I grew up going to a Baptist Church?

Question

What is the differences between Baptist, Methodist, and Church of God? As to what they teach, they believe, their church runs? I want to start going to church again, but I'm not sure if I want to go back to a Baptist church, I know I definatly WON'T go back to the same one I grew up in, but, I really want to go back to church. Any help would be appreciated, Thank You Very Much and God Bless You All.

So many wonderful helpful answers, thank you and God Bless each and every one of you. I think going and visiting the different churches, and talking to the Pastor, and staying for a sermon is a good idea before I make up my mind. I just don't know how I'll ever choose a best answer you all are so nice, and informitive.

Answer 1

I am assuming you are a born again Christian, meaning you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior; denominations such as Baptist, Methodist...have basically the same beliefs(Jesus died for our sin, he is our Savior, he rose from the grave, and will return one day for his church(us)

You should visit a number of different churches, judge first hand the preaching, the warmth of the church/people, their goals, etc...also pray that God will guide you to the right church. Most importantly..make sure that the pastor of the church..preaches from the bible.

Good luck, and may God Bless you :)

Answer 2

Dear creeklops,

I went to the Baptist Church from '90 - '02. I heard alot of sermons! Many of those sermons would make you stand up and wave your Bible or shout Amen! But the truth was that I never heard the TRUE Gospel. Oh, we had a huge bus ministry, and Bible classes, and went out "soul winning" 3 or 4 times a week. In fact, the church was 3rd in the nation for most Baptisms......but probably most of those professions were not conversions (born again). The Bible says "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." What is spoken today in most churches is a free will gospel. The Lord warns about this false gospel in Galatians 1.
I will give you the information where I heard the TRUE Gospel in my references section. The truth is the church age came to an end in 1988. At that time the Lord left ALL the local congregations so that even if a preacher preached a perfect message, absolutely NO ONE would become saved. Please see 2 Thessalonians 2. God has allowed satan to come into the local churches because they had departed from the truth a long time ago. We read of the same occurrence in the Book of Jeremiah. Israel the northern tribes) had already been conquered by Assyria, when Judah was conquered by Babylon in 587 B.C. This date marked the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. This was the great Tribulation of Jeremiah's day and is a picture of what has occurred in the churches already on a spiritual level. We read in Matthew 24 that the Great Tribulation will precede the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and we are on the advent of that today! Please read Revelation 18:4 - end. The Lord is not telling the believers to come out of the world....how can we? The Lord is telling the true believers to come out of the local congregations which have become Babylon. If you go back to Daniel (book), the Lord pictures Babylon as satans kingdom and Nebuchadnesser as satan. Please also go to Revelation 11:8, 9. Why does God call the place where Christ was crucified Sodom and Egypt? There is much more that I can say, but there is not enough room to go into these topic in detail. See ref.

Answer 3

Not sure why you chose only those three churches, there are a variety of Protestant denominations out there that you could also consider. If I'm not mistaken, each of the churches you've mentioned contains Arminian theology. Have you take a look at Reformed/Presbyterian (Calvinist) or Roman Catholic beliefs? Just trying to level the playing field a little bit here.

Outside of mainstream, Trinitarian beliefs you'll find other religions that carry some additional revelation or insight supplementing or supplanting the Bible. I'm sure one little post on Yahoo Answers won't be swaying you one way or the other, but for what it's worth, I'm of the Calvinist persuasion, which comes from the "intellectual" schools of thought out of Europe.

Answer 4

There are two main divisions of Christianity, Calvinistic and Arminian. Pentecostals is the Arminian extreme and Reform is the Calvinistic Extreme. Baptist lie in the middle and accept teachings from both camps. Free Methodist and Church of God are very similar and fit in on the Arminian side but are not as extreme as the Pentecostals. You may not like Baptists because they tend towards the legalistic side and have more rules than the Arminians who tend towards more of an experiential type of Christianity than a doctrinal side. Personally I tend towards the Baptist side because they are far more doctrinally accurate and I think in God's plan that is what He expects from us. Jesus taught that those who sought for sign and wonders and miracles were evil and were not walking by faith but were trusting in what they perceived.
Lots of luck.

Answer 5

As far as being doctrinally sound about salvation I'd say the Baptist have the correct on salvation. As far as the operation of the Holy Spirit and miracles I'd say Church of God would be more on line in that area.

We found a non denominational church that believes in eternal security and in the power of the Holy Spirit to work miracles today, but it is the first church I've found like that in 18 years of going to church.

But if I had children to think of I think I would choose a Baptist church, try and find one that still believes in miracles for today.

Answer 6

Wow...that's a lot to bite off on Yahoo Answers. I couldn't really do it here, but I think this chart may help some:

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/denominations_beliefs.htm

You could probably include Church of God under Baptist (somewhat) because they share many of the same beiefs. But to understand the difference here, you may want to review the history of the Charismatic movement to see how the CoG diverged, primarily from the Baptist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecostal#History

Answer 7

Find a Spirit filled Church (Non-denominational). One that urges relationship w/ Jesus Christ and that teaches only from the Holy Bible (doesn't matter which version)...

Do you have a worship style preference (i.e. traditional, contemporary/modern)? Perhaps you could try out different style of praise and worship music too?

Best wishes and Grace to you!

Answer 8

Your best bet would be to talk to a minster of each church or spend some time in each one before making up your mind. People will say anything to get you to join their side.

Answer 9

I'm part of the Pilgrim Holiness, which means I believe in things like conditional salvation, the ability to NOT sin everyday, etc. Frankly, I feel that I'm part of the most Bible-based doctrine around.

Answer 10

Why not go to each of your candidate churches and ask them to explain their positions?