HOW TO FIND A CHURCH HOME
  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
 as the manner of some is;
 but exhorting one another:
 and so much the more,
 as ye see the day approaching.
 (HEBREWS 10:25)

Hebrews 10:25 lets us know that it is God’s will that Christians assemble and participate in local worship services on a regular basis.
This verse indicates that we are not supposed to neglect attending our church services (whether these take place in a cathedral, a chapel or an open field).
Bible-believing godly churches in communities around the globe are a blessing from God, as they are instrumental in keeping individuals encouraged in their walk with God
and they are key in training individuals how to live successfully as Christians.
(And of course, they are important in helping sinners come to know Christ)

We do wish to help each of you, and feel that possibly the best way to do so at this time is to offer exhortation on the subject of how one might go about finding a church.

Before going further let us review the foundational truths upon which the teachings are based:

The Bible in its entirety is inspired by God. And, no doctrine or teaching is essential unless supported by the Bible.

From eternity past and forever there is one God, existent in Three Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

The Bible establishes that the Church of God will be taken (raptured) out of this present world when Christ returns in the mid-air.

The only way for a person(s) to come into a relationship with God and become part of the Church of God is by: Believing that Jesus (the Son of God) died for your sins,
and believing that
Jesus physically rose from the dead; By asking God’s forgiveness for your sins, turning your back on sin, and allowing Jesus to be the Lord of your life.

It is the working of the Holy Spirit which brings a person to the point of believing and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is given to believers who ask for it.

The Holy Spirit possesses sanctifying power by Whose indwelling, the Christian is enabled to live a holy and Christian life in this present world.

It is from the position these foundational truths are absolutely correct that . It is our hope that this commentary that you are reading right now
will assist you with your desire to find a church
Let me provide the disclaimer that there are some questionable reasons for which some people leave their church and join another church; for example, a person leaves his church because his church is not visited by famous Christian ministers and singers (like the church down the street). Unfortunately, some people join a church based on how much star power it has (i.e. which movie stars, or politicians are members of said church), or how popular a church is in Christian circles. As you will see in a bit, I don’t recommend these as the criteria for selecting a church.

While we’re talking about changing churches, let me share something that I saw occur that really disturbs me. I personally witnessed a senior minister of a very large church speaking to a talented church organist from a small church; the senior minister unashamedly tried to pressure the organist to give up going to Bible study and prayer services at his home church in order to play for the minister’s church. The minister began to make promises of Big Money that the organist could make if he would come help the minister’s church. When the organist emphatically said that he could not miss prayer services, the minister said: “we have prayer over here” and “man ought to always pray;” suggesting that the organist give up his commitment to his home church and just pray at the minister’s church, or wherever necessary to accept the senior minister’s financial offer.

Please allow me to presume that all of you have noble reasons for changing churches. With this in mind, I think that there are multiple legitimate and honorable reasons why one might need to seek a new church home. I will at least attempt to provide some tips for those finding themselves in the three common situations identified below.

(1) Someone attending a church that does not adhere to the essentials of the Christian faith
(2) Someone leaving a godly church as a result of relocating (i.e. you’re moving away).
(3) Someone who has accepted Christ but doesn’t have a church home yet.

Let me provide some preliminary comments about situation (1) above. Some might be wondering how it is possible for a true Christian to find themselves in a church whose teaching does not adhere to the essentials of the Christian faith. There are a number of ways that this can happen. One real-life true story that comes to mind is a ministry that I am aware of that is led by a man of God who seems to have started out promoting sound biblical teaching and preaching. Years later, after his ministry had grown quite large, this pastor received new “revelations” that contradict the Holy Bible.

When I first heard rumor of what this leader was teaching, I did not want to believe it, even though the information came from a “reliable source.” Greatly disturbed by what I heard, I took steps to obtain (directly from this leader’s ministry) a recent copy of a sermon this leader gave. Among other things, this leader believes that everyone is saved, whether or not they repent and accept Christ. This fights directly against so many scriptures that I cannot list them all. For example, Acts 16:30-31 “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...”

Or, Romans 10:9-10 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

If people receive the teaching that they don’t have to accept Christ and they continue on without accepting him, believing in whatever else they are trusting in, God will not save them.
 Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

My understanding is that many people left this ministry not wishing to use their time and money to support the spread of the unholy and deceptive doctrine being promoted by this ministry to subvert and doom souls to everlasting punishment.

