Perfect Church
Now that is a great title! Perfect church… is there such a thing? I heard one pastor tell his people that if they found a perfect church then they needed to leave because then it would no longer be perfect. Very true.
I want to try to keep this post as short as possible, because I would really like to hear back from you on this subject of what makes a great church. Lately it seems that I have been reading a lot on church growth and strategy. While I have found much of what I have read to be very insightful, I wonder sometimes if our focus may be out of whack. I wonder if sometimes we over strategize our strategy which in turn overly complicates church ministry all together.
My question I would like to pose to you is “What do you look for in a church?” My only request is that you leave personal preferences out of your answer. What do you mean? Preferences and principles are quite different. While some would love to pass off their preferences as the only way to do church, it simply isn’t true. Please do not misunderstand me, I have my preferences as I am sure you do, the problem comes into play when we start allowing our preferences to become principles. Here are couple examples of what I am not looking for….
Church A – Southern Gospel Music, Hymns Only, and preaching from the KJV
Church B – Drums and electric guitars a must, What’s a Hymnal, and preaching from the Ebonics Bible
I don’t really care to hear about what you think people ought to wear or how they should be singing or what the pastor’s priestly garbs should look like. If you say, “solid biblical preaching,” I would say, “great, what do you mean.” For some (unfortunately), solid biblical preaching would simply mean the louder the better (although content might be a little shabby). Others would consider solid biblical preaching to be a message that stays in line with the context of scripture and speaks relevancy into their lives today.
What about other elements to the church? Children’s ministry? Youth? Young Adults? Community? Missions? Community Involvement? When it comes to ministries of the church…like Children’s Ministry, what are you looking for? Maybe it’s a dumping ground. A place where you can drop off your kids and not have to worry about getting them for an hour or so. Maybe your looking for a partnership within the church that will come along side your family and provide ministry that will help reconnect church and home.
What do you think? Maybe there are some things happening in your church that you believe ought to be the standard in church ministry. Let’s hear it.
