I have been attending a large Baptist church about 23 minute drive from my home for the last two or three months. I was very large, probably over 1,500 people or more on Sunday morning. The music was great and lots of activities. I struggled to get to know people there and decided that I needed to find something smaller where it would be easier to me to get to know people. So, today i went to a smaller Baptist church about four miles from home. About 120 people in worship service. The pastor didn't speak as they had a guest speaker and he is going to the national convention next week, so I won't hear him that week either.
What do you look for when you have decided to switch churches you attend?
The church does have a web site and has a doctrinal statement that I agree with.
For me the first step is to check the web site for a statement of belief. If I can't accept the statement of belef I look elsewhere. I'm also wary of things in the statement of belief that seem unnecessarily exclusive.
When I was last looking for a church there was a local one that I'd heard good things about but their statement of belief included an insistence that Christians should have no involvement with alcohol in any context, using Eph 5:18 and Prov 20:1 as "proof". Beer isn't the be-all and end-all for me but if a church is going to butcher Scripture on their web site where anyone can see I'd be concerned about how else they might butcher it behind the scenes.
Another church started their statement of beliefs with the things I'd expect - they believe in God, in Jesus Christ, in the sacrifice Jesus made for us and so on, but then insisted that Jesus would return in a pre-tribulation rapture. I never got a straight answer as to why that needed to be in the statement of faith, on the basis it implicitly excludes those with different eschatological viewpoints.
I'm slightly antsy if a church insists on "membership classes". At my last church the membership process was a single meeting where we were asked if we accepted the terms of membership (which were pretty simple), had a discussion over dinner with a couple in the church where we talked about ourselves and our testimonies, then it was put to a vote of existing members and we were approved. At my current church I met with the pastor and membership was offered on the basis of a statement of faith. (Technically I'm a member of both churches - the only reason I left my former church was because I left the area.)
I look for music that is theologically sound and sermons that present Scripture in a way that provokes thought. If the church doesn't have a web site with historic sermons it can be hard to gauge without attending a few services.
It's good to be a part of a church that notices you're new and welcomes you but without finding you can barely move for everybody clamoring to talk to The Visitor.