I am reminded of what the Holy Ghost directed Apostle John to say in II John 9-11

9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

We are not only restricted from giving financial support to ministries teaching a false doctrine, but verse ten above says that we cannot even bid false ministers “God speed:”
Verse eleven takes it further and says that if we “biddeth him God speed” (e.g. give encouragement to someone in their teaching of a false gospel)
we are guilty of being a part of the false minister’s deeds. This is truly sobering truth, to see how God looks at us when we continue to support a church
that we know is teaching a false gospel.

Now let me say that you do have many pastors who accurately preach the way of salvation through repentance and accepting Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. However, some of these pastors who publicly proclaim the biblical message of salvation, actually behave in a manner contrary to Holiness in their private lives. They proclaim that Jesus will set you free from your sins, while clutching their sins ever so tightly – spending late nights hanging out at the bar gulping down strong drinks, or hanging around gambling dens trying to win dishonest money; too afraid to be seen in the strip club, they order videos of scantily clad people for viewing in the secrecy of their home. Far too often, we hear of “Christian” ministers who condone violence (even beat their wives), with no remorse and no real repentance, never ceasing from such evil deeds. And, there are those men who have a wife, and a mistress across town; with a young baby here, and a young baby there, seemingly babies everywhere (conceived with a variety of different women).

I say that these men do not meet the qualifications to be your pastor if we are going to follow the scripture.

Now a few of you may be confused and say “well, these individuals must be acceptable as pastors in God’s sight because I know people who truly repented and accepted Christ after hearing these pastors preach, despite these pastors’ sinful personal lifestyle.”

Let me share a passage of scripture with you:
Philippians 1:14-17
14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife: and some also of good will:
16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:
17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.

Please take another look at verse 15 above; the Apostle Paul acknowledges the fact that there were some preachers in his time who were preaching Christ out of impure motives such as selfish ambitions to gain notoriety and/or to try and make Paul become discouraged or cause him trouble while Paul is in chains for preaching the gospel. In verse 18, Paul does rejoice that the gospel of Christ is being spread, even by these individuals with improper motives. The fact that a pastor relays the gospel message and someone grabs hold of that truth and accepts Christ, does not mean that the pastor preached with the right motive. I know this is hard to grasp, but the pastor may not actually be living godly himself. If I taught a parrot to recite verses from the Bible, it is indeed possible that some sinner could take hold on those verses and come to know Christ as Saviour and Lord. However, please understand that no parrot
(nor any other bird) can meet the qualifications of being a pastor.

Unless you think my parrot example above too far fetched, please take note how God gave a donkey the ability to speak to a wicked man causing the man to be saved from being destroyed by the angel of the Lord (see Numbers 22:28-33). But, surely we would not say that a donkey should be our pastor because God used the donkey to speak to a wicked man to save him from being destroyed by the angel of the Lord.

We’ll discuss more about the biblical qualifications of a pastor in a bit, but I would like to make a preliminary comment regarding the second example/situation for someone needing to find a church home:

(2) Someone leaving a godly church as a result of relocating

For those who know well ahead of time that you will be relocating, your search for a new church home at your new location should begin well before you move. For example, if you are leaving home to go to college and you are a Christian, is it godly to spend all your time and effort in making sure you have a place to live, transportation, a job, etc., and simply say you’ll figure out where you will attend church when you get some free time after school starts? I would tend to worry that there is a spiritual deficiency here when such a low priority is placed on finding a place of worship in the location one is moving to.

Okay, let’s get into some things you can do in searching for a church.

STEP-1
In the case of scenario (2) where one is leaving a godly church as a result of relocating, hopefully the pastorial staff has been made aware of your intentions to relocate. The pastorial staff of your church may have personal connections or associate churches in the town that you are moving to. It is often a good idea to ask the leadership of the godly church you now attend if they have some references to good churches where you are moving to that you might visit. I don’t recommend that you join a church sight-unseen. Unless God has specifically instructed you to join a church you have never been to or seen, I would recommend developing a list of churches to visit/investigate and pray about joining.

Now, of course, if you are in scenario (1) “attending a church that does not adhere to the essentials of the Christian faith,” when you make a quick and clean break from this church, I am definitely not recommending going back to such a church to get recommendations for a new church. If the church you are leaving believes things that contradict basic Christianity, they are likely to send you to a similar place (if they don’t first try to pressure you to return to their assembly).

STEP-2
If you would like to add to the list of potential churches developed in STEP-1, you can try a variety of other sources to increase your list of potentially good churches. If you have family or friends in the town you are moving to who you know embrace and live according to sound biblical doctrine, you might ask them where they attend church.

If you are still stuck and you have no potential churches on your list, do continue praying fervently and talking to Christians to obtain information about potential churches.

