When people talk about Christianity, they often bring up the word fellowship. It’s something that happens when people gather together to study verses of the Bible or attend church on Sundays. No matter if you’re currently a Christian or a person who’s thinking about exploring what the faith offers, you could find new friends as a result of your religious beliefs.
Many Churches Have Social Events
Today’s churches are not just places where people go to pray to a higher power, sing songs of praise, and listen to the teachings of pastors. They’re also places where people might come together to watch religious films, listen to lectures presented by other members of the faith or celebrate accomplishments ranging from successful missionary trips to the baptisms of new babies.
Indeed, pastors must communicate such events effectively so that members of the congregation know about them. They might create master calendars on church websites, print bulletins that get distributed after every service, or mention announcements following main sermons.
However, it’s also ideal to take initiative and find out what’s happening on your own. For example, you might go up to someone who’s involved in the church, such as a greeter or a childcare assistant, and mention you’re interested in getting to know fellow members better and want to know whether the church offers ways to do that.
After attending only one or two events, you may meet like-minded people and decide you want to spend more time around them even outside of the church. In any case, it’s good to know how to interact with people you don’t know well. Doing that is how you learn and grow as a person.
There May Be a Welcome Team
Church growth depends on getting enough new people interested in not only coming to their first services but feeling welcomed enough that they want to return for the foreseeable future. However, some of today’s churches are so large that new people often get lost in the crowd and may not immediately get noticed.
Then, they could assume that the churches they’re checking out aren’t really the right places for them, even if that conclusion isn’t necessarily true. To minimize that possibility, churches frequently have welcome areas for visitors that are staffed by church workers who do everything they can to help those people feel included.
If you’re new to a church and feel like you don’t fit in as much as expected, look for people who may be part of such an existing welcome team. They might have shirts that say “How can I help?” on the back or be stationed at the main entry points of the church, such as the doors to the auditorium or the front entrances to the main building.
You may even see people in the church parking lot, patiently directing people upon arrival and making sure they don’t double park, take up two parking spaces instead of one, or otherwise do things that could make it harder for other people coming to church to find spaces for their cars. When those individuals give you their welcomes, you could simply say “Hi, this is my first visit.” Making that clear should ensure you don’t get overlooked.
Although it’s true the members of the welcome team should be on the lookout for you, they make mistakes, too. If you merely approach one of them and make your presence known, that could be the first step towards making new friends at church.
You May Get to Join a Bible Study
The service schedule at many churches includes a carefully prepared welcome speech. Its goal is to make new people feel comfortable. It may also include a brief segment that lets visitors know how they can get further involved.
Bible studies are popular ways that churches encourage their congregation members to get to know one another better. Often, the study groups get segmented by age or people’s life situations. There may be one group for people under 30 and another one for people who are newly married or have recently given birth.
The Way International is an organization that offers tailored content for followers of Christ and people interested in learning more about the Bible. The material found there could serve as a jumping-off point for a lively discussion about real-life challenges. In other cases, some people may bring up how they’re struggling with very specific things and would appreciate having a few focused study sessions to help them through those hard times.
Bible studies often require vulnerability, especially because honesty is a characteristic that helps you get the most from the teachings. Furthermore, being straightforward about yourself with other members of the study group may make you realize there are other people there with similar interests and needs who may become your new friends.
These are not the only ways that you could expand your circle of friends by attending church. However, they highlight how your time as a member of a religious gathering could help you become more sociable and form strong relationships