If you live in the south, chances are you have been to church a time or two. Chances are you have actually been to multiple churches as well for one reason or another. Regardless of your reason to leave a church, join a church, or leave church all together, it is a good idea to stay involved and stay connected in at least one church. Therefore, here are my top 5 reasons to join a church in Atlanta that might help you understand why.
Reasons to Join a Church in Atlanta
There are many reasons to join a church besides the obvious reason of becoming apart of the “Body of Christ” as it is depicted in the Bible. Some of those reasons might seem even more humanly than you might imagine. Besides the spiritual benefits of being around believers who will support your faith, here are my top 5 reasons to join a church in Atlanta:
- Community
- Mentorship
- Investing in Yourself
- Give Back
- Resources
These are the five points we are going to dive into. I want to take this from more of a humanly perspective and not just the straight and obvious spiritual benefits from attending a proper church. Lets kick it off with the top of the list – community.
Church Community
Whether you appreciate it or not, every single person needs to have some sort of community in their life.
These communities in our lives help us to find our identity and purpose. They can be communities of people we work with, our family, friends from the gym, maybe even your social circles or anything in between. The church, is just another extension of your community.
We are a reflection of the people around us most of the time. In general, we like to be around like minded, and like bodied people. That way we do not feel too conflicted when becoming apart of the community around us. Although, there are special cases when our community is very different from us and that inner conflict creates change. I encourage people to dig deep and branch out. Find a church community that is slightly different from your direct beliefs. Let them challenge you and make you grow. Just because you do not 100% agree with something the pastor says or the people in the community, does not mean the church is not for you. Be open, be vulnerable to learning more than you think you know.
Take the chance to not only join a church, but join a church community that will make you grow.
Mentorship
In addition to joining the church and growing your community, you open yourself up to meeting new mentors. People who will hopefully strengthen you and give you courage. People who will stir inspiration, desire, and hopefully spiritual fortitude in yourself.
These mentors will undoubtedly be in every church. Usually they are the pastor and elders, but not always. Allow these men and women to penetrate your outer defense of filtering out anything people say, and allow them to speak to your heart. Allow new leaders to speak to your truths, to your pain, to your future, and to your purpose. You need new mentors in your life constantly. It is always best to find these mentors to learn on in hard times, to test your understanding of things, and to ultimately grow into a better person.
I am not saying every church will have a pastor that is bound to expand your horizon and understanding of life, but every church will have a leader in it somewhere. Sometime they are hiding in the crowd, and other times they are on the stage. Join an Atlanta church and find your mentor. Someone who knows God, puts him first, and seeks to live an honorable life spreading his wisdom.
Investing in Yourself
If you are Christian then obviously going to church is a means to invest in your spiritual knowledge and understanding. Even if you are not seeking spiritual growth, joining a church will still give you invaluable direction, understanding, and truths to life that can be applied daily.
You truly do not need to be a christian to understand and appreciate the Bible. Yes, somethings might come by hard to believe, but the general gist of the stories, the parables, and the meanings will ultimately help you find a stronger mental state. Joining a church and listening to someone speak about real life, the meaning of it, and how to better yourself is never a bad idea. Therefore, I encourage those that not even christian to also find a church and invest in yourself. Take advantage of the gathering, the lessons, the teachings and find a way to benefit from them. There are a million ways to learn from the stories and parables. I challenge you to find at least one and make yourself a better person for it.
Join a church to invest in yourself.
Give Back
Not that you can’t give back to other places, but the church is a perfect place to give back in multiple ways.
For instance, you can make donations to the church to further their reach and cause. Another great thing to do is volunteer. Throughout every church there are volunteers needed for multiple things. You can volunteer to watch and teach the children during services or possibly to even clean up the church in the after hours. In addition, every church needs someone to help with the music that is played during the service and most need help these days with videography and photography. Not to mention the days of social media are here and who doesn’t know a church that needs help with that?
Seriously, there are a ton of ways you can give back and help a church or the community it is directly involved with.
Resources
The last piece here I want to touch on, but not over reach on, is resources.
I do not want this to be taken in the wrong way, but the church is a resource. It is a a resource for all of those things above including education, connections, and friends. You see, you never know who you could meet going to church, you never know how you might be moved or impacted, and you definitely never know what you might learn. The church, and every church, is a resource that you could use. That might sound selfish, but it is true.
Now, I am not saying go to church looking for people to meet or things to get out of it. Although, it is a benefit of joining a church right? You get to meet new people and hopefully learn new things! A perk is a perk in my book, and it is something to consider.
Don’t be afraid to use your resources in life.
Join A Church In Atlanta
I hope this list has given you a few reasons why you should try and join a church besides the obvious spiritual and emotional benefits. There are a ton of additional reasons to join an Atlanta church, but those are for your to discover on your own! Thanks for reading and make sure to get out there and join a church near you!
Cheers
