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Which Church

It is not possible to tell you which church is best is a specific city or location because every church is at least a little different and some are vastly different. What I will do here is give you the most important criteria so you can check on them online, watch videos if they have them, or attend them and see for yourself. You should also ask churches questions by email or in person.

New Testament Church

What you want to look for is a "New Testament Church." That is a church that patterns itself after the first churches formed after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the churches that Paul wrote to and talked about in his letters to those churches. Many churches today claim to be a New Testament Church and yet widely differing. The more you understand what the original churches believed and how they operated, the better equipped you will be to determine which church is right for you.

If you know nothing or very little about the Bible and Bible doctrine, it may seem that any church would be fine. The more you know about Bible doctrine, the harder it is to find a church that fits your understanding of correct doctrine.  Even though as a new Christian, or a Christian that has maybe just begun to study the Bible, you should not just go on how you feel about a church, although that is important, you should still look for a church that has the closest true doctrinal beliefs. You probably will not be able to find a church that is perfect because they are made up of people and people are not perfect including the pastors. You will need to search and visit several churches and then pick one that is the closest and also that you feel fits you. Just be aware of the areas they may be a little off in.

To start with, make sure the church believes the basic doctrines of Christianity.

Basic (Major) Doctrines of Christianity

If you started with the web pages Foundational Truths and Ultimate Truth which tell how to be saved, then you already know some of the most important doctrines but here is a list:

• The Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God that has been preserved through the ages.
• Heaven and Hell are real places and all people will be in one or the other place after they die during this age.
• God and Satan are real.
• Jesus is the Son of God, came to earth as a man, was crucified, rose again the third day, and is now seated at the right hand of the father in heaven.
• Jesus was born of a Virgin.
• All people are born with a sin nature and in need of a savior or they will be destined for hell.
• A person is saved through the grace of God by faith without works and receives the Holy Spirit at their conversion. There is no other way to be saved.
• God is composed of three entities, the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit which together are called the Trinity.
• Jesus will come again at the end of this age and set up his kingdom on earth.

There are many churches that believe those basics but are still off in major or minor areas beyond the basics. Just because they state they believe in those basics does not mean they are a good choice.

King James Bible

When looking for a church, you should look for one that uses the King James Bible. Besides other versions changing some important parts of the Bible that changes the meaning, Pastors that use other versions also tend to correct the Bible. That is strange because they claim the Bible is the Word of God but then they correct it when they preach and write. You won't find that happening in churches that believe the King James Bible is the Word of God. There is a difference between explaining or giving examples and saying "a better translation would be..."

Independent Baptist Churches use the King James Bible.  Unfortunately, there are two types.

Independent Baptist Church — Two flavors

The Baptist church is one of the the largest protestant church denominations that profess to be New Testament Churches but there are hundreds of versions of Baptists. One of the most true to the original New Testament churches is the Independent Baptist church but their are two flavors, one that you want to stay away from.

Landmark Independent Baptists

This is the one to stay away from. The boldest will say they are Landmark Baptists but unfortunately, many will not and yet have all or some of the same beliefs. The main problem is the ultra-controlling nature of the pastor and/or the church beliefs. If you read negative reports and stories about an Independent Baptist church, you can bet it is of this flavor. Some will even call them a cult and the worst Landmark Baptist churches could easily fall into that category. Here are some of the beliefs:

• Successionism.  They believe they can trace their history without break back to the time of Christ and specifically to John the Baptist.
• They claim that an Independent Baptist Church cannot be started without the permission and official sanction of an Independent Baptist Church in that chain that itself was started in the same manner and tracing back to the apostolic time.
• Every Pastor must be likewise ordained by another pastor or group of pastors in that chain.
• No one can be baptized except by a pastor that was ordained in the above manner.
• Any baptism performed by other than the above is “alien baptism” and is null and void.
• If a person had an “alien baptism” they must be re-baptized by an “authorized” Pastor.
• You must be baptized by an “authorized” pastor to join the church.
• Only a Landmark Baptist church has the authority to ordain pastors, serve communion, exercise spiritual gifts, perform duties in the church, and even to teach the Bible.
• Communion is closed, i.e. only served to members of the church in good standing.
• Control of communion is to enable disciplinary measures of church members.
• There is no universal church, all references to a church in the New Testament refers to the local church.
• The Landmark Baptists are the Bride of Christ, not all Christians.

