If church has been on your mind again after a long break, you may be wondering what it would feel like to walk back through the doors and be part of a church community again.
Key Takeaways:
- See what to expect when you go back to church, from how people dress to the welcome you’ll receive at either Mebane campus of First Baptist Church.
- Learn what happens during a typical Sunday service and why worshipping together continues to be an important part of church life.
- Find out why you don’t need to have all the answers or make any big commitments before coming back to church.
Has it been a while since you’ve been to church? Maybe you grew up going but let the habit slip when you got old enough to make the decision on your own. Or it’s simply a matter of your work schedule, and Sunday’s a regular day on the job.
You may not have just one reason. You simply stopped going, time passed, and before you knew it, it had been years since you stepped into a church.
However you got to this point, if you’ve found yourself thinking about church again, we want to encourage you to consider heading back this Sunday.
Going Back to Church Can Feel Like Going for the First Time
It takes courage to go back to church when you haven’t been in a while. You may be wondering if you’ll know what to do or where to go. Slipping into a back row and then slipping out again may sound like the easiest way to approach it.
After all, church may have changed over time, and you may not be sure what to expect.
At FBC-Mebane, we want to make it easy for someone to come back. We have a traditional service at 8:30 and a contemporary one at 11, plus a campus near downtown Mebane and one north of town: New Life Church. Our website also covers the basics, so you can get a feel for things before you come.
You’ll see a mix of styles, from dressier Sunday clothes for those who still like dressing up for church to comfortable jeans and t-shirts for others. Some even show up in shorts.
“We truly are a come as you are church,” Pastor Sammy Ballard says. “Church is the community doing life together in love and faith.”
Whether you walk in the front door or come in from the side, someone’s there to greet you as you enter, by the way. Pastor Sammy’s typically walking around the sanctuary smiling, high-fiving, and giving out hugs. At the New Life campus, Pastor Kolton’s doing the same.
Some Important Things About Church Haven’t Changed
Whether that sounds a lot like church the way you imagine it or not, what’s really important is knowing our foundation — the reason we gather on Sundays — hasn’t changed.
“I Peter 2:10 says, ‘Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God,’” Pastor Kolton says. “Every person adopted by God is joined together into a new family.”
As a family, we come together to celebrate and honor Christ. And we do that in some pretty standard ways. We sing hymns and contemporary songs. Depending on which service you go to, you’ll find there’s more of one or the other.
You’ll find many of our older, longtime members at the traditional service. The contemporary service draws a mix of ages, with plenty of young families in the pews. It’s filled with the sounds of children laughing (and sometimes babies crying!).
We also say The Lord’s Prayer, send the littlest ones off to their version of church before the sermon, and listen to the pastor teach from Scripture, guiding us to apply it in our daily lives.
There’s an offering, too, but no pressure to give, especially not for visitors.
Worshipping together gives us a chance to sing, pray, hear Scripture, and encourage one another. “We gather in church buildings to honor our Father and grow in our faith,” Pastor Kolton says. “We gather to contribute to and benefit from the local community of believers. The church is a wonderful blessing to the individual Christian.”
You Don’t Have to Have All the Answers Before You Come
If you’re considering church again, you may feel like you need to resolve all your questions about Christianity before you walk in the door. But that’s not true.
It’s okay to come with questions. Hard questions even. Church is the exact place for those.
And you don’t have to remember all the Bible stories you learned growing up. Maybe you didn’t learn them at all. That’s okay, too.
“We’re here to learn and grow together,” Pastor Sammy says. “Our mission is to make the world a better place through Jesus Christ. None of us has all the answers, but we all have something to offer.”
Your First Sunday Back
You also don’t need to feel like you have to make any big commitments the first time you come back. You’ll hear plenty about ways to be involved. Pastor Sammy — or Pastor Kolton at the New Life campus — also gives people the opportunity to come forward to pray, commit themselves to Christ, or join the church.
But you don’t have to feel pressure the first time you walk back in the doors. Come as you are. Take it all in and see how it feels to be back.
“The church is not a place we go to but a family we belong to,” Pastor Kolton says.
Pastor Sammy often talks about being the church the Mebane community knows it can count on. “We want to be the ‘Go To’ church,” he says. If you’re looking for a place to come back to, ask questions, and worship in community, that’s what we want FBC-Mebane to be.
If you’ve been thinking about making your way back to church, there’s no time like the present. Visit our Be Our Guest page to see more of what to expect and plan your Sunday at one of our Mebane campuses. We’d be glad to have you.