I don’t consider this ideal, but you might also look in the phone directory (this can be done on the internet) for churches in the area you are headed to who are affiliated with the organization your current godly church is a part of. Or, look for churches affiliated with other organizations that also hold to essentials of the Christian faith.

STEP-3
Again, keep praying and seeking God’s direction while searching for a potential church. Now that you have a list of potentially good churches, you may want to start making contact with these churches even before you move to your new home. You could start by calling the churches on your list and explaining that you are planning to move into their general area and wanted to find out more about the church. This approach also works for the reasons for changing churches that don’t have to do with relocation
 (i.e. you recently accepted Christ and don’t have a church home, or you are leaving a church that has false teachings).

Ask each church you call what their basic beliefs are.

If you are comfortable doing so, you might also ask the church to send literature about the church to your current residence. But, be cautious about giving out your address as you don’t want to get your address on master mail lists that cause you to get unsolicited mailings. Giving out your address might even result in unwanted visits from people in your current town who are affiliated with the church you contacted.

Even at the best of churches, sometimes you may call a church and reach someone who is not able to answer your questions regarding what the church believes; don’t be too discouraged, just politely ask if the person would mind connecting you with someone who could explain the basics of what the church believes.

I once advised someone who was anticipating visiting a church that they had never been to before to first find out what the church believed before visiting. The person called the church and asked regarding what the church believed. The person answering the phone very proudly proclaimed “We believe in the unadulterated Word of God!” That was their response. This response gave almost none of the information needed to understand what that church believes.

Dear saints, if you are given the responsibility of answering the phone at your church, please understand what your church believes well enough to help some poor soul wishing to visit your church. Telling them that you “Believe in the Word of God” may be a start, but you need to add information such as what you believe about God (e.g. one God revealed in three persons); what you believe about Jesus Christ, what you believe about sin; and so on...

I would suggest that you take notes while talking to persons from each prospective church so that you can clearly refer back to which church said what.

After you have asked questions about the churches beliefs (and possibly requested literature be sent to you), you might try asking the person to tell you the three things that he/she most enjoys about his/her church.

STEP-4
You now have notes written about different churches and literature coming in from potential churches. It’s now time to prioritize the churches that you will visit to determine the order you will visit them when you are in the town you are moving to. If you are planning trips to the town you are moving to you can start visiting churches even before you permanently move. Again, if you are already residing in the area for which you need a church home, you can begin your visiting immediately.

Any church that holds to teachings that oppose the foundational truths that were listed earlier should be removed from the list of churches that you will consider visiting.

Now, from the churches that you have remaining on your list, one possible way to decide which churches that you will visit first would be to start with those churches closest to your new home. Or, you could start with the churches that have the most service times that you will be able to attend
(this may be more important than you think if you are working some sort of odd shift at your job).
Or, you might want to start with churches that are closer to your job to better facilitate your attending noon-time prayer and midweek evening services. Whichever criteria you use to decide which church to visit first, please keep in mind that you want to look at churches you will be able to faithfully participate with. You may really be impressed by one of the churches on your list, but if it is 85 miles from your home, you must decide whether this will be an issue for you to faithfully attend. Or, if your work assignment is such that all services are during your work hours (for the church you feel drawn to), ask God if He means for you to change shifts (or jobs). Or, it may be that God wants you to make sure that you’re looking at churches that you will be able to attend faithfully given the work assignment He has already allowed you to have.

Okay, so now you should have a list of churches ordered in some fashion that will allow you to start visiting prospective churches.

STEP-5
In this step, it’s time to immediately take out your list of potential churches and start visiting churches. If you are changing churches as part of a relocation you may have to wait until you either move to your new location or have opportunity to take a trip to the location that your are moving to.

Let me say that you may need to prayerfully visit specific churches on your list multiple times. And, once you are residing in the area for which you are looking for a new church home, you may find more good churches that are acceptable to be added to your list. Go ahead and add those churches to your list.

Let me caution you not to get in too much of a hurry to join up with a church; and don’t let zealous church members pressure you into joining a church you don’t feel God’s leading to join. But, by all means, don’t put off your search for a church; neglecting to attend worship services is one of the ways many begin to drift away from the body of Christ
(which God saved you to be a part of)

Let’s talk some about the actual visits you make to churches.
 Imagine we have a church in your new town we will call “Church A.” Make certain you have the correct address, good directions, and the exact service times for Church A before setting out to visit Church A. When you arrive at Church A, you want to be very observant even before you step on the grounds of the church.
For example,
if things look unsafe (e.g. it is night time and the church is totally dark), you may want to decide on returning for one of the day services at a later time. Maybe you should call the church and reconfirm that you have the correct service times before your next visit.

