4 Important Qualities Of A Church

I have been in more churches in the past year or so than I have been in my life. Church searches will do that for you. I have been in churches ranging from a mega church to where barely one hundred people were there. I’ve been in traditional churches and uber-contemporary churches.

I had a list of things that I was looking for in a church. Some of these I even wrote down. Others I had in my head and perhaps I didn’t even realize they were there. Now that we have settled in a church and love it, I’ve come to realize that there are really four things that are most important in a church. I did not get these from some book or some preconceived idea of what I want in a church. I don’t even get these from the church I am a part of now. I don’t believe that any church is perfect or even has all four of these things nailed down. But these are what every church should be striving to excel at.

Word of God

The early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching. The apostle’s were devoted to the word of God. This is what they preached. They preached from what we call the Old Testament. They preached what the Holy Spirit was revealing to them on a daily basis. They even got some other guys to help out with the physical needs so that they could spend their time devoted to the word.

Guess what happened? Thousands were coming to know the Lord. Their numbers were added to daily. They didn’t just wait for Sunday to preach and extend an invitation. There was something different about them.

Is that kind of power in our churches today? Perhaps some. Far too many fail. Nice little sermons that don’t really have any power are preached all across our nation. Many are basically self-help messages wrapped in Christian language. The Gospel must be driving what we say and proclaim. It is the power of God to salvation.

Fellowship

I don’t think this means that they simply got together to eat and laugh together. That may have been part of it. However, I believe they were devoted to fellowship with each other. They loved being together in Christ’s name. They sought it out. They worked for it. They pursued it. They didn’t just let it happen. These early believers depended on each other. If one needed help, they helped. If one was rejoicing, they all rejoiced. If one was grieving, they grieved together.

Do we have that type of fellowship in our churches now? Do we truly pursue fellowship the way the early church did? I know that we can use the excuse that it’s a different day and that we’re busier. Perhaps we’re too busy. Maybe there are things we should eliminate from our lives so that we can fellowship with our brothers and sisters.

Breaking of Bread

I used to think that they spent a lot of time eating together. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that today. But when I see that they were devoted to the breaking of the bread, I believe more was going on than simply eating. They were devoted to the Lord’s Supper or Communion. They spent time remembering together what Christ had done for them. They remembered that His body was broken. They remembered that His blood was shed.

Do we take this seriously? Do we really remember what He has done for us? Or is it something we’ve always done in our lives and in our church?

Prayer

The early believers prayed. And they prayed together. I don’t think they simply gathered together on Wednesday night for a prayer meeting, called out some prayer requests and said a prayers. These folks where serious about their prayer. Things happened. Prisoners were freed. Souls were saved. The Church exploded.

Do we pray? I mean do we get down to real, serious prayer? The kind that is life and world-changing?

When I think of these things, I realize how much I fall short in these areas. Most of my life in church has been set on cruise control. I would simply be happy when I got “there”. We simply don’t have time. We and our churches are surrounded by people who need to hear the message of the gospel that we have. We don’t have time to float. Where do we start? A good place to start would be with our churches focused on these four qualities.

What do you think are the most important qualities of a church?

First Church Year #8

I usually begin my recap with what happened on Sunday.  Let’s shake it up a bit.  Let’s start with Wednesday.

My friend David is the youth minister at our church.  He called me recently to ask if I would help him with some of the speaking on Wednesday nights.  I said yes and showed up to hang out with him and the youth this past Wednesday night.  I wanted to get a feel the group.

What ended up happening was that I gave an impromptu introduction by way of my life story, who I am and how I came to know he Lord:  you know, a testimony.  It looks like I will actually do some planned speaking this Wednesday.

Our church recently went through a building process.  This left the old worship area empty.  It looks like with some work and upgrades, the youth will be able to use this area on Wednesday nights for a worship service.  It’s exciting to be in on this from the beginning.

In Sunday School, we had a substitute teacher who did a great job. 

During the worship service, we had the Lord’s Supper.  It was the first time we had done this in at least six months, if not longer.  It was great to do this in remembrance of Him.

Following the service, I was asked to be a Roman soldier in the Easter musical.  I was told that there would be no lines.  I have this picture of me with a sword and a toga.  That would be a dangerous combination for me.  I also wonder if I could steal the show like Vince Vaughn did in the Christmas play in Four Christmases?

How was your Lord’s Day?