Back to the drawing board. Time for a new batch of churches,so how do I find them? I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is cranking up the old Internet search engine.
I am now going to talk about how I judge a church by its website, this may be similar to judging a book by its cover, which I know we are cautioned not to do. However, judging a book by its cover has generally worked for me.
I would like to say these are my opinions and I don’t mean to offend you, your church, or your church web-site… but here we go!
The Cons:
1) The bad website. If I log onto “First Church Of the Bible” and the website looks like it was put together on paintbrush, has blinking coursers, or generally appears to be done for approximately $.75, I immediately hit the back key and return to Google.
This is a church’s first impression. If they can’t even keep up with the current culture by having an up-to date website, why should I think anything in your church is going to meet me where I am? I’m not on board with all “seeker-friendly” churches, but I don’t want “seeker repellent” either.
2) The pastor driven church. I don’t know about other places in the US, but in Texas this is a big ol’ problem. While I may cringe at a website that has a whole tab just for the pastor I could let it go if the church has some pluses that outweigh that. However, if every page I go to on your site has a picture of said pastor of if you keep mentioning him in your text, I am out of there! I am looking for a church, not a pastor with an ego trip.
3) The Pastor/Director discrepancy. Okay, “Christ Baptist Non-Denominational Church” if you have a senior pastor, an associate pastor, a youth pastor and a children’s director. That’s a no.
If you are going to hire a male to be youth “pastor” and a female to do the same job with the children and call her a “director” then we have some hypocrisy here. If you really don’t believe in female pastors, then at least be constant and if a person has the same job call them both directors (though I doubt you’ll find many guys willing to be “youth director”). This however, is a personal preference and I have found that I can't completely discount churches because of it. But I do think it is a point churches should consider. (Most or you just stopped reading, huh?)
4) The crazy and/or vague church beliefs. If the church passes the initial impression test the first thing I do is check out their beliefs page (especially if it is a non-dom, I like non-denominational churches, but some of them are just loco).
If the church can’t nail down its beliefs, has more about where they want to go than what they believe, of generally says craziness— such as “we believe in actual baptism by water and fire”. *gulp* Then sianara to you!
As you can see the four points above severely limit my church selection. However, there is good news too! See below.
The Pros:
1) The welcoming first impression. I love church websites that have an “I’m new” or “What to expect” section. This usually gives me the highlights of what I want to know about a church in one place. Plus, it lets me know that this church understands that many people today look for churches online!
2) The people driven church. A church website that shows they have ministries for kids, youth, college (this is kind of rare), singles (this probably replaces “college”), life groups, women, men, etc… is very attractive. While I know this can be harder for smaller churches I know it isn’t impossible.
On a side note, a church that puts heavy emphases on life groups is really awesome. Since a lot of churches don’t have Sunday school anymore, life groups (or whatever that church calls their equivalent) are really the way to get to know people in a church.
3) The artistic church. This truly is a personal preference and doesn’t rule churches out. But I’m a little artsy myself and the few churches I’ve run across that say something about honoring God through arts makes my heart pitter-patter. Again, this is rare and not a must, but I do like it a lot!
4) The church with solid Biblical beliefs. This is a game changer. A church that sets up its beliefs with scripture verses to back them up hits a home run. When they know what they believe and it really does line up with the word of God then, “Whoo hoo!”
Even if for some other reason I choose not to go to this church or if I visit there a little while and then move on, it is so encouraging to find a church that knows God’s word. This is essential to me. If we don’t have this we have nothing.
Yeah, well this means I have not the foggiest idea of where I’m going next Sunday. But I have two churches I’m going to call this week and grill. I chose not to make this post even longer by listing the questions I’m going to ask potential churches. But I’ve never called before I visit, so it should be… interesting.
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