To answer the original question: Yes, any church will be happy to mentor a new Christian. Often it will be the pastor, but not necessarily.
Unfortunately we now have a problem: churches view the Christian life differently. The differences tend to break down into three major families, Catholics, liberal Protestants and conservative Protestants. But the most serious issue for someone new is legalism. What I'd do with a new Christian is try to get the started developing good habits, e.g. prayer and worship, make sure they're got a good grounding in the basics of CHristianity, and maybe help them identify opportunities for some kind of Christian service.
If a church starts out by asking about the details in your life, demanding that you stop this and that, I'd worry, particularly if the things aren't that important. Based on postings here, it sounds like there are a lot of churches that are mostly about not violating a long list of rules, many of which aren't even Biblical. (Of course being a Christian probably will cause some changes in your life. But it's a matter of priorities, and what kind of changes.) If a church's approach makes you wonder why you wanted to be a Christian in the first place, you probably want to investigate alternatives.
In person contact is a good idea. CF can't take the place of a church. But if you have reasons to wonder about what you're hearing, we can give you a sanity check. Of course not all of us agree, but still, you'll normally get a range of responses.
At some point you will have to face the issue of the kind of Church you want. I listed the major divisions: liberal and conservative Protestant, and Catholic. The issues between them are complex, and I can't do justice to there here. Probably the key difference between liberal and conservative is whether you take the Bible to be a direct message from God (allowing for differences between poetry and prose, etc.) which we can go to for answers directly [conservative]; or a record of the experience of Israel and the early Christians with God, but which was also affected by the knowledge and opinions of the authors [liberal]. This has all kinds of implications on things such as creation, sexual ethics, and gender roles. (Conservatives will also generally feel more strongly about traditional Christian ideas, while some liberals will try to base beliefs directly on the Bible, avoiding or deemphasizing traditional ideas such as the Trinity.)
It's hard to give you a sense quickly, but let me try some resources.
1. Here's the "what we believe" section from the Presbyterian Church (USA). They are a typical liberal church. What Do Presbyterians Believe? — Presbyterians Today Magazine — Mission and Ministry — Presbyterian Mission Agency. Note however that the church is mixed, with some fairly conservative and some quite liberal, so this page is sort of a compromise.
2. Here's a similar page for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, a conservative church: Belief and Practice - The Lutheran ChurchâMissouri Synod
3. I'm not in as good a position on Catholic issues, but perhaps this might be an equivalent: Welcome to Catholic Life - Catholic Life - Catholic Online
One of the best online sites about religion is patheos.com. They have "channels" for the major variants of Christian. However the site tends to be liberal, so the "evangelical" channel, which you'd expect to be conservative, tends to be more liberal than average evangelicals, and their "progressive" channel tends to be more liberal than average people from churches such as the PC(USA). They also have a Catholic section. However these are really intended for members of those orientations; they aren't introductions.
Unfortunately we now have a problem: churches view the Christian life differently. The differences tend to break down into three major families, Catholics, liberal Protestants and conservative Protestants. But the most serious issue for someone new is legalism. What I'd do with a new Christian is try to get the started developing good habits, e.g. prayer and worship, make sure they're got a good grounding in the basics of CHristianity, and maybe help them identify opportunities for some kind of Christian service.
If a church starts out by asking about the details in your life, demanding that you stop this and that, I'd worry, particularly if the things aren't that important. Based on postings here, it sounds like there are a lot of churches that are mostly about not violating a long list of rules, many of which aren't even Biblical. (Of course being a Christian probably will cause some changes in your life. But it's a matter of priorities, and what kind of changes.) If a church's approach makes you wonder why you wanted to be a Christian in the first place, you probably want to investigate alternatives.
In person contact is a good idea. CF can't take the place of a church. But if you have reasons to wonder about what you're hearing, we can give you a sanity check. Of course not all of us agree, but still, you'll normally get a range of responses.
At some point you will have to face the issue of the kind of Church you want. I listed the major divisions: liberal and conservative Protestant, and Catholic. The issues between them are complex, and I can't do justice to there here. Probably the key difference between liberal and conservative is whether you take the Bible to be a direct message from God (allowing for differences between poetry and prose, etc.) which we can go to for answers directly [conservative]; or a record of the experience of Israel and the early Christians with God, but which was also affected by the knowledge and opinions of the authors [liberal]. This has all kinds of implications on things such as creation, sexual ethics, and gender roles. (Conservatives will also generally feel more strongly about traditional Christian ideas, while some liberals will try to base beliefs directly on the Bible, avoiding or deemphasizing traditional ideas such as the Trinity.)
It's hard to give you a sense quickly, but let me try some resources.
1. Here's the "what we believe" section from the Presbyterian Church (USA). They are a typical liberal church. What Do Presbyterians Believe? — Presbyterians Today Magazine — Mission and Ministry — Presbyterian Mission Agency. Note however that the church is mixed, with some fairly conservative and some quite liberal, so this page is sort of a compromise.
2. Here's a similar page for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, a conservative church: Belief and Practice - The Lutheran ChurchâMissouri Synod
3. I'm not in as good a position on Catholic issues, but perhaps this might be an equivalent: Welcome to Catholic Life - Catholic Life - Catholic Online
One of the best online sites about religion is patheos.com. They have "channels" for the major variants of Christian. However the site tends to be liberal, so the "evangelical" channel, which you'd expect to be conservative, tends to be more liberal than average evangelicals, and their "progressive" channel tends to be more liberal than average people from churches such as the PC(USA). They also have a Catholic section. However these are really intended for members of those orientations; they aren't introductions.
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