IN SEARCH OF A CHURCH by T. R. Post

A man once wrote a letter to a newspaper editor complaining that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “…and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”



This started a controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column that went on for weeks until someone wrote: “I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”



Although church attendance isn’t required for entrance into heaven, it is extremely vital to your spiritual growth. Some Christians think just watching services on TV are sufficient. But unless you are physically unable to get to a church, that’s no excuse to disobey Hebrews 10:25; “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Your favorite TV preacher won’t be available to meet with you every time a crisis comes up in your life. It’s also important to be accountable to other believers so you won’t fall back into a lifestyle of sin. 



If you grew up in a church that was so boring you watched the clock and looked forward to leaving, I can relate. As a kid, I attended traditional church services where I sat on hard wooden pews listening to old organ music and lifeless sermons that nearly put me to sleep. 



Fortunately not all churches are like torture chambers. God is pouring out His spirit in these last days. New churches are being raised up where the uncompromised word of God is taught with signs following. When the Holy Spirit is allowed to function in a church without religious restrictions placed upon by its leaders, then it’s a place you will want to go back to again if you are truly hungry for God. Psalm 122:1 says, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the LORD.’”



Everybody should have a home church. Some churchgoers are what Jerry Savelle calls “spiritual night clubbers”, drifting from one church to another. It’s good to see what God is doing in various parts of the Body of Christ. But Psalm 92:13 says, “…Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish...” I heard another minister compare church-hoppers to a plant that dies because it’s constantly uprooted from one place to another. 



You might ask yourself, “How do I find the right church?” The first thing you should do is asking the Lord where He wants you to go. God has a specific church picked out for you. 1 Corinthians 12:18 says, “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” Once you’ve asked the Lord where to go, then you need to put some footwork to your faith. If you have co-workers, friends or family members in your area who are born-again Christians, ask one of them about attending their church. If after doing that, you still haven’t found one that feels “home” to you, try contacting organizations such as Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International who can help direct you to a good local church. 



You can also use the Internet in your search for a church. That’s how I found Springs of Living Water in Fargo, North Dakota. After briefly moving back to the Fargo-Moorhead area, I was surfing the Internet one day and came across the church’s web site. The web site intrigued me enough to go to this church the following Sunday. The Holy Spirit mightily touched me during my first visit and since then I’ve regularly attended services there when I’m in Fargo.

Whether or not you have a dramatic encounter like I did, here are four questions you should ask yourself when going to a church for the first time...





• ”Does this church lift up the name of Jesus?”


• ”Are the pastor’s sermons based on the Bible and not on man’s opinion?”


• ”Are people’s lives being transformed there?”


• ”Does this church reach out to the community with the gospel?”



If the answer to all these questions were “yes”, then I would encourage you to continue attending this church unless the Lord shows you differently. 



WELL, EXCUSE ME! 



Picture this scenario: After years of being a football fan in the fall, a basketball and hockey fan in the winter, and a baseball fan in the spring and summer, one man swore that he would never attend another game. Here were his reasons... 



• “Every time I went, they asked me for money.” 


• “The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly.”


• “The seats were too hard and not at all comfortable.”


• “I went to lots of games, but the coach never visited me.”


• “The referee made a call with which I couldn’t agree.” 


• “I suspected that I was sitting with some hypocrites – they came to see their friends and what other people were wearing rather than to watch the game.”


• “Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.”


• “The band played some songs I didn’t know.” 


• “The games were scheduled when I wanted to do something else.”

• ”My folks took me to too many games when I was a child. ”


• “I just read a book on sports and I know more than the coaches.” 


• “I hate waiting in traffic jams in the car park after the game.”



Of course, these are things you will never hear at the ballpark. A real sports fan will not let anyone or anything interfere with his passion for the game. Yet one negative experience is enough for some folks to quit coming to church. 



There is no such thing as a perfect church. Otherwise if you walked into one, that church would no longer be perfect. I like the motto one church in Florida uses; “The perfect church for people who aren’t.” Would you stop going to a barber just because you got a bad haircut? No, you would simply go to a different barber. Likewise if the church you have been attending is not so good, find a better one. 



All ministers and congregation members are human and will occasionally make mistakes. If a brother (or sister) in the Lord mistreats you, forgive that person and pray for him. The Lord will let you know if the situation is serious enough to where you need to attend church somewhere else. 



On the other hand, some church elders need to be more compassionate toward first-time visitors. Once there was an elderly man in a church building for the first time. This man had thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit. A believer had previously invited him to come to church many times before. Several other Christians had tried to share the Good News with this man. He was a well-respected, honest man with so many characteristics a Christian should have, but he had never put on Christ. 

The believer had asked this elderly man a few years ago, “Have you ever been to a church service in your life?”



He hesitated and then with a bitter smile told of a childhood experience some fifty years before. 



He was one of many children in a large impoverished family. His parents had struggled to provide food, with little left for housing and clothing. When he was about ten, some neighbors invited him to worship with them. The Sunday school class was very exciting to him for he had never heard such songs and stories before. He had never even heard anyone read from the Bible!

After class was over, the teacher took him aside and said, “Son, please don’t come again dressed as you are. We want to look our best when we come into God’s house.”



He stood on his dirty bare feet dressed in ragged, un-patched overalls and answered softly, “No, ma’am. I won’t.”



”And I never did,” he said, abruptly ending the conversation. 



That Sunday school teacher may have meant well. But did she really understand the love of Christ? Hadn’t she studied the teachings found in the second chapter of James? Think of the awesome responsibility she had in welcoming little ones in His name. Perhaps she could have put her arms around the dirty little boy and said, “Son, I am so glad you are here, and I hope you will come every chance you get to hear more about Jesus.”



That immaculately dressed old gentleman was lying in his casket. 



Jeff Fenholt tells of a similar experience. Just before he had become the lead performer in the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar”, Jeff responded to the altar call at a revival meeting. But the minister there wouldn’t lead Jeff to Christ unless he cut his hair and changed his appearance. Jeff stormed out of that church and continued a lifestyle of sin. Fortunately the fervent prayers of his wife resulted in Jeff’s salvation years later. 



It has been said that God catches the fish first and then cleans them. Dressing up in “Sunday-go-to-meeting” clothes is not a prerequisite to receive the love of Jesus Christ. The Lord wants us to come to Him just as we are.

DON’T GO TO HELL OVER A LOAD OF BRICKS 



In his book “Wanted: Extreme Christians”, evangelist Stephen Hill wrote about a time he went door-to-door in a neighborhood inviting people to attend a crusade he was preaching at. One man told Stephen, “You couldn’t pay me to attend that church” and proceeded to talk about how years before he had purchased bricks to help build that church. Sorry to say the pastor changed his mind, sticking the brick man with a large bill. 



Stephen advised this man, “Don’t go to hell over a load of bricks.” 



When I am out witnessing and ask people why they think they will go to heaven, one response that frequently comes up is “I go to church.” Walking into a church doesn’t make anyone a Christian just like walking into a hospital doesn’t make anyone a doctor. Titus 3:5 says, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” You cannot do anything in yourself to receive salvation. That only happens by making Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. If you haven’t done that yet, then I encourage you to pray this prayer like this one out loud… 



”God in Heaven, I know I’m a sinner and I need Your help. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my heart, make Yourself real to me, cleanse me and protect me with Your precious blood, fill me with the Holy Spirit, keep me away from sin, be my Lord and Savior. Amen.”



God bless you as you grow in your relationship with Him!