A Church on Every Corner

The church that is right for you is the one that draws you closer to the one God.

I am now a Catholic, but I wasn't always. I didn't grow up in a religious home, but I had a religious hunger, so, starting in high school, I went to church with neighbors.

My grandparents on both sides were Christian Scientists, so I went to a Christian Science Church. By the time I graduated from college, I gave up the struggle to stay with that religion.

Christian Science taught that all I needed to do was think the right thoughts and everything would be perfect. That's really not helpful. It's also not true. Thinking something doesn't make it so.

After more than a decade of wandering in the wilderness, my husband and I started attending a Presbyterian Church.

It was much better than what I had experienced of church before, and it was there that I began to consider myself a Christian. I wasn't sure why. There was just something there that seemed true to me.

There seemed to be truth in the statement that Jesus was the son of God even though I had no idea why, or even what it actually meant.

Nevertheless, it was a start.

After a year or two, a move and family influences (on my husband's side) had us attending a Nazarene Church. Now that was different: very emotional, very tied to the personality of the pastor, but, again, there was something there that touched my soul.

There was something true there, and I am grateful for it.

I became very involved in the church, and we stayed there for almost ten years. As time wore on and I read more serious writings about Christianity, I began to believe that something essential was missing. I longed to be part of the body of Christ, without really knowing what that meant. (Recognize the pattern? God guides us where we would not go on our own.)

We went to the Episcopal Church next. I knew that I was getting closer but that this was not to be my final destination.

Another move, and I gravitated to the local Catholic Church. Home at last.

There I found the fullness of the faith and the presence of God himself in a tangible way that didn't rely on my emotions of the moment.

I am deeply grateful to be part of the Catholic Church, which, for all of its faults, is the original Christian Church, and I don't believe that God would ever abandon his church. That's not his nature.

I couldn't have begun my Christian journey at the Catholic Church, however. I didn't have the background for it. It would have been too foreign to me.

How do you find a church? Pray and be serious about your journey.

Most of the churches that draw huge crowds these days lack the depth, the foundation that will sustain you. Just feeling good on Sunday morning won't change your life in a deep way.

Listen to the quiet voice of God and follow. God knows what you need better than you do. If your desire is to know and love him, he'll lead you. Trust him.