A few general thoughts on things that should raise huge red flags:
If God is demoted to becoming little more than a servant of man, run away. This might not be put quite as bluntly as this but anything that involves claiming this and decreeing that is probably turning God into little more than an errand boy. If prayer is presented as little more than a process where you put in the prayers, pull the lever and the cosmic vending machine spits out exactly what you wanted when you wanted, that's not a good sign.
Good point!
My # 1 issue would be: Who is Jesus? If Jesus is ANYTHING other than THE SAVIOR - run, don't walk, run! Too often, Jesus is just a HELPER or a POSSIBILITY MAKER or PET (who rolls over when told to do so) or a giant ATM machine..... lots of things that mean He's not
the (one, only, all-sufficient) Savior. Watch out for "Jesus is the Savior BUT you gotta......" (which is a contradiction). Watch out for "hoop jumping Christians" who throw up HELL as the warning and HEAVEN as the prize IF, you only IF, you perform X,Y,Z (and do it GOOD ENOUGH, though no one will say what GOOD ENOUGH is). The Number One thing I've come to appreciate and stress since my conversion is the importance of the Gospel, and how even slight messing with it destroys Christianity. Nothing matters more.
If Jesus is demoted to being simply an anointed one rather than the Messiah, run away. Again this might be subtle, it might come couched in all sorts of terms about "Christ anointing" or similar. It may follow a line of reasoning that starts (correctly) by pointing out that Christ is a title but then turns down a dark alleyway as it claims we can have the same anointing. This subtly rewrites by implication the beginning of John's gospel to read "and the Word was a god".
Yup.
JESUS is the point. JESUS is the Savior. JESUS is the Lord. When you hear more about the denomination, more about the parish, more about pop psychology, more about the pastor/priest/pope..... run, don't walk, run.
I remember when I was a boy, the "sermon" was often just a chain of claims and promotions about the denomination. So much so that I began referring to the sermon as "commercial time" - it was ultimately about promoting, protecting, defending, praising the denomination.
If there's lots of focus on the Holy Spirit rather than Jesus, be careful. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would glorify him, and too much focus on the Holy Spirit can easily become like going to a magnificent monument and spending time admiring the lights that illuminate it, rather than the monument itself. If there's endless talk of spiritual gifts but no evidence of spiritual fruit, be careful.
Exactly!
The Holy Spirit desires one thing: Jesus to be lifted high, Jesus to be believed and followed. Nothing disappoints the Holy Spirit more than for Him to be the focus.
There are all sorts of things that I'd like to see in a church but as long as what's critical is there I can look past quite a lot of personal preference. For example my current church is an older demographic than I'd normally choose but they follow Scripture, they do what Jesus said and they stay faithful to the Scriptures. I can look past the fact about half the church are my parents' age.
Amen!
When I joined my Lutheran parish, I was still single and a "young professional." My parish socially is a total mis-match. It's very small (we worship in the 50's), many are my parent's age, there was not one single female remotely my age. The fellowship activities all seemed designed around "empty-nester" seniors. BUT..... it's where I found sound teaching, good worship, and an obvious spirit of love, humility, community and service. I liked that Jesus is lifted high - not the pastor and not the denomination (I think I went to the church for at least 2 years before I heard the word "Lutheran" during a worship service).
My older brother now attends a HUGE mega church. LOTS of fun stuff (they have a Starbucks on the church campus), LOTS of social stuff for all ages and interests (even its own theatre companies - several of them), more pastors than you can count and a STAR for the "lead pastor." Celebs belong there, celebs come as special guests (football players, actors, etc.). The worship is ...... LOUD (that's my only adjective I have for it, but obviously thousands love it). My church worships in the 50's, his in the THOUSANDS - with only about half that actually fit in the HUGE "worship center", the rest in a variety of venues with the service shown on a big screen TV). But there is no theology. I can't say it's bad theology because there is no theology; it's less than "Christianity-Light". LOTS of fun "one-liners" that sound good but when you think about it.... My bro says it's "inspirational" and "uplifting." Okay. Is THAT the purpose of Christianity? Is it good for faith to be based on weekly emotional highs instead of on Jesus? To quote a hymn my bro's church would NEVER sing, "On CHRIST the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."
No, there is no perfect church because there are no perfect people and no perfect family. The key is to make YOU as good of a Christian as possible, focus on the only one you can change - YOU. Instead of looking for a perfect church family, look for where Christ is Savior, where they lift high the Cross, where sound teaching is the point rather than emotional highs or guilt trips or power ploys or ego trips. Then get involved..... make the grass greener.
Soli Deo Gloria
- Josiah
