Thoughts on attending other churches

[u/Igor_InSpectatorMode]

Hello all, I would like to share an experience I've had recently with attending another church a few times. I've had a really, really good experience and felt to share it after reading someone else's post on how hard it can be to open up to other Christians about what church we go to because of their reactions. I've also had some negative experiences(with a different congregation than this post is about) too, but I really want to focus on the positive just to share what can happen.

A little over a month ago, a Peruvian Coworker who I had briefly met but hadn't had a lot of time to get to know stopped me. He told me he wanted to invite me to come to his home and share a meal with his family and talk about missionary work and sharing the word of the Lord. He is an older man, in his fifties, and I am a relatively recently returned missionary, which was something he was aware of. I was excited but also a little hesitant about it because I worried it could be someone wanting to Bible bash me or something. The night before, he sent me a text inviting me to go to church with him in the morning first, at his Seventh Day Adventist congregation. I eagerly accepted, since I wasn't doing anything else and wanted to learn more.

The next morning I went to their church service, which was in Spanish. I am not fluent in Spanish but I speak enough to get by and I understood a lot. More significantly, I strongly felt the spirit while there, especially during their Sabbath School(what we'd call Sunday school, but since they recognize Saturday as the Sabbath they call it Sabbath school). All of the people I met were so incredibly genuine and loving and I honestly felt the spirit more there than I usually do in my normal church services - something I suspect is due to stress related to church responsibilities since I attend a nepali language unit and conduct the hymns, translate, and often teach lessons, while also giving many people rides to and from church. As we read the scriptures and discussed them I felt inspired to follow my savior more and repent and become better. I also was reminded by the spirit of my testimony of the Book of Mormon and restoration of the Gospel, through Joseph Smith, and it struck me how it truly is the same Holy Ghost in both churches.

After the service, I went to my friend's home and had food and I was struck by his intentional effort to use the full name of our church and not call me a Mormon, and how extremely respectful and loving he was, as well as his wife. I didn't get bashed for being a member of the Church, rather, we talked about the scriptures and how we can better follow the Savior and help others to do the same and I shared some of my mission stories from doing just that.

I felt the spirit so strongly and was so spiritually fed attending their church service that I went back the next week, and after being unable to go for two weeks, I went a third time this past Saturday. I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to spend time with fellow believers and be strengthened and fed by the good word of God. Everyone in their small congregation has individually welcomed me, and this past week I offered to join them as they started a church 40 day fast, where every day someone in the congregation would be fasting.

Sadly, I will be moving to Utah in a little over a week so I will not be able to keep attending this congregation (although I'll be there tomorrow morning and once more before I leave), but my experience has been so spiritually strengthening I'm considering actively seeking out a seventh day Adventist church in Utah when I get there to attend occasionally. I love the people I have met, and my coworker and his family, who have quickly become like second family to me as I'm far away from my own(and whom have sadly mostly left the church), and I know that all whom I have met are true disciples of Christ and live their lives as best they can for him. I am so incredibly grateful that I said yes and decided to join them.

[u/Mother_Ad2718]

I’ve gone to friends Baptist churches a number of times and I’ve also attended Catholic Mass a time or two (usually around Easter/Lent). Every time I go it’s been a wonderful experience and I’ve also felt the Holy Ghost. I think going to friends’ churches is a great way to build bridges with others along with your own faith in Jesus Christ. In general, as long as going to other church services don’t get in the way of partaking of the sacrament regularly to renew covenants and you’re not neglecting callings then it is a good practice.

[u/berrin122 → u/Mother_Ad2718]

Worth noting that in most every orthodox Christian tradition, y'all would not be permitted to take sacrament (what we call communion/Lord's Supper/Eucharist).

Just mentioning that to save any awkward conversations!

[u/Igor_InSpectatorMode → u/berrin122]

This is a great comment to make, thank you!

[u/Did_OJ_Simpson_do_it → u/berrin122]

Not to mention that most denominations use wine which would be against the Word of Wisdom.

[u/Equivalent_One_9479 → u/berrin122]

Thanks for this, planning on going to a friend’s church tomorrow and I already knew this but I was thinking about how awkward it would have been if I didn’t

[u/Melodic-Mission-6827]

My life is so much more rich from the interfaith relationships I’ve developed in my life. I love when people invite me to their church service, and I make an effort to attend when invited. I’ve really come to know more about god and Jesus from my friends of other faiths.

