The Bible clearly shows us that the church is not a structure or building but rather a body of believers. It emphasizes the fact that followers of Jesus must regularly meet together. The local church is typically where this type of meeting will occur.
So since the church is very important to the life of a Christian, picking a church to join is one of the most important decisions that one can make in his/her life, maybe only second behind choosing a spouse to marry. The church, in many ways, helps to shape who you are and your relationship with God. Many of the things you will learn about the Bible will come through your church.
Therefore, the decision is not one to make flippantly or without putting much thought into it. The choice is important and yet options are many. Some recent statistics show that there are approximately hundreds of registered and unregistered churches in Zimbabwe, if not thousands. So where do we begin? How do one choose?
Side note: we need to keep in mind that there are no perfect churches because churches are made up of imperfect people. As the old joke goes, “If you find a perfect church, don’t join it because you’d ruin it!” Yet, even though perfect churches don’t exist, there are good, solid, churches. We can strive to be one of those.
Here we are going to go through some things that are important about picking a good church. These will include things to look for and also things to avoid. However, keep in mind that our number one resource for every decision in life is to turn to God and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit for any decision that we will make in life. We encourage you to pray and to look to God for wisdom and leading in this all-important choice.
- The Authority and Inerrancy of the Bible
This means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words and if we are to disobey them, we are disobeying God. Ask these questions, is the Bible the main resource for preaching and teaching in the church, and does the church believe that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God and is the final authority on every church matter? If a church does not have solid teaching and preaching of God’s Word as the foundation, then it will drift into false teaching. It will conform to the culture. Many sad examples of this abound today.
- A Place That Encourages You in Worship
God created us to worship Him and the church is about worship to God. Every good church should encourage you to worship God. Worship isn’t just about sitting through a worship service or singing songs. At the core of worship is an intimate communication with God. The church must help you in this connection with God not only with the weekly Sunday service but throughout your life.
- A Place That Encourages and Equips You to Grow in Discipleship
A disciple is one who is learning to live like Christ. A healthy church is just as concerned with growing members as with growing numbers. Growth is a sign of life in a church. The writer of Hebrews stresses the importance of growth (discipleship). God is glorified by growing churches. That growth does not just mean numerically but through people growing as evidenced in serving, or by getting involved in missions, or by giving financially if need be, by sharing the gospel with others among other things.
- Sound Doctrine
There are many doctrines floating around out there. According to scripture, there’s just one faith. Sound doctrine is important. Carefully look over church doctrinal statements and see if it agrees with scripture and hopefully what you believe too. A good doctrinal statement will explain their positions on at least these topics; the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit), salvation, sin, human destiny, the Bible, and the church.
- A Place Where You Can Experience Christian Fellowship
True Christian Fellowship is not just pot-luck meals and times of social gatherings. These type of fun events can often lead to fellowship but don’t underestimate the importance of fellowship. While Jesus was walking on this planet he showed the importance of fellowship. He invested his life into the twelve disciples and when he sent them out, he sent them out in two’s. We need encouragement, support, correction, and guidance from other believers for us to grow the way God wants us to grow.
- Evangelism
The view that a church takes about evangelism and salvation is so important. A simple definition of evangelism is to present the good news of Jesus freely and trusting God to “convert” people (see Acts 16:14). One of the primary callings of the church is to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ so that those who believe it already might be encouraged and so that those who don’t believe might have a chance to do so. Every single Christian church should preach the gospel regularly and faithfully.
