Getting involved in the fellowship of believers is an important part of living the Christian life. You are wise to ask about finding a church and wanting to be baptized.

You need the fellowship of other believers because God has given different spiritual gifts to each of us so that we will rely on each other to help us in times of need. Maybe we need help with understanding a certain part of the Bible; maybe we need someone to pray for us that we would be healed from a sickness; maybe we need someone to listen compassionately to us as we tell how our heart was recently broken; and the list of possible needs goes on and on. God has designed us to have a lot of needs and He has put different people in His church who are each supernaturally gifted by Him to be able to meet one of those needs. He wants us relying on Him and on each other. So, finding a good church is a very good idea.

You need to find a church where the preacher is always preaching from the Bible (as opposed to talking about the latest social theories on how to address our problems, or the latest psychological thinking on whatever, or anything else he might substitute for focusing on God’s words from the Bible).

You also need to find a church that is a praying church—where the leaders are serious about taking the needs of the people to the Lord in prayer.

You need to find a church where the leaders function as servants of the people, not considering themselves more important than those who are not in leadership. You do not want to be in a church where the pastor/minister/priest is overbearing.

The leaders in the church you are looking for need to believe the entire Bible is the God-breathed inerrant word of God—not just that it contains the thoughts or intentions of God in some parts.

Churches like we describe above do exist, but they can be difficult to find. No church is going to be perfect. After all, we are all sinners, and we sin quite easily and naturally. But you do want to fellowship with people who are intentional and focused on walking by faith and expecting God to do great things in them and through them as they seek to help others in their times of need.

You will likely have to visit several churches before you find one that looks a lot like the ones we are describing above, but it is worth the effort.

So where do you find such a church? You can show the above description to other Christians you know and ask them if this describes their church. Keep asking until you find someone who says their church does fit that description and then visit it to see if you think it does. You can also call or email the pastors/ministers/priests of various churches you find on the Web and ask them if their church matches the above description. If they say yes, or for the most part, or that is what they aspire to be, then go visit those churches to see what you think.

There are many different denominations (Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, African Methodist Episcopal Church, etc.), but as long as the church you are considering matches pretty well with the above description, then it will be a fine church for you.

But most importantly, in all your seeking, ask the Lord to guide you to the church he has picked out for you.