I am not trying to making you paranoid, but you do need to be aware as you visit a church. If as you walk into the foyer (entrance hall) of Church A, you see people bowing down in front of a statue and praying to the statue (or praying to candles or pictures of dead people) before entering the sanctuary, LEAVE IMMEDIATELY; you are in the wrong place.
 When you return home, call the church and reconfirm you had the correct address; if you indeed had the correct address, remove Church A from your list and do not return.
True churches don’t advocate praying to statues; or calling upon the spirits of the dead for assistance. Praying to statues is the trademark of many idol worshipers. And, calling upon the spirits of the dead to perform various deeds on behalf of the living is what some witches claim they can do.
True Christians call upon the Spirit of the Living God for help, not the spirit of dead celebrities, dead politicians, or deceased Christians of great reputation.

As you enter the grounds of Church A, are the elders and deacons standing in the parking lot on a “Smoke Break” – smoking cigars, cigarettes, pipes and such like? Again, you are in the wrong place.

Imagine that as you visit the churches on your list, you find one that you would like to continue visiting; let’s call it “Church B.”
As you continue to visit Church B, there are things that can help give you a feel for the character of the church. One of the key things that you should observe in this regard is the character of the pastor. Show me a pastor who does not meet the biblical criteria defined in I Timothy 3:1-7 for a bishop (i.e. pastor), and I will show you a church in disorder and turmoil.

I Timothy 3:1-7 says:

1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop,(i.e. pastor) he desireth a good work.

2 A bishop (i.e. pastor) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

It can be difficult in some cases where you are totally unfamiliar with a church to determine whether the pastor of the church you are very interested in exemplifies all of the characteristics defined in the scripture passage above. Let’s say that Church B has someone in charge of guest relations. One approach to assist you in trying to determine how the pastor matches up with the scriptural qualifications is to start by introducing yourself to the guest relations staff member of Church B.

Explain that you are a visitor and that you currently don’t have a church home and that you enjoy their services. If the person tries to pressure you into joining right on the spot, let them know that you are praying about it, and that you are not ready to make a decision just yet. Let the person know that you are not real familiar with the church, but wanted to ask some questions about the church if this guest relations staff person doesn’t mind.
 If the guest relations person gives you the go ahead, asks some questions that correlate to I Timothy 3:1-7. You don’t want to seem like a police interrogator; so, don’t ask the guest relations person whether the pastor has ever robbed a bank.

Maybe you could start by asking when the church was established. Then, ask how long the pastor has been leading the church; if guest relations tells you that he’s been pastoring for 20 years, at least you have a clue that he has some experience under his belt (see I Timothy 3:6 regarding a pastor not being a novice). And, even if guest relations says that the pastor just took over the church, you might enquire about how/where he served before becoming the pastor; Some new pastors actually are very experienced and qualified as a result of the variety of responsibilities they have faithfully carried prior to becoming a pastor.

Next, casually ask guest relations if the pastor has a family. Be careful not to be to eager in how you ask this question. If you are a single lady, you don’t want to give the impression that you are romantically interested in the pastor. Guest relations may tell you something like: “Yes, he has a family. The pastor is married with two beautiful children” You might ask how old the children are.

Then, say to guest relations: “I am curious, what does Church B teach regarding the verse that a Pastor must be the ‘husband of one wife.’” This may cause an angry reaction from the otherwise kind and gentle guest relations person due to possible skeletons in the Pastor’s closet. So many pastors, due to hardness of heart are tossing their marriages aside like a used TV dinner tray and remarrying the next church sister to strike their fancy. I cannot reconcile with scripture how a pastor can quit his Christian wife who has never been sexually unfaithful, and then turn around and marry some other “Christian” woman; and, supposedly nobody has displeased God in this whole situation.

In any case, listen intently to how the person answers regarding the church’s teaching on a pastor being the “husband of one wife.”

Be observant of how the pastor interacts with his parishoners before, during and after church; you may get a chance to see the patience mentioned in I Timothy 3:3.
Often you can get a better impression of a pastor in smaller groups. Typically, midweek services and early morning services are less attended; try attending those, especially in settings where you might get a chance to interact with the pastor (e.g. asking questions during the Bible Study).

On a side note, if you find that the pastor does not usually attend any of the church’s prayer meetings, you may have a situation where the pastor feels he has more important things to do; this just might possibly be a church with a pastor who is not vigilant.

Watch how the pastor interacts with his own family, as the Bible tells us that how a man treats his family is a key indicator of his readiness to lead a church. If the pastor’s children are very well mannered and involved in the church services (e.g. singing songs and clapping hands or playing instruments during worship service), then Church B just might be the good influence you need for your children.

