Criteria for Choosing a Church
I asked Father Carl what he thought are the most important characteristics of a good church. This was not exactly the question I intended to ask, but his answer is interesting. The things he listed were:
• Regeneration of individual members of a congregation (It is God's intention and plan that each of us become like Him. (Phil 1:6))
• Focus on Evangelism (local and foreign) and Discipleship (Matt 28:19)
• Ministry leadership development (Paul and Barnabas took Timothy, Titus, John Mark and others alongside)
• Manifestation of the Holy Spirit within the Church (By definition, a miracle happens every time God touches a life)
• Social conscience and action (Christians in the western world have been largely responsible for social progress in areas such as women’s rights, abolition of slavery, feeding the poor, orphanages, tending the sick and dieing etc.)
It seems that this list could be viewed as evidence for whether a church is effective or not without defining the characteristics of a good church. The following list might be views as characteristics of church structure and polity.
• Continuity of theology and practice over a minimum of 3 generations (God doesn’t change. How we as thoughtful Christians respond to and change with societal shifts, reality, new information, and the needs of my neighbor must be tempered by history.)
• Foundation for theology and practice is the Bible
• Study and appreciation of the Creeds of the church
• Accountability structure that goes beyond the local church (Someone looking over my shoulder can provide safety and freedom because I don’t have to be quite so conservative in my actions. I don’t have to think through all possible outcomes alone.)
• Focus on personal ministry (service) (The letter to the Philippians says quite clearly that we are called to serve and joy is linked to service. God Himself is a servant at the core of his being. (Phil 2:7))
• Balance of church practice between worship, teaching, fellowship and prayer (Acts 2:42)
• Reality of encounter with God. Sense of the presence of God? (Psychologists tell us every person wants/needs significant relationships and meaningful service to be happy and fulfilled. We are designed for a relationship with the divine. )
• Sense of purpose both personal and corporate (The first question of a catechism (which one? Westminster? Heidelberg?) I studied as a child in church school. Q. What is the purpose of man’s existence? A. To enjoy God and love Him forever.)
The second half of the list is intended to provide safety and stability for a local church. Father Carl says it is possible to have all of these and not have a good church if the leadership of the regional, national, or international church is corrupted. In fact, in this case error can become the stable force and God himself will need to redirect the church. He has promised to continue to do this work until the day of Christ’s return.
• Regeneration of individual members of a congregation (It is God's intention and plan that each of us become like Him. (Phil 1:6))
• Focus on Evangelism (local and foreign) and Discipleship (Matt 28:19)
• Ministry leadership development (Paul and Barnabas took Timothy, Titus, John Mark and others alongside)
• Manifestation of the Holy Spirit within the Church (By definition, a miracle happens every time God touches a life)
• Social conscience and action (Christians in the western world have been largely responsible for social progress in areas such as women’s rights, abolition of slavery, feeding the poor, orphanages, tending the sick and dieing etc.)
It seems that this list could be viewed as evidence for whether a church is effective or not without defining the characteristics of a good church. The following list might be views as characteristics of church structure and polity.
• Continuity of theology and practice over a minimum of 3 generations (God doesn’t change. How we as thoughtful Christians respond to and change with societal shifts, reality, new information, and the needs of my neighbor must be tempered by history.)
• Foundation for theology and practice is the Bible
• Study and appreciation of the Creeds of the church
• Accountability structure that goes beyond the local church (Someone looking over my shoulder can provide safety and freedom because I don’t have to be quite so conservative in my actions. I don’t have to think through all possible outcomes alone.)
• Focus on personal ministry (service) (The letter to the Philippians says quite clearly that we are called to serve and joy is linked to service. God Himself is a servant at the core of his being. (Phil 2:7))
• Balance of church practice between worship, teaching, fellowship and prayer (Acts 2:42)
• Reality of encounter with God. Sense of the presence of God? (Psychologists tell us every person wants/needs significant relationships and meaningful service to be happy and fulfilled. We are designed for a relationship with the divine. )
• Sense of purpose both personal and corporate (The first question of a catechism (which one? Westminster? Heidelberg?) I studied as a child in church school. Q. What is the purpose of man’s existence? A. To enjoy God and love Him forever.)
The second half of the list is intended to provide safety and stability for a local church. Father Carl says it is possible to have all of these and not have a good church if the leadership of the regional, national, or international church is corrupted. In fact, in this case error can become the stable force and God himself will need to redirect the church. He has promised to continue to do this work until the day of Christ’s return.
posted by complexspecificity | 5:27 PM
1 Comments:
Ok... so this is me thinking out loud with you...
Regeneration of individual members of a congregation
Good
Focus on Evangelism
Good
Discipleship
Good
Ministry leadership development
Pretty good... but what's the point again?
Manifestation of the Holy Spirit within the Church
Good but hard to quantify... and can lead to manipulation to ensure that your church "has it"... I guess I mean... how do you determine that the Holy Spirit is around
Missionary emphasis - local and foreign
Good
Social conscience and action
Really Good... but also dangerous because (unlike the manifestations of the H.S.) this is sooo easy to quantify - all it takes is dollars. Not sufficient for sure.
It seems that this list could be viewed as evidence for whether a church is effective or not without defining the characteristics of a good church. The following is the list that I am starting and will be thinking about over the next few weeks.
Continuity of theology and practice over a minimum of 3 generations
WOW!! Now we're talking!
Foundation for theology and practice is the Bible
Yeah... this is huge.
Study and appreciation of the Creeds of the church
More important than I originally thought... Perhaps this is the most important?
Accountability structure that goes beyond the local church
Necessary, but not sufficient, because the "structure" can be really vague. Almost everyone will claim it, even if they don't practically use it. And where is the line between too much administrative power and too little?
Focus on personal ministry
This one seems overdone these days...
Balance of church practice between worship, teaching, fellowship and prayer
This seems kind of arbitrary... Why isn't reflection included? Or the Eucharist?
Reality of encounter with God. (not sure how to define this) Sense of the presence of God?
These seem good... I'm not sure it's a bad thing that they are difficult to pin down. Maybe that's the point.
Sense of purpose both personal and corporate
Again... I think this is important because it puts the responsibility for knowing whether the church is good on a scale balanced between the H.S. and our personal intellect.
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