Choosing a church: A little help please.

[kansasblue]

I love the teaching of Christ but not a lot of churches go very far with them. I've been hunting for a church that stresses social justice, peace, helping the poor, inclusion. One where you might find the paster working a soup line. Where the congregation is fighting some social injustice and actively living Christ's teaching .

Suggestions:

[GeorgeBushytail]

1. Check out a Unitarian/Universalist church

Check out one or two UU churches in your area. Lots of progressive Christians are members.

[judy]

2. Quaker meetings...

American Friends Service Committee

Is also a good alternative.

[MissMarple]

3. The United Churches of Christ are well worth checking into,

as well. :) ucc.org

[Imagine My Surprise]

4. Definitely check out the Unitarian/Universalists...

the good thing about them is that though there is a theology among them, it's the biggest umbrella you could possibly find of people who shared varying points of view. And they wrote the book on the Social Gospel for sure. Good luck.

[grumpy old fart]

5. You don't need a church. Just do good works in any of 1,000 places......

Though, if you feel a need to worship, the abvoe selections are the way to go.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Come check the denominations listing on my site

Some are more inclusive than others. Some ordain and marry gays, some do not but many of their members are pushing for it.

Some are really open theologically and do not require you to say the Bible is inerrant, others profess inerrancy but stress high criticism of it while you read.

Some are high church and some are low. Let me know what you are looking for in terms of worship style as that may help sift through the list.

http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/liberalchristians.htm#denom

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Call the local diocesan office of the Episcopal Church or the local

synodical office of the ELCA Lutherans and ask them for the name of their most liberal congregation. There's a tremendous range in both of these "big tent" denominations.

[PatsFan2004]

8. A good source of information might be your local Salvation Army

unit. This group has been involved in helping and feeding the needy for many years. Some of the workers probably come from good local churches.

The best thing about the Salvation Army is that they do these good works in the name of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many church goers do good deeds and fight injustice but fail to do them in His Name and to draw people to look at our Wonderful Lord who died for our sins and freely offers salvation to all if only we will accept it. Feeding and clothing the needy is great but not spreading the Gospel message (John 3:16) to them is doing them no good in the light of eternity.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. My answer to this is simply that...

it is not the denomination that is particularly important, but the individual congregation.

I am a Quaker, and I found my way here through a rather curious path. I would, of course, suggest that you consider Friends, but more important is that you find a congregation that you are comfortable with, no matter what the denomination.

There are odd theological points that each denomination tends to be picky over, but these are unimportant if the members and clergy are the sort of people you are looking for, and they live the Christian life you agree with.

I have been involved with Catholics, Presbyterians, Reformed, UCCs, Methodists, Episcopalians, UUs, Lutherans, and, yes, even Baptists who are in congregations such as you are looking for. And I've seen many congregations in those denominations that would be abhorrent to you.

Drop into a few of your local churches that might look promising and talk to the clergy and members about your concerns. They should be glad to talk to you and you will find one to join. It might take a while, but the journey is often more fascinating than the goal.

[LiberalEsto]

10. try beliefnet.com

[CatholicEdHead]

11. Also look at ELCA Lutheran Churches

and even some Catholic churches. You have to take each Catholic church one by one nowadays as they can vary wildly depending on the church.