How to start going to church as a family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not necessarily wedded to whatever a childhood denomination was. Try various services. See what resonates.

I second this. I grew up Catholic. It never took hold in me. It seemed like a bunch of werid rituals and rules and everyone was always supposed to feel guilty all the time. I never understood the Bible. I obeyed out of fear. Eventually, I gave up on all of it.

When I was 42 years old, I was facing a personal crisis and ended up going to a well-known non-denominational church in the DMV mainly out of curiousity. I had never been to a church like that before and it was about as different from my Catholic Church upbringing as I could have ever imagined — the Christian rock, dunking baptisms, hand waving, long in depth sermons, an emphasis on the very specific words in the Bible.

I haven’t missed a Sunday since and it changed my life, all for the better. I feel like I actually understand Christianity now. I am living a much better life now out of love, not fear. I just got back from our service a little bit ago and at the end of it I realized again how I am so far above the problems that previously weighed me down. I’m still very much a work in progress, but it really clicked for me as an adult.

I also say this as someone who tried secular therapy for years, self help books, 12 step programs, everything. There is no doubt, whatsoever, that taking religion seriously had more of a positive impact on me in 2 years than all of those other things combined.

I just went. I had no plan at all.

God meets us where we are.

This is inspiring. Could you name the well-known non-denominational church? I'm a lifelong agnostic, newly retired, and I've been feeling aimless. My DH and I would be interested in joining a place like the one you describe.

McLean Bible Church — Tyson’s Corner campus. I volunteer in the welcome center after the 11am service. Stop by sometime!

My kids' are at a local Christian private school and so many of their classmates go to MBC and love it.

[Anonymous]

"We're leaving for church at 8am sunday" start there.

[Anonymous]

Try 4 or 5 churches. Look for one with a lot of kids.

My church skews on the young side with most people under 35 and has a lot of young kids and babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"We're leaving for church at 8am sunday" start there.

With kids used to sleeping in on Sundays? good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I come from backgrounds that believe in God but never consistently went to church. As a couple after marriage and even after kids, we haven’t gone to church. But as the kids are getting older (oldest is 7), they have been asking questions and kids at school talk about Jesus and God. We realized we want to make our faith more prominent in our family instead of being driven by busy schedules, etc.
But where do we begin? I don’t feel like we have a good compass.

Come to my church, McLean Bible Church. Families with young kids are very welcomed there! I will be happy to take you there and introduce around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We're leaving for church at 8am sunday" start there.

With kids used to sleeping in on Sundays? good luck

Tell me you aren’t a parent without telling me you aren’t a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We're leaving for church at 8am sunday" start there.

With kids used to sleeping in on Sundays? good luck

Tell me you aren’t a parent without telling me you aren’t a parent.

Parents force their kids to do whatever they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We're leaving for church at 8am sunday" start there.

With kids used to sleeping in on Sundays? good luck

Tell me you aren’t a parent without telling me you aren’t a parent.

Parents force their kids to do whatever they want.

Many parents wish their kids would sleep in. In reality, very few kids do. -parent

[Anonymous]

Mt Olivet United Methodist in Arlington has traditional and modern services the latter around 11 am. Also streaming.

[Anonymous]

When I was a kid and things at school got complicated in MS, as they do for many students, it was a relief to have a separate set of friends at Sunday School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was a kid and things at school got complicated in MS, as they do for many students, it was a relief to have a separate set of friends at Sunday School.

Having a separate set of friends is not the usual reason for attending Sunday School. It's about learning about your religion and parents and kids getting away from each other for a while on the week end.

[Anonymous]

I agree with attending a few churches to get a feel for them.

Additionally, many churches have recordings of past sermons available online, so if you want to get an idea of the preaching style/beliefs, you can listen to some in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many parents wish their kids would sleep in. In reality, very few kids do. -parent

Amen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was a kid and things at school got complicated in MS, as they do for many students, it was a relief to have a separate set of friends at Sunday School.

Having a separate set of friends is not the usual reason for attending Sunday School. It's about learning about your religion and parents and kids getting away from each other for a while on the week end.

One might be surprised how many kids value having a separate set of friends at church, synagogue, or temple.

One might also be surprised how many parents value Sunday School because it teaches ethics and morals. None of the families or kids will be perfect, but they will have a lot of shared values around ethics and morals.

Last, one might be surprised how important major Bible stories are to understanding English language non-religious literature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I come from backgrounds that believe in God but never consistently went to church. As a couple after marriage and even after kids, we haven’t gone to church. But as the kids are getting older (oldest is 7), they have been asking questions and kids at school talk about Jesus and God. We realized we want to make our faith more prominent in our family instead of being driven by busy schedules, etc.
But where do we begin? I don’t feel like we have a good compass.

Come to my church, McLean Bible Church. Families with young kids are very welcomed there! I will be happy to take you there and introduce around.

You just told us you are a racist, antisemite POS and belong to a MEGA cult church.

OP Mclean Bible is not a "church" it is a propaganda machine full of sick people.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

McLean Bible Church absolutely changed my life for the better. You don’t have to agree with its teachings but the charges you level here are completely unfounded.

Have you ever actually been to MBC?

Probably not, because if you have you would easily see that 40 percent, if not more, of the congregation is non-white. It’s a much more diverse place than where I work. Two of the three pastors who preach on a regular basis are black.

I am assuming when you wrote MEGA you meant MAGA and again this is simply not true. If anything, MBC has been embroiled in controversy and lawsuits over the last few years because they are not aligned with Trump enough in the eyes of some. There was even an entire documentary from Trump supporters who left the church and unfairly attacked David Platt, the main pastor. And having sat in the pews every weekend for the past three years, I can say without any doubt that there has never been a single partisan political message, even when that may have been the easy thing to do.

To the extent that policy issues come up — and I would say that’s relatively rare — MBC’s views can’t be easily pinned down. MBC is more conservative on social issues but more liberal on economic and issues like immigration, policing, etc. It’s doesn’t fix the typical boxes we see today.