Churches Near Me

Finding a church is no easy task. There are so many issues and options to consider. Often, a seeker is presented with more questions than answers. For instance: What does the church I’m investigating actually believe? Will my family and I fit in socially? Or if you happen to be single: Are there people with whom I’ll be able to relate? What about childcare or other ministries that may meet my needs?

So I decided to conduct an experiment utilizing a few popular search engines. I wanted to discover what kind of results I would get by typing in the phrase, churches near me. What I discovered were several churches that were; in fact, not near me at all. In the city of San Antonio, many of these places of worship were miles away and clear across town. Which led me to the question: How does someone find a church near their location that meets all the criterias they’re looking for?

One fail-safe method many Christians use is what I call word of mouth—a close friend or a trusted acquaintance who passes along a recommendation about a particular church that meets their personal needs. Advertising companies understand the power of this kind of recommendation. Promoting testimonies from satisfied customers is a guaranteed way of creating curiosity and increasing sales.

But this begs the real question: What is a church anyway? As a Christian, I don’t need to search for churches near me. The New Testament maintains that I am the church—part of the body and bride of Christ. The church of Jesus Christ is never referred to as a building in the Bible. There’s no mention of service times, age-graded ministries, worship bands, or many of the other things that average people search for when looking to attend a church nearby.

If you read through the entire Bible, you won’t find one example of a Believer “church shopping.” Why? First century Christians were too busy planting new churches in homes. They were mostly concerned about ministering to their communities. The early church, made up of true believers, gathered on Sundays to fellowship. On Monday through Saturday, they scattered to fulfill the Great Commission.

At the Movement Church of San Antonio, we have a vision. Our strategy is to plant house churches throughout our city. We don’t need big buildings or big budgets, fundraising events or a fancy stage. All we need is for a few people who hear the voice of God to answer the calling and plant a church in their home. We find it ironic that people search for churches near me. Our fellowship gathers in the nearest location possible. It’s the same place we live, raise our families, gather at the dinner table, and retire in the evenings to sleep.

Viewing church this way may sound foreign to most Americans. In fact, it’s down right counter-cultural. But the only question we should be concerned with is: “What does the Bible teach?” If all you had in your hands was the New Testament, and it alone served as a guide to help you find a church nearby, where would you go? I believe you know the answer. You would stop trying to find a church somewhere and start looking for a way to be the church everywhere.

These ideas either sound crazy to you, or they resonate somewhere deeply within. If the latter is true and not the former, then come be the church with us. Perhaps we’ve been searching for each other all along. I look forward to connecting with you in person!

Join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM.

Call or Text for the address: (210) 897-9787
Email Pastor James