How Do I Find a Church in my Military Community?
By: Brian O’Day
The first thing I would like to do is commend you for asking this question and taking the next steps to find a church in your community. I know it can be difficult, but I want to show you that you have more at your disposal that you might initially think.
Secondly, if it’s not too late, please move this task UP on your “to do” list. Ideally, you would look for churches before you decide where you will live.
Alright, time for you to do some work. As you work through the recommendations below, make a list of potential churches to visit this Sunday or your first Sunday on the ground in your new community if you’re preparing to move there.
Do you know a genuine, maturing Christian in your new community who has a church home? Follow them to church if at all possible and continue to get to know them better. This is one of the best ways to find a healthy local church. Most likely, you will continue to deepen the bond you have with that brother or sister in Christ, and you will have found yourself a healthy church!
Do you know someone previously stationed there? This is the same idea as above without the benefit of being able to be at that church with them. At least you will know some of the same people! That will deepen your bond with them and speed up your assimilation into the new church. You’ll meet people and say, “Do you know Chris and Elyse? Me too! They really miss this church, but they have found a new church in their new duty station. They highly recommended we come here!” As a pastor in a military community, I hear statements like this all the time. I love it!
Take it to the Web. Alright, I know this was your default, but let me steer you away from the simple “Churches near me” search in your preferred search engine. There are some very unhealthy- even false teaching- churches out there. There are better options than that search.
PraetorianProject.org/churches. Yes, this is a shameless plug for the network of churches I help lead. But I really think these churches would serve you well! We are a family of multiplying churches in military communities worldwide. Providing a church family to military members and families is what we do!
https://www.9marks.org/church-search/ These churches are seeking to be healthy churches as articulated in the book “9 Marks of a Healthy Church” by Mark Dever (and the other resources they have built out since the publication of that book).
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/churches/ These churches are seeking to align with the principles of The Gospel Coalition as you can learn about on their website.
Do you have a list? If you have worked through a few of the options above, I trust that you have a list of potential churches. I doubt you have more than 3-5 that are within a reasonable distance from your house (or future house). Let’s do 2 things before visiting:
1. Check around the website. You should get a pretty good feel for the church based on the website. You will know the types of things they value and the things they don’t. Snoop around. These days a church website is like a window into the life of the church- check it out!
2. Listen to 3-5 sermons online. Assuming you are in the developed world and an area where the church is not heavily persecuted, they will have their sermons online. Listen to a few sermons per church. If you were serious about this endeavor, you could accomplish this on a couple of commutes to work, cutting the grass, cleaning the house, or on that cross-country move you’re about to make.
3. If you have a good relationship with a pastor you respect, ask him to help! He can peruse a few websites and listen to a few sermons for you to help you sniff out good teaching vs. bad teaching. Send him the links to the websites of your top few churches and ask for his recommendation of which one to visit first!
If you do these two things, I think your list will be down to 1-2 churches that you will visit. Plan out your visit and prepare to dive in quickly to one of these churches. Remember, you have done your homework–if there’s not an egregious reason to not join the church, you should thank the Lord that you’ve quickly found a new church and dive in to your new church family!
