I’m not sure if “church hopping” is common language or Hope College lingo for “I’m trying to find a church that I really enjoy in the area.” This is the only place I’ve ever heard it, so I’m going to go with the latter.
The name is a little misleading, because to me it sounds like you go to a bunch of churches all in one day, but in fact you decide on various churches to visit each Sunday until you find a good fit. Regardless of the cheesy name, church hopping is cool.
First things first, you do a little research. What churches are in the area? What churches do your beliefs most identify with?
My friend Rachel and I took an online quiz to discover where in the world of churches our views fell. It turned out that we had some pretty similar results, so we looked up churches under those denominations.
The next thing is pretty simple. You go to one of the churches. Notice the people around you, how comfortable you feel and whether or not you feel community and a sense of faith here. You might get a good feeling, or a kind of bad one.
If it’s bad, don’t worry; there will be other churches to visit. If it’s good, don’t just jump right in; give some other churches a chance to be hopped to.
Rachel and I visited three or four churches before deciding on the one we liked the best, all were different denominations and not all were the one we were raised in.
Once you feel comfortable with the amount of churches you’ve experienced and feel like you have enough knowledge to make a decision, find a church and call it home.
My friend Rachel and I really enjoy the First United Methodist Church in Holland. We’ve decided to plant our roots there for a majority of our Sundays left at Hope.
The cool thing about Holland is that there are so many places of faith to check out. It can be almost overwhelming. I highly encourage anyone who wants to take the next step in their faith to church hop around. Finding community at Hope can be easy, especially with a chapel filled with 1,000 students. However, finding that faith community outside of Hope is not as easy.
It’s nice to know where to start.
Thanks for reading,
Brooke