Right now there’s a conference happening in the States, in Durham, North Carolina, called Advance 2009.

Piper, Driscoll, Chandler, Stetzer, Chapell and a few others…

I’m guessing that full audio/video will be available at a later date, but the audio is being made available straight away on Desiring God… listening to Chandler ranting, his intro makes me laugh becuase he has “a picture of Dr. Piper on his fridge”.

1. Sin.
2. Get angry with other people.
3. Be part of the Church.
4. Live out Psalm 62.

I’ve found that 1 and 2 are really easy to do, but just make things a whole lot worse.

3 and 4 are harder, but liberating and life-giving. Surrounding yourself with God’s people and trusting him, is the solution to life’s crap… even though it seems easier to do things your own way (1 and 2).

Had the privilege of listening to John Chapman (Chappo) today on personal evangelism for church leaders.

He said this…

“Without good preaching, the wheels fall off a church”

I also picked up my copy of  ‘The Prodigal God‘ today – £10 from GBC. At the end of the first chapter [p16] Tim Keller makes this observation about our churches…

“If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think”

I’ve spent the last three years in Brighton, during that time I’ve had the privelege of being part of a great church and been able to visit other good churches in the area. Here are some of the good churches in Brighton. They would all be classified as ‘Evangelical’ and all to some degree follow my thoughts on a good church:

Bishop Hannington Memorial Church -  Anglican

Calvary Evangelical Church -  Independent

Christ Church Brighton -  Anglican (fresh expression)

Church of Christ the King -  New Frontiers

Holland Road Baptist Church -

Montpelier Place Baptist Church -  Grace Baptist

St. Lukes -  Anglican (bit Charismatic)

So Bish has helpfully pointed out the question which was already in my head following my previous post and creation of a good church guide – what defines a good church? Now much has been written about this question by people much wiser than myself…

UCCF have a little article on their website called ‘Choosing a Church‘. In summary, a good church… is faithful to the gospel, has godly leaders, and the members love and encourage one another.

I guess for something a little more in depth you could look at the ‘9 Marks‘ – 9 marks that characterize a good church.

But I want to answer the question from an e-perspective. If we’re looking for a new church, need to find somewhere good for a friend or new Christian to get stuck in, the first place we will often go is to Google and do a search… “good church in Brighton“. How can we discern whether a church is ‘good’ based on looking at their website? I hope to highlight some characteristics of a church website that will help us find out whether the church is ‘good’. I hope it may also reveal how churches can present information effectively on their website… incidently, if you feel after reading this that you need to revamp you website then I can do you a good deal on a new church website!

People or Buildings?

Pictures are a good indicator – are the pictures of buildings or of people? This will invariably tell you something about the church’s ecclesiology – is it about God and his people, or about tradition and buildings?

Emphasis

What does the church website emphasise? Is it the lead pastor and his wife? Is it the big band? Does it talk about Jesus and the gospel lots, or does it simply speak in vague words that could be applied to any religious community – Faith, Worship, Love, Fellowship, Community, Truth, Hope – all great Christian words, but in an age of pluralism they are meaningless unless grounded in Christ crucified.

Confessional

If I’m trying to suss out a church one of the first things I’ll look for is a statement of faith, what we believe, values page. A good church will be keen to express what it believes in clear statements of belief – creeds, basis of faith, doctrinal basis… generally if they’ve got one it will be pretty good, it’s when there isn’t one, or the church values could be applied to any secular community/charity that you need to worry.

Biblical

Have a look at their term plan. What are they preaching? Are they preaching through books of the Bible, or just random thematic preaching? Have a listen to the audio – how long do they preach for? is the Bible read? is the passage referenced in the sermon? A good church has a high view of the Bible – this is not just assenting to that fact in a basis of faith, but is shown in what is preached and how it is delivered.

Mission / Evangelism

Does the church look like a ‘bomb shelter’ as Driscoll puts it, or is it outward looking? Is there evidence that the church supports gospel work overseas? Is there evidence that the church is seeking to win their neighbours for Christ? Signs of this will be… links to mission partners/agencies, a presentation of the gospel on the site (or linked), the church is a community beyond Sundays, and has seeker courses like Alpha or CE running.

Affiliations

What organisations does the church belong to or link to? Do these groups love Jesus, how do they do in the previous criteria? Is the church part of a network/denomination – is that group ‘good’?

…so just a few thoughts, I hope they will help you to analyse church websites if you’re looking to find a church. If you run a church website, would an analysis of it give a fair reflection of your church?