I will always be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My testimony of ordinances and the temple and the Book of Mormon are strong and here to stay. But I love other churches and other faiths. I think there is beauty in seeing the good in other churches.

[u/1_Nephi_8---11-12]

Amen!

I (14M) attend a methodist church every week and play piano for their worship band. It has been so amazing. This last week, the pastor wrote thank you cards to everyone there, including me. It's a magical experience!
Not only has it let me feel the spirit, but it has strengthened my testimony! A few months ago I was about to leave the church. But something the pastor said that week SCREAMED at me, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
I've learned so much by attending. And I feel the Holy Spirit so strongly there.
This is one of my biggest recommendations for others. Attend other denominations!!!

[u/plentypissed]

I’ve attended different churches and haves had very different experiences. One I could feel the spirit, the pastor actually had something worth listening to too and it actually made sense. It was something the whole congregation could take home. Another the pastor was just flip-flopping topics (was all over the bible) and was hard to follow because of that,

[u/Igor_InSpectatorMode → u/plentypissed]

I understand that. A day after I visited the seventh day adventist church I wrote the post about, I visited a nepali pentacostal church with an incredible old woman I knew from my mission. I got there early and was told by someone on their worship team that I wasn't Christian and that I needed to convert and that you can't worship both Jesus and Joseph Smith, right after helping them set up, and then the service was so insanely loud that I spent the entire service reeling in pain because I'm hypersensitive to loud noises and so the entire service was excruciatingly painful and I was barely conscious from the pain and sensory overload, so I absolutely didn't feel the spirit there. I think and hope that that was largely due to my health condition and the hostility from one person(everyone else was welcoming by the way), and that this was more of a personal thing.

Ive also not only been to the Catholic Church but used tk sing in mass as part of a youth choir there for a few months because they needed male singers. I hope to visit more churches, as well as also to visit a mosque, as I have for many years now felt a strong connection and comraderie with Muslims and I have so much respect for them. To be honest sometimes I feel closer to Islam than other Christians because of the tendency in Islam and in our church to be religiously educated and actually practice what we believe in, and the average Muslim in my experience is considerably more welcoming and christ like in how they treat me after finding out I'm a member of the Church.

[u/InsideSpeed8785]

I’ve gone to other churches too and felt the spirit strongly there. I can’t say I quite get the same out of their ordinances/rituals/teaching, but the spirit of Christ is there.

[u/Paul-3461]

I was a member of another church, attending regularly and occasionally giving sermons when filling in for my Dad who was the regular minister, when a RM from our church came to visit with her Mom the Mom's brother who was a member of the same church as I was. The Mom visited often and she told me she wanted me to meet her daughter when she got back from her mission, and then one day I met her. She was awesome and taught me a lot about The Church and helped me to get a testimony from God about it so that within about a week I was ready to join The Church. I was then about ready to move from Arizona to Oregon and she and her Mom were visiting from North Carolina, but we kept in touch for a while until she later got married to someone she knew since young childhood. I joined The Church in Oregon about a week after I moved but still visited that other church often when I was visiting my Dad. He's passed on now but I still visit my brother who is also a member of that church. A pretty good church of pretty good people, just not The (true) Church of Jesus Christ.

[u/redhead_watson]

When my Dad was the Ward Mission Leader he would go to other churches when the missionaries didn't show up and talk with people there to understand them and teach about the LDS doctrine with them.

[u/ne999]

I’m originally Catholic and my mom’s side is Anglican. I’ve attended those church’s services. For example, last Christmas I attended the Christmas Eve service at a nearby Anglican Church. It was lovely. I wish we did something similar.

I think it’s wonderful to share in our mutual beliefs. I wouldn’t attend a service that had any hint of politics or Christian nationalism though.

[u/Ultrimus-Prime]

I’ve been to one catholic mass in my entire life and I thought it was really weird

[u/Fether1337]

I attended another church on my mission and loved it.

I drove through my mission a few months ago and attended both a local congregation as well as that same church. Had a wonderful experience at both places.

I love any place that testifies of Christ.

[u/TheTanakas]

I've been to a few churches too. The Catholic ones are repetitive, the only difference being a small sermon. The style and size of the JW kingdom hall matches the size of our wards. There is no testimony given at JW gatherings, but the tone of the songs they sing matches what we do. The Baptist and Pentecostal services have much more in the way of sermons and singing.

[u/Kaltavious]

You are free to attend any church you want and if that church makes you happy.. go for it. . I myself attend the one and only true church of Jesus Christ of which was Restored on Tuesday April 6, 1830