What I look for in a church?

Posted on by Dave

What makes a church a church? What sort of things should they do or believe to make them a genuine church that Jesus is building? What should we look for?

  1. Do they believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God? If so, is it held up above all other books as God’s Word to us? Some groups have other books they add to the Bible or hold them up as equally important, this makes them cults. (2 Timothy 3:16-18, Revelation 22:18-19).
  2. Do they hold true to the ancient creeds like the Apostles creed, the Nicene creed and the Athanasian creed? Holding firm to these means they have an orthodox christian faith that the church has held on to for centuries. You can find them on our about page.
  3. Do they trust Jesus as the only way to salvation? Do they believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God? Do they believe Jesus died on the cross for our sin and was physically raised to life? Have they accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour? (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9-10).
  4. Do they regularly practice the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion, the Eucharist) where we take Jesus’ body in the form of bread or a wafer, and His blood in the form of juice or wine. Jesus told us to do this in remembrance of Him and His sacrifice for us (Luke 22:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25).
  5. Do they practice baptism for new believers? Some churches may baptise with full immersion or by pouring water on the head. The main thing is to baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as Jesus taught us (Mathew 28:18-20, Acts 2:38).
  6. Do they meet together and focus on what the early church did? Acts 2:42 says, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching [the Bible] and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”
  7. Do they rely on the Holy Spirit to make them more like Jesus, to empower them to be His witnesses, to give them gifts to serve, and to display the fruit of the Spirit? (Galatians 5:22-23, Acts 1:8, Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11).

These are some of the things that I think are important when deciding on which church you attend if you are a new believer or new to an area.

Most churches have websites with a statement of faith on there. I would always check it out before attending.