However, if the pastor’s children look like they just stepped off the set of a HipHop Gangsta Rap music video recording, as they minister in song and play their instruments during the worship service, then you should consider crossing Church B off your list.

Even if the Pastor has minor children who have not accepted Christ, he still has a responsibility to make sure that they attend church and correct them appropriately if they become unruly in church. No, the Pastor cannot force his children to accept Christ, but he can require that they be in church and adhere to a minimum standard of proper attire and conduct. If a pastor is afraid to correct and instruct his own children, how can he have the courage to handle issues of church discipline in the house of God. And, a man who rules his house well, will not dump the entire job of child rearing on his wife. Remember, ruling one’s house well is among the qualifications for a man to be a pastor.

And, if the pastor’s children are grown and not living under his roof, and they persist in behaving or dressing improperly, the pastor does have the authority to censure even his own grown children from leading worship services (or functioning in other church capacities). I am reminded of the Old Testament priest by the name of Eli. He had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who conducted themselves most shamefully when Israelites would come to honor God with sacrifices in the Old Testament religious system. God not only punished Hophni and Phinehas, but he punished Eli for not properly disciplining his sons.

God said to Eli in I Samuel 2:29-31:
29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
30 Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
The description of further punishments to Eli’s family continues on in the verses that follow those above. But, I think you get the point from those listed above.

We’ve become so politically correct in the church that we are scared to tell young men assigned to the worship team to pull up their pants so that their underwear doesn’t show.
I saw one young man hosting a Christian worship program with what appeared to be a hole pierced through his nose in which he wore a piece of jewelry.
We have people performing re-mixes of popular secular R&B songs in the worship services.
This tells you that a church has a discipline problem when people are allowed to do anything and are assigned the responsibility to lead worship services.

Many churches will have what they call “New Member” classes.
If you have found a church you are really interested in and they have one of these classes, you might ask them whether it is okay for you to sit in on the class, even though you are not ready to commit to being a member just yet. This might be an ideal setting to get a real understanding of what the church teaches. Beyond the basic teaching of Christianity, there are also various requests that an individual church may ask of its members. You may find yourself unhappy if you join Church B, and later find out that there is an expectation that each member will commit to a certain amount of hours each week helping out in various ministries in neighboring communities of the church. Or, some churches may have an expectation of certain levels of financial support from each of the members. These things are items that are good for you to understand before making a commitment to join up with Church B, so that there be as little confusion as possible regarding the church’s expectation of you. It’s not just about what a church can do for you. Just like a family, your local church may have expectations of you.

Some churches may not have a “New Members’” class, but they may have a class that teaches their doctrine. If Church B has a doctrine class or church history class, visit this class. If Church B has none of these classes, then maybe you should visit their Sunday School.

Now, if Church B has no New Members classes, has no Bible doctrine classes, has no Sunday School, there might be cause for concern. You need a church with more than just Worship/Song services, if you want to become all that God wants you to be.

STEP 6
As I have said before, you need to be praying during this process of selecting a church. Even when you have found the church you think that you should join, please pray fervently
(maybe add some fasting too) about your decision before sharing it with the church you have selected. Sometimes what looks good to us is the farthest thing from what God wants us to do.

You may indeed have decided on joining a specific church that is very sound in doctrine. This church may also have all the extra amenities that you like: beautiful building;
child care during services; exquisite sound system, highly skilled musicians, and worship singers. The church may not even ask too much of your time and money.
But God may just want you at another very doctrinally sound church, that happens to be in the bad neighborhood; where the church building needs some improvements;
where many of the people at the church are not of the same race as you; where the worship team isn’t so polished as far as their singing ability.
What if God reveals that you should join that church? Are you open and sensitive enough to the Holy Spirit to obey God?
Or, would you justify how you have worked hard for the Lord all your life in ministry?
Would you convince yourself that it is only fair for you now to retire from hard work?
A friend of mine who was looking for a church had a specific criteria that she wanted a church: “Where I don’t have to work so hard.”
The question is: “What does God want of you?”

CONCLUSION:
Yes, God can lead you directly to the church he wants you to join without using this process that has been outlined above.
But, if God does not show you His choice immediately, feel free to use the advice that I have given above. Selecting a church to place your membership at
is one of the very important decisions you must make in your life and it should be done with much care.

Again, make sure it’s God leading, wherever you decide to join.
And don’t use the difficulty of finding a good church as an excuse not to go to church because God is not pleased with that.


God Bless,
And happy searching.
 
      HOMEPAGE