A few quick notes and facts to set up the point of this post. First, a High School grad who is still in church six months from now, is 138% more likely to still be in church at age 35 if they are still actively engaged as of next Thanksgiving. This is a critical six month window we are now entering. Secondly, few churches have a plan to help grads with the transition. What is the plan for your church? Thirdly, most post HS grads have never had to find a church and don’t know what to do.
Therefore, I am giving my list that I use to mentor High School grads on how to find a church if and when they move away from home. Take my list, edit it, improve on it, but most of all, spend time with your High School juniors and seniors preparing them to find a church once they move away. Here is my list…
How to find a new church once you move away…
- Be committed to worship every Sunday. That does not mean you never miss but if you don’t commit it is very easy to begin to drift away.
- Go with friends if you can…but don’t base your commitment to worship on who will be there or who will attend with you. Go to worship with or without your friends.
- When you visit, try to arrive a few minutes early and don’t rush out when the service is over. Give people a chance to interact with you. Remember that interaction is a two way street. You be friendly too (even when you are visiting).
- You may not find a church like your home church. There is only one (insert name of your church here). Find a doctrinally sound, Bible teaching church.
- Get recommendations from your current church leaders or other pastors you respect to determine potential churches to visit.
- Visit a church more than once to really see what it is like. A church that you are not impressed with on a first visit may grow on you after several visits.
- Do you consider yourself spiritually mature? If so, stop looking for a “good church.” Instead, you might consider purposefully attending a struggling church to help them out instead of a popular church.
- Find out what the church believes about the Bible. That is a key.
- If you will permanently be living in a new community, join a church in that community. If you are there just temporarily, ask church leaders about “watch care” which is a version of membership for temporary residents.
- If you find a friendly, Bible-teaching church with great music and great preaching…that is great. But are you committed if you cannot find that? You should be if your priorities are in place.
- Get involved in a small group once you determine the church that you will join or attend regularly.
- When you are back home for breaks or holidays continue to be faithful to your home church.
- Sincerely pray throughout the process and genuinely seek a place to worship faithfully. Give yourself six or eight weeks (maximum) to visit around and then get locked in so that you can worship, get to be part of the local church community, and begin to serve on some level.