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We have a lot of people visit our church, but very few return a second time. Maybe we don't know what they want, so I've decided to try and find out what people look for in a church.

So, if you were looking for a church, what qualities would you look for?  Or if you've already found a church home, what qualities about it made you stay?
 
You can list as many as you would like, but please keep each quality to one or two words.
 
 
Thank you so much for your help.

Hello Campanaro,

I see this is your first post, so WELCOME!!

welcome

I sincerely hope that you enjoy the forum.

My answers:  Bible Study

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 10:16-17 NASB  However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Welcome to Christians Unite, Campanaro. I hope that you find what you are looking for.


I would have to say the first thing that I see in a church is if there is brotherly love there or not. There is nothing more disheartening than to enter a church and receive a cold shoulder of indifference from the members.

It is more important to be Biblically correct than politically correct. Sometimes this will cause people to not return but if we are not preaching/teaching the word of God then we have failed as a church.

God.
I look for God. The signs that He is there is :

Lots and lots of love between the members of the congregation. I look at the way they greet each other, how they speak to each other, how they handle the children and aged that are present.
People come to greet me & my family by hand. They ask how we are. Invite us back, ask if they might visit us, not to preach, just to get to know us. They do not send the Pastor, they send a ordinary couple.
They keep to scripture, but that takes more than one visit to notice.

So...

love will give them away everytime. God is love, and if He is present, so will be it.

Not in any specific order:

Freedom of worship

Preaching the Word

Love

A passionate minister and passionate members

Chairs?   ;D

The floor will do for me as long as someone is willing to help me back up.  ;) ;D

Just scoot!  Why would you want to back up anyway? ;D ;D  

That is a humble position. Hmm ....  I wonder if that is the reason my legs don't work right.

Hey PR.................just agree with me for a change.  Forget about that floor nonsense and just pull up a chair.  OK?  OK!  There now, it's settled.  Whew..............you know, you can be a trouble maker. :P :-X ;D

 

I love having fun.   :D :D :D :D ;D ;D ;D ;D

firstly, I will take some time listening the sermon. Can my faith grow with it?
secondly, I will look carefully to the vision and mission of the church... is it the same as mine?
thirdly, I will see the relationship among the congretion ( did I spell right for this word?)

God bless

Hi unworthy_servant,

Those are some good points. Don't worry about the  spelling. It is close enough to be understood.  ;)

1) The church has to preach the Word of God
2) the members have to be friendly. I don't mean gushingly hale and well met friendly, but more like welcoming.
3) members should be accepting.
for example, our current church has an outreach to college students, so your usual student dosn't have a suit and tie. We welcome them anyway.

I look for if the Word from the pastor line up with the Word of God,how the members greet visitors,praise and worship,a pastor that preach and teach the Word.Bible study,prayer services,Bible classes,and different ministries.
God Bless :)

For me, the most important thing is strong fellowship. If you don't have that, then you might as well not go to church in the first place. A church where people are simply going through the motions, and dash out as soon as the service has finished without actually talking to anyone is not a church for me.

Some might say that following the Word of the Lord is more important than fellowship - but I think that's a red herring. Every church keeps a pretence of following the Word of the Lord - but if they lack fellowship, then it's wrong to call them a "church", and they're not following the Word anyway.

• 1 John 1:7 NASB but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

A word of warning though - although you need to have fellowship to follow the Word of the Lord, it doesn't work the other way - having fellowship doesn't automatically mean you're following the Word. Islamic mosques, Wiccan covens and even secular clubs and societies and football teams can all have fellowship, but they're not necessarily following the Word.

My wife who shall be here after known as "The Newf." and I have moved a number of times in our married life. We have lived in 5 different provinces in Canada over the last 46 years. Within some provinces we have moved several times or returned to provinces that we lived in before, all this moving has meant that we had to seek out a church with each move.

First of all: We look at the church doctrine. We don't want to be caught up in the Charismatic Movement although  we did attend a Charismatic church for 10 years because it was the nearest Evangelical Church in our area.

