“I Visited a Different Church Every Week for a Year”

What Ian Freestone learned about Jesus… by not going to the same church every week.

Key Points:

There are so many churches in Australia – so many, many, many people worshipping God in different ways.

What would it be like to visit different churches?

Perhaps churches that are part of a tradition or demographic that you are unfamiliar with.

Last year, former pastor Ian Freestone visited a lot of different churches across Greater Sydney, Australia.

Last year, Ian Freestone visited a lot of different churches across Greater Sydney, Australia.

Every week during 2024, Ian and his wife Cathy were part of a “major project” to experience the diversity of weekly worship.

Across the “spectrum of church belief and practice”, the Freestones turned up somewhere new every week.

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As Ian told Hope Mornings, one of the delightful discoveries was “seeing how real Jesus was to all of these different church communities”.

“That was incredibly encouraging.”

Ian loved the variety of Christians he met, including those from denominations which he previously had been wary of.

Ian and his wife Cathy were part of a “major project” to experience the diversity of weekly worship.

Always planning to settle at one church to be an involved, regular member, Ian said his journey inspired him to be more “outward thinking”.

“I would really want to go with the mindset of ‘Who is visiting today? How can we embrace them and make them feel comfortable?'”

You can join Ian in 2025 as he blogs and shares about his Year With Jesus.

Listen to the full conversation in the player above.

Feature image: Photo by CanvaPro