Thinking about coming to us from another church?
Our genuine desire is to be a church that grows through not-yet Christians coming into relationship with Jesus; of course, we are also happy to welcome unchurched people or Christians who are moving into the area into the church family too.
Whilst we recognise that there may be a few limited occasions when it may be legitimate for a believer living within a locality to move to a different church within the same locality, as a matter of principle we try to discourage transfer growth (at best this is not genuine kingdom growth and at worse it can be harmful to the Church in the locality).
That’s why, though we welcome all, our default is to dissuade existing church attenders within Cardiff or nearby from simply joining City Church without at the very least having a conversation about the circumstances leading up to their decision to leave their current church - and maybe also the opportunity to talk to their current pastor(s) too. Our heart in this is to protect the mission that God has given us and also the unity of the Church in the city; it is also our desire to demonstrate honour and respect to other local churches and leaders too.
If you are looking to join us and are currently part of another church in the local area (or have very recently been part of another church in the area), we’d recommend that you talk to a pastor/leader in your current church first - explain your intentions and get their blessing/release so that if you are to leave, you do so as well as possible and with their knowledge. Then come and talk to us about it and we’ll happily explore the possibilities together.
However, when thinking about leaving a church, before coming to a point of decision it's always best to involve your church leaders as early as possible in the process so that you can prayerfully journey together towards the right outcome for both you and the church. We think that's the right, honouring and biblical thing to do!
Thank you so much for your understanding.