2. Our church has to be Evangelical in doctrine.

3. It has to be holiness in doctrine if we are to be comfortable there.

4. We want to hear full Bible teaching. I mean preaching of the scriptures from cover to cover. There must be heavy a emphasis on evangelizing the lost. Must have a good youth ministry, although at this point in our lives our kids are gone. We believe that a church with no evangelistic out reach, no Sunday School or youth ministry is a sick church.

5. We want to feel accepted in the church. We want a pastor who calls off and on at our home for a cup of tea.

6. A pastor whose family life is in order. A pastor who is not divorce and remarried, and takes a strong stand on the principles of marriage and family life.

7. A church which has an active ministry within the church walls each week, such as prayer meetings, including both prayer meetings and Bible Study.

8. A church that is concerned with the social issues of the country and the social needs of the folks in the community.

9. We seek one with a strong emphasizes on Missions.

10. We like to sing the hymns from the hymn book which contain good biblical teaching. We don't care for frothy chorus, loud music, nor a church where the pastor can't lead the singing. I don't know if that makes us odd balls but that is what we look for in a church when we seek one.

At present we attend a Salvation Army Corp. It doesn't meet all that we seek but it is the closest to it in this community.

I admit that it is hard these days to find a church with all of these qualities but we seek one as close to that as possible and we want to be busy in any church that we attend.

That is too funny.  (http://deephousepage.com/smilies/rofl5.gif)


My family is very traditional as far as worship is concerned. What I want most in a church is for my family to be encouraged and challenged by scripture and hymns. Its also nice when the elders, deacons or pastor visit members of their congregation, although this might be difficult to do for a large church.
For example: while we attended a certain church, the pastor paid us one official visit every year to find out how we were doing spiritually and to answer our questions, and he 'unofficially' came over for coffee now and then.
Also, we were under the 'jurisdiction' of both a deacon and an elder, and they visited us as well.

Hello Amisk,

I see this is your first post, so WELCOME!! I sincerely hope that you enjoy Christians Unite.


My family has had close associations with the Salvation Army for my entire life. We've met many sweet Christian friends who were volunteers for the Salvation Army over the years. We also met many excellent pastors who served over the years. My home is right next to a large Army Base, so we have seen many people come and go from our branch of the Salvation Army, and nearly all of them were strong Christians. I'm confident that God will lead you to the church He wants you to attend, but I was also thinking that God might have already done that. Just something to think about and pray about.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Philippians 4:7 NASB  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

That the Kingdom of God is preached and Jesus.

people are saying alot of good things, but i think your asking what will make people come back a second time to establish rather or not its good preaching, teaching, bible study, evangelism, etc.

the one thing that people are looking for first and formost is love in the form of acceptance.

2. if there is lots of love but church is boring they may not stay very long. make the word of god/fellowship exciting! from start to finish! (even annoucements should be interesting at a minimum

Hi GKB,   The Kingdom of God IS exciting as is Jesus.  If we are looking for "feeling good" experiences then we will be dissapointed.   Once we grasp Kingdom living there will eb a wonderful joy in our lives 24 hours a day, in and out of a church building.  After all we ARE the church.   One of the greatest problems I see in many churches that i have visited in the world is their is a lack of understanding in Kingdom living - that we can experience it now with all its fruits and gifts.   I wish you a blessed Advent in your search.

Hello GKB,

I know that different people look for different things, and it is very hard to reach a balance to serve all of the various types of people who wish to worship.

children
young adults
adults
middle-aged adults
older adults
the lost
the babes in Christ
the mature in Christ
the workmen in Christ

1) First and foremost, I think that the plan of salvation must be given often in every church. It doesn't matter how many times the saved people in the congregation have heard it. All should know that the plan of salvation is critical because there might be unsaved people in the audience. There might also be babes in Christ or people unsure about their Salvation who can be and should be strengthened on a regular basis with the plan of Salvation.

2) It is a major challenge for the church to provide appropriate material for the various levels of maturity in the WORD. All wish to be fed, and the church should set up various study programs at times other than the primary weekly services.

3) It should be a family place of worship, and that would include everyone from babies to the elderly.

