lastinglewis
This is a resource built for college seniors exiting our campus ministry to go re-locate and in our hopes find a great church quickly to start serving, growing and living with. Hopefully, this will be useful to you as you are looking for a church, pass on to some else or help improve awareness to how your current church presents itself to the first time attendee:
Seniors, this is an easy sheet of observables and questions to ask a pastor of a potential church in a sit down setting. A great and realistic goal is for you to be in the membership process at a local church within 6 months of graduating and re-locating to your new home! Church hopping quickly becomes church dodging and remember there are no ‘perfect’ churches. At the end of the day ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to a church, ask for His choice and make sure it is clear that the church loves Jesus and strives to love others.
What do I look for / easy observables in a church?
- Are people happy to be here? Both in and around service or do they rush out?
- Is the way of salvation or the Gospel (Jesus) clearly taught each week?
- Is Scripture used and taught from each week, whether in studying a passage or in a topical manner?
- Is this church truly local to you (under a 20 minute drive, preferably under 10 minutes)? Eventually a distant drive will keep out effectively keep you out of church life and community.
- Does this church have an obvious vision / purpose or not? A clear direction in serving Jesus as a body?
In a sit down with a pastor of a potential church, what are 5 good questions?
- What would you say is the overall purpose of this church?
*Good answers: the glory of God, loving Christ & loving others, reaching this city, Great Commission, equipping of the saints, serving God.
*Bad answers: just having a great community, learning, any long hesitation…if it’s not on his mind than whose is it on?
- What is your view and this Church view on how a man/ lady is saved?
*Good answers- By grace through faith, repenting and believing in Christ.
*Bad answers- Baptism, church membership, good deeds, or anything that isn’t central upon a personal decision to trust Christ relying on His grace He obtained through the Cross.
- What is your view on the inerrancy of Scripture?
*Good answers- It is inerrant; Inerrant means that in the original autographs of the writers were inspired from God, to be trusted as the words of God and the copies we have now are over 99% accurate and any imperfection does not effect orthodox doctrine in any way; the Bible is to followed, studied and trusted as the Word of God.
*Bad answers- Most of it can be trusted, truth is relative, or it means different things to different people (this not meaning that we can’t learn different things from the same text, but that Scripture as clear propositional statements to be obeyed), or it’s not relevant.
- How will this church like to be involving me in community, building me in Christ and equipping me for personal ministry?
*Judgement call for you, will you be growing or not?
- How will this church be fulfilling the Great Commission?
*Judgement call for you, does this sound like a good plan? A Christ saving sinners sort of plan both locally and for the world
Remember no matter the attractiveness of the Body, nor the eloquence of the pastor, if core convictions of God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Bible and Salvation are not met then the church may not belong to Jesus at all. You must see the ship (body of the church), but also know the Captains (pastors) to know where the ship is going.
