Before Joining a Church: 4 Questions

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Brian Croft is senior pastor of Auburndale Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is also the author of Visit the Sick: Ministering God’s Grace in Times of Illness and Test, Train, Affirm, and Send Into Ministry: Recovering the Local Church’s Responsibility to the External Call. Brian blogs regularly at Practical Shepherding. He writes here:

I’ve been asked this question many times not just through my Practical Shepherding website, but even more recently in my own church by visitors. It is a common scenario. You move to a new area. You get find your new residence and job. You get the kids enrolled in school. Where you settle in a local church often becomes a longer, more drawn-out task.

After checking out all the churches you desire to visit, here are four questions to ask yourself as you narrow the search to make a decision.

1. Is this a church where my family will be regularly fed by God’s Word?

This is the first question that needs to be asked. Not just are they faithful to the Word of God, but will this church preach and teach in such a way that my soul and the souls of my family will be nourished? In other words, are they preaching expositionally through books of the Bible as the regular, steady diet of the congregation? This approach does not automatically answer this question, but it is a great place to start and evaluate.

2. Is this a church where I am convinced the care of my soul will be a priority?

Does this church have real pastors/elders who see their primary task to be the spiritual care and oversight of the souls of the members? In other words, just because they have powerful, biblical preaching does not mean your individual soul will be tended to on a regular basis. Ask the pastors. Ask other church members. It will not take much investigation on whether this work is a priority of the leadership of the church.

3. Is this a church where my family will experience meaningful Christian fellowship and accountability?

To know this, it will require a bit of a commitment to one church for a time to build relationships, attend some church fellowship events, and get to know some of the pastors and leadership. Yet you must have a realistic expectation as you are not yet a member, so do not expect to be treated as one.

4. Is this a church where I can serve God’s people and use my gifts for its benefit?

It will help to know where you are gifted and what some of the needs of the church are. Some needs can be filled by your simple presence and commitment. Also, do not assume you know what those areas of need are by your limited observations.

You should be able to know the answers to these questions within a few months of attending one church if you give yourself to the process. If you can answer in the affirmative to all four of these questions, it is a good possibility you have found your next church. At that point I would encourage you not to delay but to pursue membership.

Important Final Note

One final element is the key to persevering with the zeal required in this search. You and your family should feel a sense of persistent unease knowing that you are not in covenant fellowship with a local church and are not under the authority of under-shepherds caring for your souls. The freedom and absence of accountability many experience in the search for a new church can cause a sinful complacency.

In other words, you do not ever want to become comfortable being one of God’s sheep who has wandered away from the fellowship of the flock and the accountability of shepherds to care for you, even if that journey at the time feels fun and exciting.

Concerning Continuationist/Charismatic Teachers

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questionmarkredstanding“Pastor John, can you recommend any teachers, books, websites, blogs or such that you consider theologically sound in the area of the gifts/leading of the Holy Spirit from a Continuationist perspective? And the earnest pursuit thereof?”

My short answer would be “no.” I no longer consider the continuationist perspective a sound one theologically and so cannot recommend a teacher who would promote it. Of course, all of us have our blind spots theologically (me being no exception) and I am happy to affirm many teachers and ministries in the areas I believe them to be sound.

If I was asked a different question such as “John, what material would you recommend to those who have been influenced by continuationist or charismatic theology?” I would point them to the following three teachings by Phil Johnson as a starting point, and would be praying that the Lord would open their eyes to His truth:

1. Is there a baby in the charismatic bathwater? (video) (audio)

2. Providence is Remarkable (audio)

3. Is that Voice in my Head Really the Holy Spirit? (audio)

There’s more that could and should be said, but these three teachings would be a good starting point, as I say.

The Grace of Faith

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but, she said, “I wouldn’t go back up north to save my soul.” I said: “Well, you and I differ at this point. I have no desire to go back north either, but if it meant the saving of my soul, I wouldn’t hesitate to go.

When we say, “I wouldn’t do this or that to save my soul,” we’re speaking in a jocular fashion. I dare say those who use that phrase have not given any real thought to the literal meaning of their words. They are not making any kind of statement about their souls. They are simply using a popular expression.

But in the seventeenth century, the church and people in the wider culture were very much concerned with the salvation of the human soul. The Westminster Confession of Faith manifests this concern, setting forth the biblical requirements for salvation in some detail. In chapter 14, the confession lays out the key prerequisite for salvation. The title of the chapter is “Of Saving Faith,” and it begins with these words: “The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts… .”

Take careful note of those first four words. The confession does not simply speak of faith. Rather, it calls our attention to “the grace of faith.” It calls faith a grace because it comes to us as a gift from God—something that we cannot buy, earn, or merit in any way. The usual definition for grace that we have in theology is “God’s unmerited or undeserved favor.” So faith is a manifestation of the grace of God. Simply put, those who are saved are enabled or empowered to believe to the end of the salvation of their souls. Faith is not seen as an accomplishment of the human spirit. In fact, faith is not something that is naturally exercised by a fallen human being.

Herein lies the crux of the matter that provokes so much controversy in theology. On the one hand, God requires faith, and yet on the other hand, Scripture says that no one can exercise saving faith unless God does something supernaturally to empower or enable him to do so.