What You Can Expect When You Attend a Temecula Church (and What You Shouldn’t Expect)

People who attend our Temecula church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences when it comes to church. Some members of our congregation have no church background at all, while others were born and raised in the church and never left. Still others may have attended church sporadically throughout their lifetimes, or attended once upon a time and are just now coming back to church. And then there’s the types of churches people attended in the past. We have people at Sunridge who come from very charismatic backgrounds, as well as those who have attended non-charismatic churches. We have people who grew up in the Catholic church, as well as some who attended small home fellowships—and everything else in between.

Along with all of these experiences come certain expectations about what a Christian church should be or do. We can’t speak for all Christian churches in Temecula, but in this blog post, we wanted to address some of the things you can expect when you attend Sunridge, as well as a couple of things you shouldn’t expect.

What You Can Expect from Our Temecula Church

Teaching from the Bible

In 1 Timothy 3:15, the church is referred to as “the pillar and foundation of the truth.” As a Christian church, we believe we have a responsibility to teach the truth of the Bible to help equip people to live lives of faith.

The messages that are preached by our pastors are biblically based. Every week, we open up our Bibles and seek to gain a greater understanding of what God says to us through His word. Even though the Bible was written thousands of years ago, we believe what it says still applies to our daily lives.

Opportunities to Develop Godly Friendships

A church is a great place to make friends, and here at Sunridge, we offer a lot of opportunities for those in our congregation to develop deep, meaningful relationships.

Notice we used the word “opportunities.” We can’t guarantee you’ll make lifelong friends at our Temecula church, but we do our best to provide those who attend our church a lot of ways to connect with others. It’s up to you to take advantage of them.

We encourage everyone to join a group of some kind at Sunridge. We offer growth groups, Bible studies, youth groups, affinity groups, and more. We also offer many events throughout the year where you can meet people.

Serving is another great way to meet people in the church. You could join a team that serves in our children’s or youth ministries, that helps care for our facilities, that leads our church in worship on Sundays, or on any number of other teams that regularly serve together.

However, we aren’t just here to grow our circle of friends. The church is also called to “…consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10: 24). It is our hope that the people you encounter at Sunridge Church will help strengthen your relationship with the Lord and encourage you toward faithful service to Him and godly love toward others.

Genuine Care and Support

At Sunridge, we hear many people say that our congregation feels like “family.” People here genuinely care for each other, just like a loving family does.

If you need prayer, there is always an opportunity to receive prayer on Sunday mornings following the service. For those who are homebound or in the hospital, we have a chaplain team that makes visits to offer prayer and encouragement. We also offer ongoing support groups for those who are struggling with grief or divorce, as well as free, biblically based counseling services.

Aside from these “official” offerings at our church, those in our congregation genuinely care for each other in tangible ways. Often, the care and support happen organically within small groups. Members of growth groups look out for one another and offer practical help when needed. Those in our Mom Co. group provide meals for each other when new babies are born. Members of Bible study groups regularly pray for one another’s needs. The list goes on and on.

What You Shouldn’t Expect from our Church

All the Financial Help you Need

Since the start of the Church Age, Christians have helped each other with their physical needs, especially the needs of widows and orphans (James 1:27).

At our Temecula church, we have set up what we call our “Agape Fund.” This fund, to which people in our church have generously donated, is set aside specifically to provide financial help for those in a time of need. However, this fund is very limited, and unfortunately, we can’t fulfill every request we get for financial assistance—especially ongoing assistance. We prayerfully consider every gift that we give out of this fund, but the fact is that there’s just not enough meet every need with which we are presented.

If we are unable to help someone financially, we do our best to point them to other resources in the community that may be able to help.

A Feel-Good Message Every Week

When you attend a Bible-teaching church, not every message you hear will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. It’s true that the Bible has a lot to say about love, kindness, and forgiveness, but it also covers some more challenging topics, like sin and hell. A good church won’t just tell you what you want to hear. It will also tell you what you need to hear. God’s word is good and true—all of it—but sometimes it can cause us to feel conviction or challenge our way of thinking.

You’re Welcome at Sunridge!

If you aren’t already a regular attender, we invite you to come and experience all we have to offer at Sunridge Church in Temecula! Consider this your official invitation to visit us on a Sunday morning. To learn more about what to expect as a first-time visitor, check out our New Here page.