The social aspects and overall programs of a church depend heavily on the makeup of the congregation. Much may depend on the location of the church and the needs of the individual community near the church. I'll use an example involving where I live. We are right next to one of the largest military bases in the world. As a result, there are a tremendous number of young families looking for a place to worship, and they will always be leaving in 2 to 4 years for the next tour of duty. So, trying to establish a core group of people who are not leaving in a short period of time is very important.

Choosing a church might really boil down to something very simple: does the church provide what you want and need?

Fellowship is obviously a very important issue, but there is a lengthy list of wants and desires that are different for each person or family. Example:  If you don't have small children, you really aren't concerned about the nursery facilities of the church and the skill of the people working in the nursery. There are many other examples, but I'll just mention one more: many people feel a great need for detailed Bible studies for the mature Christians and the workmen in Christ. If the church doesn't address these needs, these people will find a church that does.

In short, setting up the structure, programs, and services of a church is a formidable task. This task demands the cooperation and assistance of many members of the congregation. Most important: the leaders of the church will need the help and guidance of GOD.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Galatians 6:9-10 NASB  Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

I look for God's Spirit, if God is leading that church it doesn't matter if there are 1000 members or 10, God will make it grow. If God's Spirit is present, we know the pastor will be delivering the right sermon, and the parishoners are all living in the Word. God will always lead us to the right church He wants us to go to, where He can use us to further the gospel, help the church grow, help others, and find the purpose He has created us for. God has a purpose for each and everyone of us, and we should always seek God first and ask Him to lead and direct us to the church He wants us to attend. Where I live there are al least 50 churches within a ten mile radius, however God has directed my husband and me to attend a church that is more than 30 miles away, we attend church twice a week, and go to Bible School at the church, and our girls go to praise and worship every other Saturday, and that is not counting all the rest of the time we go to church for special events such as Covenant Partners meetings, or outings for the youth. We even have to pay tolls up to $4.00 each way, BUT GOD has provided, we have always been able to attend, even when we had a car accident and the car was in a shop for 3 weeks. That is GOD'S way. Praise His Name.

It makes my spirit jump for joy when I read mesages like your (Iam2Worship)  With that attitude asa  Christian we can be lights to the world!

Thank you for your kind comments brother Jeff, I love the Lord so much. Sometimes some of us who live in countries where we can choose what church to attend, and can get there in a fairly decent manner, we tend to take our liberty for granted. I have met Christians in some parts of South America who literally walk for miles in severe weather to go to church. There are also many Christians in other parts of the world that have to meet in underground churches and put themselves at risk (GOD Bless them). And then I think about some Christians who don't go to church as often as they shoud, or don't go at all because the bed is nice and warm, or because they are 'tired' from staying up too late the night before, I just don't understand. I pray for these Christians, maybe they don't realize that every sheep needs a shpherd. If they are not attending church regularly, chances are they are not feeding their spirits with God's Word daily or maybe not praying regularly. I am not judgeing anyone I just feel the God always provides the means, the strength, and the joy for those who seek Him.  :D

Our church here in Guatemala would normally only fit 60 comfortably - we have over 300 cram in and then begin to dance!   I come out of it completely soaking with sweat!   I am glad we are constructing another church building.  These guys put their rings, necjlaces, watches etc in the collection box.   In Guatemala over 46% of people are Christians!

Brother Jeff, that is great to hear, it is wonderful and refreshing when brothers and sisters put away all their fleshly desires and worship our King of Kings regardless of weather, facilities or other inconviniences. What glorious praises! God blesses congregations such as the one you mentioned, what joy it is to serve Him no matter what the situation might be.

To me, a church should be evangelical...soul winning; discipling...growing those souls in the Spirit; expositing...preaching and teaching from the Word, allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture; boldness in Christ...without a spirit of timidity; no racial barriers...ALL are welcome; and (this may stir up some dust) male only leadership per God's Word.

In "Keeping the Sabbath Wholly" by Marva J. Dawn (a book which I have read but do not own, and therefore can't quote precisely  :o), the author states that we are not merely to "go to church"; we are to "go and be church" to the world.
In "The Musician's Quest" by George MacDonald (a book which I have read and owned and then given away, and therefore can't quote precisely  :o), Robert Falconer discovers the One Church across the ages and nations, and since he is a member of this One Great Church he is not content to belong to any single building or parish.