Church Shopping / Finding a New Church

Old Fashion Dad Podcast

As a continued conversation from last week's episode on "What is church community", we discuss how to decide if and when you should find a new church and what exactly to look for. What makes a "good church" and should we even be "shopping" for a church...?

NOTES:

• This Weeks Whiskey: Noah's Mill Bourbon - Willet Distillery, Bardstown, KY
• How do you find a Bible-believing church that is being faithful to Jesus
• Do we carry our consumer mindset into how we find a new church? Are we looking to have our preferences and felt needs met with preaching that makes us feel good and worship music that fits my music style preferences...?
• What are the spiritual metrics for a healthy, faithful church?
• People leave churches or change churches for many different reasons... some more valid than others.
• Valid Reasons for changing churches:
• The church is not preaching God's Word and doesn't take scripture as their highest authority (they aren't being faithful to Jesus' calling)
• Jesus + anything =
• You move and it's impractical to continue attending the same church
• Spiritual abuse and manipulation
• Unrepentant sin of the pastor / elders or the leadership allows unrepentant sin of it's members
• INvalid Reasons (less-valid) for changing churches:
• Spiritualizing it with "God is calling me somewhere else" (which may be true but don't blame God if you are leaving and it's for your own reasons but you don't want anyone to question your motivation).
• Preference of worship music style
• Preference of preaching style
• The church is full of flawed sinners (like you)
• Community, relationships and church are messy but we need to be in tune with God and His will for our lives and where He wants us to call our church home.
• The church we are part of isn't just about us getting "fed" but also in us investing in and serving others.
• We have no right to be critical of the church, if we aren't invested, loving or serving the church ourselves
• Is your church addressing what is happening and changing culturally, bearing the gospel to bear on the culture of a hurting and confused world?
• Church "shopping" checklist:
• Is the Bible taught and held as the highest authority?
• Is Christ seen as God (part of the Trinity) & not just a "good teacher"?
• Is the life, death and burial of Christ central to the church's beliefs and teachings?
• Is the Bible taught systematically - book by book, chapter by chapter (vs. topically)?
• Does the church value community and gathering outside the church building, in smaller groups and "do life" together?

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