Can I go to church if I'm not religious?

[Lonelymum21]

I'm a single mum to 2 dc in primary school. I have no friends, no family, and zero support network around me. Ex dp will take the kids 4 nights a month max.

I'm so fucking lonely it hurts. I really miss adult conversation and days out. If my car breaks, tap starts leaking, or something goes wrong there is no one to ask for advice. I don't want a romantic relationship but desperately want to belong to a community. I wfh so no chance to meet adults there. Would it be terrible to get involved with the local church even though I'm an atheist? There's a lovely village church about 5 miles from me, and I always feel so jealous driving past and watching all the happy families spilling out after a service. I don't really know what else I could do that I could bring the dc along with me.

Churches will always be welcoming as they’re desperate to convert people

As a Christian who attends church I am sorry if that's your experience (and I acknowledge that sometimes churches can be guilty of a superficial friendliness in their keenness to get new people to "signed up" - we are flawed human beings and we can get it wrong).

When I'm welcoming to someone in church, it's because it's genuinely a pleasure to see new faces, to get to know them, to answer their questions or help them if we can.

But we gather as a church for a reason, including that we believe God is in the business of saving people and has made a great sacrifice to build a bridge so that people can enjoy a relationship with their creator. So, we are keen to share that good news, and feel the moral urgency (sorry if it appears as desperation) to explain it to those who don't believe and help them find faith. But most of us believe that we can only do this out of real love for people, so we meet people and their needs where they are, and forcing someone to convert is repulsive (I can't see how it would work anyway) - and yes, again, I know the Church's history is patchy on that score.

@Georgewontsleepnow I think you’ve been contradicted two posts down!! as @DadDadDad says

‘we believe God is in the business of saving people and has made a great sacrifice to build a bridge so that people can enjoy a relationship with their creator. So, we are keen to share that good news, and feel the moral urgency (sorry if it appears as desperation) to explain it to those who don't believe and help them find faith”

Vulnerable people like the op are susceptible to this as they just want to stop being lonely so will do whatever that takes. So either way it’s brainwashing whether the intention is ‘evil’ or not.

I think it’s terribly sad and there are many other ways op can make friends which doesn’t rely on this including aforementioned Frolo and other single parents apps

@Onshoredebris - I don't see any contradiction with @Georgewontsleepnow - I am saying, as George does, that I would welcome someone with no faith for as long as they wanted to come, and would help them with any needs if I could. I am simply pointing out that what happens in a church is we talk (surprise, surprise) about God and what the Bible has to say about God and us, and it's part of being welcome to make sure any visitor understands what's being said and can have their questions answered.

I'll repeat, I cannot force someone to believe, so it would be up to them to choose that, but they can keep coming for years and years, and no demand made of them (certainly no request for money) as long as they felt it was a place they wanted to come to.