Spiritualist churches and....churches

[Nyx1]

hello all
slight mishmash of a question, sorry.

I live in London at the moment. There's a number of spiritualist churches here who say they welcome all and I'm curious about spiritualism, but I'm an atheist, so slightly weirded out by it being linked to god or religion.

I was wondering if anyone had been to any of these types of services and are they more focused on singing hymns etc or spiritualism?

Also, weird question, we're really keen to move away somewhere rural. We have a couple of friends who have done this and although they are atheist, they said in terms of general socialising they have found church groups very welcoming. But we would feel quite bad joining a church group? Well, not feel bad raising funds for the homeless but I guess on a making friends basis, I find it rather puzzling that they'd want us there?

I'm interested in the thoughts of MNers.

As an aside, I also have one friend who is an atheist but goes to church occasionally because she finds it comforting....then when her dad died, apart from her friends, she really did have a lot of offers of help with all the practical stuff. I found it interesting that the church goers were so happy to welcome in someone who said they didn't believe. Any thoughts?

Thank you.

[Bridechilla]

Discovered Unitarianism this year when looking for wedding locations. Might be similar to what you're looking for. Seemed very open minded.

[thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts]

My experience of spiritualist churches is that they are there to prove that life continues after death and that the dead can be contacted via the practice of mediumship. God may or may not come into it being rather incidental. There may be other types of spiritualist churches out there.

Out in the rurals the church can be the only community focus as the corner shop, post office, school etc will have gone. I did a placement in one where there were all,sorts of people including atheists who were there for the community stuff and less for the practice of religion. You don't have to sign up to a system of belief to go into a church or take part in a service.

[Nyx1]

thanks for answers

our local church helps out with rough sleepers and there's actually a very good sign up there which says - paraphrasing - you must act if you want to help people and not just worship.

I just don't want anyone to feel disrespected if I wander in and say I'm interested. In terms of rural areas using it as a community point, it's the same - I'm fine with it but I wonder if they would feel uncomfortable and I don't want to upset anyone.

[playitnow]

It depends on the type of church. Some churches have lots of attendees who go out of custom and for community. Their religion/ spiritual beliefs are more on the back burner. Other churches are full of very committed Christians whose faith is THE defining feature of their life. You are more likely to feel comfortable in the former church than latter. Though the latter would welcome you anyway, if you were open about your atheism, though prob. Try to convert you. Any church describing itself as evangelical will be full of committed Christians.
I did hear a programme on Sunday Assemblies aka atheist church. A commentator said that churches used to provide a home for people who didn't really believe but went for the social side, but that now that attendance has declined, those who still attend are more likely to be true believers and so church is less of a home for the non-religious. And the Sunday Assemblies are filling a gap for those who seek community without the God bit.
Personally, I think if you have no belief whatsoever you may feel a bit of an out of it faker, as there will be something uniting everyone else there that you don't share. You may also find the services very dull.

[Nyx1]

playitnow "there will be something uniting everyone else there that you don't share. You may also find the services very dull."

in terms of church general, I wouldn't lie - it's just if we move, and the local church co-ordinates charity activities then I would want to be part of that. I've always done charity work but in London it's not usually linked to church.

In terms of the spiritual church thing, it's more I'm just wondering what to expect if I go. If it totally didn't do anything for me I wouldn't go again.

thanks for the answers, much appreciated.