These are all wrong and support for the beliefs are not found in the Bible. These beliefs lead to arrogance and pride in the members and pastors and to dictatorial attitudes of the Pastors.

In reality, a church can be established today based on New Testament doctrines and views if they chose to without any authority other than those of Jesus Christ.

NON-Landmark Independent Baptists

Strangely, the other flavor of Independent Baptists generally does not subscribe to any of the wrong doctrinal views of the Landmark Baptists, are generally very closely patterned after the New Testament church, and so are highly recommended. Since many Landmark Baptist churches will have names without the word "Landmark" in them and will not even admit they are Landmark Baptists, one simple way to determine if an Independent Baptist church is of the Landmark variety is to ask them if they have "Closed Communion." That is a pretty accurate determination.

Many Independent Baptist churches don't differentiate too much between the different Baptist types and especially not between other Independent Baptist churches even if they are of the Landmark persuasion and will associate with them when they themselves are not Landmark. I don't hold this against them. Many don't even realize themselves which other Independent Baptist churches are of the Landmark type. The Landmark ones generally do not broadcast those strange beliefs they have.

Other Baptist Churches

Two big branches of Baptist denominations are the Southern Baptist and the General Association of Regular Baptists (GARB). Of course there are many others. These two and many others are generally too liberal and rarely use the King James Bible, even though they believe the Primary doctrines of Christianity.

Non-Denomination Churches

There are some good Non-Denominational churches that are very close to a New Testament Church and others are far from it. Unfortunately, many have adapted names that give you no indication of their denomination or may even claim to not be a denomination. The truth is that nearly all have doctrines, beliefs, and characteristics of a specific denomination. The thought is that people today, especially people that are new Christians, have negative views of traditional churches and traditional denominations. To appeal to those, they chose a non-denominational name. Many churches today, even Independent Baptist churches are falling into this trap and are changing their names to drop the denominational name from the name of their church.

This doesn't mean they are bad or to be eliminated as possibilities. You just must do some investigation.

The Pastor

Just like all people, all Pastors are different, have different personalities, and preach differently. Some are quiet, some are quite forceful. Even their integrity can vary with some even lacking basic honesty. Thankfully, the majority are good, honest, dedicated, God-loving people who care about their congregation. You have to find a pastor that you can feel comfortable with can sit under their preaching and guidance. If you have a family, you need to find one that the whole family can accept.

The Preaching

Like pastors, their preaching can vary a lot. The best choice is one that is well balanced and does both inspirational preaching to inspire you to be a better person and to serve in the church along with doctrinal teaching that teaches the various doctrines in the Bible to increase your knowledge of the Bible. If you attend a church and the Pastor never reads or quotes from the Bible, eliminate that one from your possibilities list.  Maybe attend a different service at a different time and give them one more chance but if no change, eliminate it. Some people like "hell fire and brimstone" preaching, and others can't handle it. Some don't like it if there isn't some of that. Find what you are comfortable with but allow for a few sermons you may not be all that comfortable with. It isn't always about comfort. It is about becoming a better Christian and about gaining knowledge of the Bible and Christ.

The Focus

Churches can have different focuses. They might have all their doctrines correct (unlikely) but still have their major focus wrong. Just like all things, you need to find a church with a balance and not a single focus. Some focus entirely inward. They just have potlucks, and events for the people of the church and the preaching is geared only for the growth of the church members. Very small churches are the most likely to fall into this focus.

Some focus on their community and helping with food banks and community events.  This focus and the internal focus both typically avoid promoting soul winning and some don't focus much on missions. It is the duty of the church besides growth in the individual to also win souls and do their best to keep as many people out of hell as possible. That is the whole purpose of this website.

Some do nothing but push soul-winning and/or missions to the exclusion of all else. This is rare but can get old. Usually those that focus on soul-winning and missions also have good internal focus as well.

The Service

Most New Testament churches have similar services with opening prayers, announcements, singing or instrumental specials, congregational singing, a message, and a benediction. Some are very casual with even their Pastor wearing casual clothes, while others can be more formal with suits and nice women's clothes. Some even have dress standards that they emphasize. Both normally don't discriminate against those that don't dress the same as the majority so a casual church is fine with people who dress up and in a more formal one, certainly wouldn't kick out a person who dressed casually. It is just a matter of your own preference if the doctrines are as close as possible to being correct.

