Blogged with the Flock Browser
10 Ağustos 2008 Pazar
How to pick a church
Recently my little sister has been looking for a new church and asking a lot of questions about how to find a new church. So, I have compiled my thoughts for her in a post on my personal blog. I'm posting it here for both your comments and in the hope that maybe it can be of help to somebody here.
Kaydol:
Kayıt Yorumları (Atom)
Good advice, Sean.
YanıtlaSilA good follow-up post would be a sample DO and DON'T list for the average person.
OK, rather than a suggestion, an honest question. What are the signs that it is time to leave your church?
YanıtlaSilIn my case, I get mixed signals. On the one hand, I have lost most of my faith in the current leadership and their vision for the future. On the other hand, I feel like God is preparing for a change in leadership in the near (6 to 18 months) future. I don't particularly want to stay where I am, but I also don't want to abandon a church which is right on the verge of such massive change and might need my support to get through it.
Thoughts?
Thanks for the suggestion.
YanıtlaSilI have always known it was time to move on when I no longer felt like the church was my home. When you feel like a stranger in a place you've spent a lot of time in, it's time to move on. But that's just me, your results may vary.
When I was looking for a new church, after a relocation, I called the churches that seemed like likely fits. I asked some general questions to find out basic doctrine. Some of the items on your list can be covered this way, or by visiting the web site. Anyway, this helped me rank the ones we planned to visit.
YanıtlaSilWe actually did stay with the first one we visited and never did try the others. After 4 visits, the Lord made it very clear to my husband and to me, at the same moment during a service, that this is the place He wanted us to be. It is 25 years later and I know it was the right decision. We did sit in on the children's Sunday school classes to see what was being taught there and were very impressed. The mid-elementary teacher told the children to ignore her and even the pastor, if anything they said did not agree with what was in the Bible. This is actually the thing that totally convinced us to become members of this congregation, not just attenders.
We did go into the choosing process with a list of what we wanted and could not live with. I was able to eliminate several churches from the search by doing the lists and research first, before the visiting.
I do not know if it the right decision for always. I am open to the Lord's leading on that.
shadowmom makes some good points. I will need to add the point of calling the churches before hand to get basic doctrine to narrow the list as well as sitting in on classes that your kids will be taking.
YanıtlaSilNomad, my own two cents...
YanıtlaSilOne, are you being fed as a Christian? In other words, is the teaching, from the pulpit especially, causing you to grow in your knowledge of Christ, or is it not? Also, is it accurate to the best of your knowledge (Scripturally I mean)?
Second, church is a community of believers, and as such it is a place for the individual Christians to come together and help each other. Are you able to do this, or do you feel isolated and unable to help? Is that your fault (are you making an effort), or is there another reason (cliques do exist, unfortunately)? Is part of this the size of the church, you feel like just another ant in the colony, or you feel like the only ant in the colony?
Three, do you generally agree with the vision of the church and it's doctrinal statement (which should tell you how they pursue the vision)? My church has a specific doctrinal ideal of what the church should look like and act like, and that informs the vision of reaching out to the city it is in.
Those things seem to help sort out problems. I left my old church because of 1, and somewhat 3 and 2, among a few other minor reasons.
Staying with a church through a change in vision is a good thing.
I think the question you would need to ask is, do I agree with the vision the church is moving to, and am I perceiving the change correctly?
I felt, in my case, that the church was changing vision somewhat, but that the vision and application of the vision were not going to change the problems I had.
Seems to have turned into more than 2 cents... love to talk with you:)