I was wondering what kind of church I should attend to learn the truth. I used to go to the Salvation Army. I just want to make sure that when I start this path I take the right road.<\/p>\n\t
I don’t know how well you’ll accept my answer since it would be easy to just say that I’m biased. I am, but I believe it to be in a good way.<\/p>\n
The question you ought to ask yourself is what are you going to church to do? I know a lot of people who see churches as social clubs. They go for the entertainment and so they pick churches based on activities that they have and who else goes there. Other people pick churches because that is where their family has always attended. To even consider another church is felt to be a betrayal to the family. And there are people who simply pick a church because it is convenient, being nearby or doesn’t make many demands on their personal time.<\/p>\n
Think for a moment, and perhaps you’ll notice that every one of those people listed above sees churches as a creation of man to serve men. If you are interested in truth, then the selection of a church has to be first found by looking at the source of truth. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth<\/em>” (John 17:17).<\/p>\n Jesus stated that he was founding his church. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it<\/em>” (Matthew 16:18). He alone is the head of it. “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence<\/em>” (Colossians 1:18). If you accept that, then doesn’t it make sense that you should be looking for a church that is concerned about following Jesus’ instructions? Most claim they do, but as soon as you start judging a church by what you like, then the importance of Christ is diminished. “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you<\/em>” (John 15:14).<\/p>\n I commend you for wanting to learn the truth, so look for a church that focuses on teaching the truth. Listen to lessons is the person just giving his opinion on matters, or is he taking you back to the Bible and helping you better understand what is there. Does he just pull out catchphrases, or does he invite you to read the context to prove he is accurately teaching God’s word? We are warned, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world<\/em>” (I John 4:1). Putting people to the test might seem to be a tall order when you are first starting out, but it simply means compare what someone says against what God has already said. God is consistent. He doesn’t say one thing yesterday and another thing tomorrow. So if you find someone says, “I know that is what it said, but things have changed. They didn’t know as much as we do today,” then you know you are in the wrong place.<\/p>\n “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints<\/em>” (Jude 3). Jesus taught the church what it needed to do in one relatively short time period. That is why Jude said the faith was delivered “once for all.” That phrase means once for all people and for all time. It was given to Christians in the form of the written word. That is what “Scripture” means “holy writings.” “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work<\/em>” (II Timothy 3:16-17). And the writings are complete. It has everything we need. “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue<\/em>” (II Peter 1:3). “All things” doesn’t leave out much, does it?<\/p>\n Since the Bible is complete and it is the truth, then that means the Bible alone defines Christ’s church. Here is where a lot of churches are eliminated. What makes a Methodist different from a Baptist? It isn’t their Bibles because they use the same one. The difference is found in what they choose to believe and they record those defining differences in creeds and statements of faith. The problem is that creeds and statements of faith are man-made documents. They are much shorter than the Bible, so it is clear they are leaving things out and only giving a summary. And sometimes they add things in which are not found in the Bible. But whether adding or subtracting, the real problem is that what is defining the group isn’t the Bible, but a man-made document! “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 1:6-10). The only thing that defines Christ’s church is Christ’s book — the Bible.<\/p>\n The churches of Christ are independent churches who only use the Bible as their standard of belief. (I should mention that the name “church of Christ” is not trademarked and there are groups which use the name but don’t follow the teachings of Christ.) They aren’t flashy or showy. They focus on the duties that Christ has given them, such as worshiping God as Christ taught and teaching others about the doctrine of Christ. They understand that when you plant a corn seed, you get a corn plant. When you plant a bean seed, you get a bean plant. Thus, when a church lives by the laws of Christ, you will get a church belong to Christ — not a Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, etc., those require something additional in order to create. Members of the churches of Christ are simply Christians who work together in a community to serve the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I was wondering what kind of church I should attend to learn the truth. I used to go to the Salvation Army. I just want to make sure that when I start this path I take the right road. Answer: I don’t know how well you’ll accept my answer since it would be easy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448],"class_list":["post-19349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33503,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-do-with-people-who-accepted-the-truth-but-continue-to-attend-their-denominational-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":19349,"position":0},"title":"What do you do with people who accepted the truth but continue to attend their denominational churches?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is your advice to the teachers of a group of people who have been taught the word in a group Bible study, have accepted it, gotten baptized, but do not want to attend the Lord's church?\u00a0 They have wholeheartedly for months have been happy to keep studying the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34822,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-like-this-church-but-my-dad-doesnt-because-it-doesnt-have-a-piano-what-do-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":19349,"position":1},"title":"I like this church, but my dad doesn’t because it doesn’t have a piano. What do I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm having some issues right now. We just moved into a new area, and are trying to find a church. There's one that we went to today that I\u00a0really\u00a0like, and feel like I really connect to, but my parents don't like it. My dad says that\u00a0he doesn't like it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67110,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-churches-of-christ-the-only-correct-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":19349,"position":2},"title":"Are the churches of Christ the only correct church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeffery, In the article \"Wasn't Babel the city of Eridu?\" you mentioned, \"You will not find any claim that the churches of Christ are the only correct church on this site.\" Do you no longer believe in the one true church? I understand that not every church with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17152,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-family-wont-go-to-church-because-they-think-people-will-judge-them-for-not-attending-how-can-i-get-them-to-go-with-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":19349,"position":3},"title":"My family won’t go to church because they think people will judge them for not attending. How can I get them to go with me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question to ask you that I do not know how to fully answer.\u00a0 My family members are not convinced that going to church as a family is the best thing for the family. I believe that going to church is important especially as a family, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42981,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-mother-wont-let-me-change-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":19349,"position":4},"title":"My mother won’t let me change churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am 16 years old and I don't want to attend the same church as my family does. For a long time, I've wanted to change churches for my own personal reasons, but after going to this camp, I feel like God wants me to go to this certain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9684,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-there-are-no-sound-churches-in-my-area-should-i-worship-with-a-liberal-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":19349,"position":5},"title":"If there are no sound churches in my area, should I worship with a liberal one?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am disabled and would like to attend an anti-church but there are none nearby and I was wondering if it would be okay to take communion at a liberal church instead of missing communion with the Lord? Answer: All Christians are required to partake of the communion and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}