Some pastors never close a service without giving an invitation at the end for people to get saved or to come to the front to the "altar" to pray. There are no altars in protestant churches, but the idea is just that an altar is where you bring your offerings which was Old Testament. A person could bring themselves as the offering. You don't have to agree with that practice and don't have to do that if you don't want to. You can pray right where you are (or anywhere anytime). You can pray and ask Jesus to save you in your own seat, too, but youbshould make your salvation known publicly at some point. My opinion is that it is a good idea to always end the service with an invitation because you never know when there might be a visitor or even a regular attender who might respond and get saved where without it, that person may just let it go, never get saved, and end up in hell.

Most churches will pass a plate for the offering for those that choose to give. Some now have the ability to give online either as a one-time gift or as a regular offering every week.
New Testament churches will also have communion where they will pass out usually unleavened bits of bread and small cups of grape juice. Churches vary in the frequency and services where this is done, some weekly, some monthly, some quarterly, some on special occasions such as Easter and Christmas. The Bible just says, that as often as it is done, it is done in remembrance of Jesus (1 Cor 11:25).

Music

Music is a big factor in a church service and should be considered when making a choice. The range can include only hymns, hymns and modern spiritual songs, "worship" music some refer to as 7-11 songs (songs you sing 7 lines 11 times), to "Christian" Rock and even hard rock. Instruments can include none at all, or for accompaniment, piano and/or organ, orchestra, band, or rock band, and special music could include any instrument or none at all. Some people will not go to a church if they have drums. The problem is that drummers often are quite loud or may be perceived as not spiritual. Soft drums with a small orchestra can add a lot but a rock drummer can ruin the atmosphere totally. Some bands in churches are so loud that they may even hand out ear plugs for "the older people" or those that want them. Ask yourself if the music makes you feel closer to God and puts you in a worshiping mood. What is called worship music today often is not worship inspiring at all. On the other hand, only using traditional hymns in a hymnal with nothing newer than 50 or 100 years ago is not necessary either. There are many very spiritual modern composers. Spiritual composers didn't just mysteriously end 100 years ago.

Some people object to overhead projectors with the words to songs on the screens. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, either. The problem is that is typically used for the "7-11" songs that are often not very spiritual and can get monotonous. Often all the songs are done that way without a hymnal. If that is the case, it is not a good idea. Again, ask yourself what mood the music puts you in. Mood isn't everything but it certainly can help put you in the right frame of mind to hear and retain a good sermon message from the Bible.

The Congregation

There are all sizes of churches and the congregations can be different based on size as well as other factors. A small church can be cliquish gathering in small groups where no one may greet a visitor or maybe one or two who are especially outgoing might. That can make a visitor uncomfortable. Others may promote always greeting visitors and making them feel welcome.  Mid-size churches will typically have some people who will notice visitors and make a point to greet them and make them feel welcome. Large churches probably have those that would greet visitors, but it is easy to get lost in a big church.  Some people would rather just go to church and not talk to anyone and so that environment might be what they want but it is hard to grow, to get involved, to use your spiritual gifts, or to make friends with that attitude. Again, it is up to the individual to find a church where the people make them feel comfortable.

Other Churches

There are so many other churches out there, it would be impossible to list them all and the wrong doctrines in them. The Catholic church is NOT a New Testament church and rarely teaches salvation through faith alone without works as well as several false doctrines. Presbyterian, Methodists, Christian Reformed, and many others are protestant churches and widespread, but do not baptize by immersion, don't use the King James Bible, usually are very liberal, and don't follow the Bible very closely. There are always exceptions but are generally not recommended.

In Conclusion

After all the above, you might feel like it is a huge task to find the right church for you. It is. You might visit 50 churches before deciding or you might find one after visiting just a few. If you chose a church quickly and they baptize by immersion, you can do that but don't get too attached until you know what they are about for a while. I was in a church for a year and very involved before discovering they were a Landmark type Baptist church and subsequently had to leave. Don't feel bad if you need to leave a church because of doctrine or a problem with the pastor's integrity or something else. On the other hand, when you find a church that is doctrinally correct as much as possible and fits your personality, dig in. Get involved. Be loyal. Be a regular attender when the doors are open as much as you can.