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Very confused, and very in need of opinions: How do I find a church?
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Anonymous
Preface: all flaming and judgement will be summarily disregarded  I already feel vulnerable and strange enough about this!
I haven't been to church in over 20 years. I was raised a combination of easy-going Christian (Methodist, United Zion) and Catholic. I have kids now (ages 5 and 7) and have finally come to terms with getting back to the church. I don't feel that my decision to leave the church long ago should be what decides for them whether or not they have faith. I have never exposed them to it, and I believe that I am wrong in doing so. I have been telling them about church and taking them to churches for a long time, but we go for the beauty and peacefulness mostly. It is time to include the proper scope of what church is for. Here's the problem: I have no idea how to find a church or religion with which I would identify. I'm hoping that something might click and be the right thing for us to introduce Christianity to our children. I want something with a tolerant, inclusive congregation. A church that will not "pray for me" because I am still struggling with faith in general (though I have no urge to shout that from a mountain top). A place that has a very strong community for families and a great children's program. I don't think "silent meetings" would be helpful for teaching my children about God, but I could be wrong. I have a slight preference for Christianity because that is my tradition, but I recently learned that my maternal grandfather was Jewish. I know this whole topic is weird, and that is why I need an anonymous forum to work through this. Any ideas would be very deeply appreciated. (BTW: I live in the NE of DC, so congregations within a 20 minute drive would be nice). How do I find a denomination and congregation? Thanks for any and all help! |
Anonymous
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try NCC they have a coffee shop around union station google the theater church
I love their concept! |
Anonymous
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You might be interested in trying the "belief-o-matic."
http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Quizzes/BeliefOMatic.aspx It's light-hearted, as the name implies, but I think the results can be pretty interesting. We had more of a sense of the denominations that we were wanted to try, but we still did quite a bit of "church shopping." I find that a visit to a church for a Sunday service can be very enlightening--sometimes inspirational, and sometimes making it clear that I'm not interested in that particular church! Even within a single denomination, church communities can vary quiet a bit. |
Anonymous
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My husband and I were raised Catholic. For us we never considered other denominations, but visited a bunch of parishes until we felt comfortable with where we wound up.
We started at St. Stephen Matyr Parish in Foggy Bottom - and this was great for us pre-children. But there is not a community of families and once we started a family began visiting churches again. We started with those located closest to us and kept moving outwards until we found the right place. A few Catholic Parishes' that you will hear mentioned frequently on this board include St. Aloysius and Holy Trinity. http://www.stalschurchdc.org/ http://www.holytrinitydc.org/ I can speak to Holy Trinity in that it has a nice community and resources to support you in helping you decide if raising your children in the Catholic Church is the right choice for you. St. Al's is a sister parish to Holy Trinity so I would imagine that it has similar resources. I have not attended them, so I do not know how these are facilitated, but I know that Holy Trinity Parish has a weekly discussion group called "Coming Home" that meets on Wednesday evenings. I would think there would be a link to this group from the main website link above. This might be a place to start. Good luck in finding something that works for you and your family |
Anonymous
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More novice questions from the OP arising as I'm thinking about "church shopping" (love that term):
Do all churches pass a collection plate? If so- Do you contribute even if you are just "shopping"? Seeing as it has been 20 years and I have never had a family while attending, what do you put in? (And thanks again for everyone being gentle on me and offering great, positive suggestions! I will check all of the links above.) |
Anonymous
| You sound Unitarian but I second vote for the Belief-o-Matic quiz. It's quite helpful. |
Anonymous
| trygrace.org |
Anonymous
I attend a parish that has on-line giving (my bank account gets hit on a weekly basis for an amount that I have pre-designated). Given this, many people do not contribute when the collection plate goes by and there is no stigma. When I do visit another church, which is usually during the holiday season as we are visiting family, I will contribute usually around $10. I would think that an amount around $5-10 might be appropriate - but it totally depends on your family's financial situation. |
Anonymous
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I'm so glad you posted this. After not having been to church in 10 years, after the birth of my daughter I went to my catholic church to get her baptized and was turned away because I didn't have paperwork of my being catholic. So I'm church shopping too! It seems weird, picking a faith.
Anyone want to recommend one? |
Anonymous
Try Unitarian or Unity. Best bet is to attend churches and see which one speaks to you. Pray about this and you will receive an answer. There is also Foundry United Methodist Church on 16th St., in DC, which is inclusive and also has a excellent children, young adult, couples ministry. Good luck and God bless. |
Anonymous
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www.stmarks.net
St. Mark's Episcopal on Capitol Hill is very welcoming to nonbelievers and people who are unsure of their faith. At the same time, the service will be very recognizable to you. This is from the web site: "Wherever you are on your faith journey... Whatever you believe or don't believe Baptized or not... We welcome you to join us" |
Anonymous
Where ever you were Baptized has all of your paper work on being Catholic. Within the Catholic Church, your baptismal record has the record of all of your sacraments - when you received communion, confirmation, marriage. This is how the church has historically managed records. |
Anonymous
| I'm in a slightly similar situation. I've been checking out the websites of churches in my area and then going to a few Sunday services. I usually put $5 in the plate, but I don't think it matters if you contribute of not. |
Anonymous
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Thank you all for the replies!
I have heard from some friends that Unitarian may suit my confused state, but something in me is reluctant. I don't know why. Maybe it is, as a PP said, that some services would be more recognizable to me than others. I suppose I need to go and check it out. Grace community church sounds very happy and inclusive, but it is a little bit too far from the Brookland area for me. I might just check it out anyhow. If anyone knows of any others to recommend I will put it on list with Grace, St. Marks, St. Als and Holy Trinity. I will also check out belief-o-matic today. The idea of taking a quiz to find out my religion/ denomination sounds pretty interesting! |
Anonymous
| Episcopalian, IMO. It has more of a church feel than Unitarian, but is very inclusive and liberal in thought (meaning you can interpret scripture the way you want without (much) judgment. |