Being willing to walk alone in this life is a challenge that most Christians undertake without factoring in the cause of such an act. The bible calls us peculiar people. We don’t act the way the world acts. We don’t see things the way the world sees things. Neither do we think about things the way the world thinks about things. Our marching orders have been given to us by God through His Word, the Lord Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Church should be a refuge when things in life go wrong. I thank God for all the social services our government provides. Many of us would have been in out on the streets without them. However, I believe that the church should stand head and shoulders above anything that the world has to offer. Your church should be a haven of refuge in a time of need. Particularly if you’re attending a church with thousands of members.
If you’ve lost your job, there should be available resources to connect you with members within your congregation to help you find another. If you have an appliance that breaks down, there should be some sort of broadcast to the congregation concerning your need.
Serving your community should be a hallmark of your local church. Your church should be known in the neighborhood. It should be more than just a pretty building on the corner. What better opportunity to witness for Christ than to get out, canvas the neighborhood, see if there are any needs and help facilitate meeting those needs.
Church Growth is something that should take place organically. Church Growth is the byproduct of the presence of God. Your church should be growing daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Why would you want to be a part of a church that’s stagnant?
Several times in the bible it says that the Word of the Lord went forth and people were added to the church. Now, if the Word of the Lord is supposedly going forth out of your church, yet people aren’t being added to it, you might want to ask yourself why? I can’t find anywhere in scripture where it says the Word of the Lord went forth and things remained the same.
It’s nice to be able to have the option of attending a church that offers mid-week services. I was fortunate enough to attend a church that offered 9 services throughout the week at one point. For most of my life I’ve had to work on Sunday. So for me, it was nice going to a church where my work schedule didn’t prohibit me from attending church.
Transparency from our church leaders is not optional. Transparency from our church leaders, or the lack of it can make or break a church. I believe that we as parishioners inadvertently place our leaders on pedestals that they should not be placed on. If we never hear about any shortcomings, blunders, or challenges that our church leaders are experiencing we won’t be able to identify with them.
It endears church leaders to the congregants when they share with us their mess ups, shortcomings and challenges. If you as a leader come to your congregants with testimonies of the great things that God has done in your life but are reluctant to share the areas where you’re challenged, you’re out of balance. You’ll lose credibility. You become unrelatable and your parishioners won’t be able to identify with you. Why? Because all you share is the good and not the bad.
Racial diversity is rare within most churches. If a good meal is cooked, people will show up. Look at the popular restaurants in your town. People will drive far and wide for good food.
People don’t choose which restaurants they go to because of race. They choose restaurants because of the food. Because of the ambiance, or the wait staff or because of the overall experience. The same is true in the church. If the good Word of God is going forth people will come. People of all races will come.
Access to Pastoral Staff ranks very high among the list of characteristics of a good church. People are hurting right now. We’re going through tough times right now. Physically, socially, financially people around us are in need. The pandemic has caused increased levels of depression, and even suicide in the world as well as within the Body of Christ.
Part of the church’s responsibility is to minister to it’s people. A great part of this ministry includes accessibility. As a church member you should be able to reach a member of the ministerial staff 24/7.
Political involvement from the church is a fairly new phenomenon. We’re in a day and age when political involvement from the church is imperative on a local, state, and national level.
A Statement of Faith is something that your new church should be able to supply you with. Your church should be able to tell you what their vision is. They should be able to articulate what their mission is. There should be a statement of faith associated with your church
If you’re joining a church and you don’t know what they believe, and they don’t know what they believe it’s an accident waiting to happen. There should be a clear cut vision. A mission statement or a statement of faith.
Characteristics of a good church can be hard to identify when caught up in the emotions that come with searching for a church home. Empowering it’s members to get involved is one such characteristic.
Wisdom would dictate that the new member would sit under the ministry to somewhat understand the mission and direction of the church. But there must come a time when members become contributors to the church community by serving.
Characteristics of a good church are depend on many different variables. This one is a biggie.
There seems to be certain topics that the church shy’s away from. Subjects like tithes and offerings, praying in tongues, the gifts of the Spirit and how they manifest, Satan and demonic activity such as demonic oppression and possession, laying hands on the sick and healing in general are rarely talked about in church.
Offering salvation to the lost should be the number one function of every ministry. Everything else is secondary to saving the lost. Accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior is foundational. It’s the door that every Christian enters through.
Put yourself in the position of someone who is lost. You stumble into church at your lowest point in life. You say to yourself “I want to accept Jesus as my lord and savior”. So you sit through the service.
The Characteristics of a Good Church series is designed to bring up topics that you may want to think about and or pray about if you’re searching for a new church. I’ll be discussing various topics related to the local church community in every video.
A word of encouragement can go a long way in todays society. We’re facing so many negative circumstances in our lives.
We’re dealing with remnants of COVID. The economy is going through the roof. We’re dealing with negative situations on the job. Stress at home and in our marriages. Stress with the kids. The list goes on and on. I’d just like to remind you that the situation you find yourself in today didn’t catch God off guard. He knew exactly where you would be, He knew exactly where the economy would be, He knew about the pandemic, nothing caught Him off guard.
Infertility issues within a marriage can be devastating. This is a testimony of how the Word of God became flesh in my own personal life regarding answered prayer and the birth of my son Jonathon. Standing steadfast on God’s Word will always produce victory!
Sin consciousness is an enemy to righteousness. When we walk under a consciousness of sin, we cannot please God. It’s up to us to refuse to walk in condemnation and guilt when we sin.
You’ve prayed, you’ve read your bible, you’ve spent time with God and you look up and you find yourself in a sinful situation. You have sinned. You feel bad, you repent, you confess your sin and you go on.
But the following day you commit the same sin. Then next week you commit the same sin. Next month you repeat the same sin. And you look up and several years have gone by and you’re still committing the same sin.
The Sacrifice of Praise in the midst of turmoil is the most expense gift you could offer the Father God. In the real world, shopping for others has always been easy for me. I love to shop, so I look forward to opportunities to give to others. However, I do know that some people have a hard time shopping for others. Trying to give something that a person needs and or wants can be a daunting task.
When it comes to God, the bible says that the cattle on a thousand hills belongs to God. God is the creator. He owns it all. Is there a certain amount of money that you could offer to Him? No, the money belonged to Him before He gave it to you. Literally EVERYTHING belongs to God already, so what could you possibly give Him that He doesn’t already have?
Father daughter relationships should mimic the relationship a girl will develop with our heavenly Father. A daughter needs to depend on her father.
A daughter needs to be able to place absolute trust in her father. Having made many mistakes as a parent, I can say hindsight is 20/20 in this area.
A father’s word should be golden. His word should be his bond. His daughter should be able to depend entirely upon every word that comes out of his mouth.
Childlike trust requires an air of mystery. The very concept of trust lends itself to the idea of a father, child relationship.
I have a spiritual mentor who recently lost his wife to cancer. God has healed many through this man’s ministry. He’s travelled the world seeing testimony after testimony of God performing the miraculous in the lives of others. He’s seen two people raised from the dead in his ministry. Dealing with illness and dealing with people who God has healed is not foreign to this man. Yet, his wife died of cancer.