, baptism, and the Lord’s supper.
The thing about churches is that there are very few things that actually matter as much as people think they do. Whether a church sings hymns or contemporary worship songs is not something that should be a deciding factor for you. Whether a church has a congregation of 45 or 1,045 does not impact its capacity to preach the Word. Whether a church uses the King James Version or the English Standard Version doesn’t change its ability to proclaim the gospel.
In fact, when you look back at the early church described in Acts (Acts 2:42-47), none of these things are mentioned. The only things that the early church really cared about were meeting together for prayer, the Lord’s Supper, Baptism, the reading of the Word, and joining together to continue the work that Jesus started. Everything else is merely a preference.
As you start your own search for a church, it’s important to sit down and identify your preferences. You might feel most connected to God in a megachurch that worships to Hillsong music or you might connect more with a small liturgical church service where they recite the Creed. No matter what your preference is, it’s important that you acknowledge it as just that: a preference. After acknowledging this, make sure to keep your preferences in check. Do not base your church hunt on preferences. Base your hunt on the things that the Bible says are important in a church.
Maybe this is a good time to do some of your own studying on what the Bible says truly matters. Sadly, it is too often that the church gets distracted by arguing over preferences. College is an excellent time in your life to return to the basics of what the Bible says is important, and let the preferences slide. Who knows? You might find a church home that ends up being completely different than what you thought you wanted.
That’s it! Those are the three biggest things I suggest you look for in your new church home. Keep in mind that this season of your life is relatively short, so it’s a good time to explore some churches that might be different than what you’re used to. You’re not committing to a church for the rest of your life – just for the next four years.
It’s also important to remember that there’s no such thing as a perfect church. Every church has its flaws because every church is filled with a bunch of broken people. That’s the beauty of the gospel. Sometimes we are tempted to make a checklist of everything we want in a church and look for a church that meets all our requirements. It can get as petty as what the sanctuary looks like, or if it serves free coffee and snacks. In an age where we can design and customize almost everything in our lives, it’s important to remember that that’s not what church is for. Church is not about you. It’s not about making you happy. It’s about Christ, and the Church should value what He values.
Because the Church is not about you, it’s also important to look for a church you can get involved in. This is immensely difficult in this season of college because your time is already so divided. I struggled with this a lot in college. Especially if you go to a Christian school, it’s easy to almost view that as your church. Tuesday morning chapel is not a church. Your involvement in a campus ministry is not the same as being involved in a local congregation. Even if you only volunteer for nursery once a month, or serve as a greeter for fifteen minutes on Sunday morning, I encourage you to find some way to get involved. One of the worst things you could do throughout college is just be a weekly attender. Jesus never called us to have perfect attendance – He called us to serve. And though your time and money may be restricted because of the season that you’re in, there is always something that you CAN do.
In an age where more and more young people are growing apathetic towards Christianity, and where college is viewed as a time to party and embrace your newfound freedom, finding a local church is vital to your faith. Don’t let Sunday become your sleep in morning. Instead, if you look for these three things in your new church home, you might just find a second family.
