All posts tagged Church

What is a good church?

by Hugh on August 19, 2008 in Faith with No comments

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?

Good Church Guide UK

by Hugh on August 18, 2008 in Faith with 5 Comments

I’ve received a number of emails from people around the world asking me to recommend them some good churches in different parts of the UK. So… I thought I’d create a Google Map with some good churches on it! It’s currently a work in progress, I hope to slowly update it.

My hope is to list a ‘good church’ in every major town in the UK so there’s a least one church listed somewhere near you. This isn’t an exhaustive list – the lack of inclusion of a church does not make it a bad church! So please don’t complain if your church isn’t on there. This is just my list of churches that I know to be good! Hopefully if you’re looking for a church you’ll find it helpful.

If you’re looking for a church then check out my Good Church Guide for some suggestions…

Ps. It’s not finished yet!

Driscoll: Movements are Messy

by Hugh on July 10, 2008 in Faith with 3 Comments

In Mark Driscoll’s final main address at the Together on a Mission conference he spoke about ‘Movements’ (or networks of churches, like New Frontiers). In introduction he took us to Acts 1:1-11 to the beginning of the movement, with Jesus as the head and the Spirit at work. He spoke about Paul’s church planting strategy of establishing churches in cities and commented on the strategic significance of cities – they have more people, and culture flows from a city.

Driscoll talked a little about some historic movements and described them by 6 marks of movements:

Young people, young leaders
Conversions
Church Planting
Unaware of extending influence
Supporting organisations (production of resources)
New Technology

Mark then went on to discuss the rather depressing cycle of a movement:

Simple Organisation
Growth (becomes a movement)
Institution – founders and friends are the leaders (young leaders leave), guarding previous innovation, stop listening to outsiders (need humility and discernment)
Museum

Driscoll then went on to talk about ‘going off course’, 7 ways that movements can turn into institutions, he credited these points to Larry Osbourne:

Theologically off course – either too tight (fundamentalist) or too loose (liberal – used Vineyard as an example)
Relationships become too close to accommodate new leaders and members
Organisationally not adjusted for growth
Pride – “not invented here syndrome”, a willingness to listen to others with humility and discernment is needed
Pursuing potential over calling – prayerfully consider what to do
Lack Resourcing
Honouring the founder and the future

Points 2, 3, 5 and 7 were specifically aimed at the New Frontiers movement, point 7 in particular. Driscoll basically said that soon Terry Virgo will have to hand over New Frontiers to a new leader (he is quite old after all!) and that new leaders need to respect Terry and the founding vision, but also respect the future and new opporunities that open. I understand that people in New Frontiers love and respect Terry, while Driscoll saw this as a great thing I think he also saw it as a danger for growth, changing structure and a clear vision for the future. Mark was very gracious to what is clearly a delicate and emotional subject.

In conclusion, Mark gave 6 phases of renewal (from Rick Warrren):

Personal – Spirit enabled passion for Jesus
Relational – love and compassion
Missional – overflow of relational love into sharing faith and church planting
Cultural – church culture infects the city
Structural – more systems, more policies, more churches
Institutional – breathe life into dead churches

Afterwards Mark received a standing ovation for his time with us, his honesty and his ability to clearly speak into the New Frontiers situation. Terry Virgo came up briefly afterwards to speak about momentous times at the Brighton Conference (this being one), and to give an emotional thanks to Mark. Exciting times for New Frontiers, for a vision of 1000 churches.

New Books

by Hugh on July 6, 2008 in Books, Faith with No comments

Tim Keller has a new book coming out in October called ‘The Prodigal God‘, it’s an exposition of the ‘Parable of the Prodigal Sons’ and I get the impression that like ‘Reason for God’ it will be accessible for both Christians and non-Christians alike. It’s released on the 30th and you can currently pre-order from Amazon for around �9, I’m hoping that the Good Book Company might have it in stock at a similar price nearer the time, I’ll let you know.

Here’s a short interview with Keller about the book, and a response from Keller about the use of the word ‘Prodigal’ in relation to God.

Also, Mark Driscoll has lots of books coming out this year which has prompted the launch of Resurgence Literature publishing (ReLit). The first book was Vintage Jesus, I’ve finally got round to reading that so I’ll review it soon.

The latest books out (released last week) are a series of 4 books – ‘A Book You’ll Actually Read‘ – they’re less than 100 pages on ‘The Old Testament’, ‘The New Testament’, ‘Church Leadership’ and ‘Who is God?’. These are the square shaped ones (left). At the end of July there’s a book called ‘Practical Theology for Women’ coming out by Wendy Alsup, a deacon at Mars Hill. ‘Death by Love‘ (right) is coming out at the end of September, from what I gather it is based on Driscoll’s ‘Christ on the Cross’ series and then put in to a letter format. Finally in January 2009 ‘Vintage Church‘ (middle) is being released, subtitled ‘Timeless Truths and Timely Methods’ – it’s in the style of the Vintage Jesus book and I’m guessing will be similar to the Radical Reformission, probably with more of a focus on some of his sermon series (1 Corinthians, Nehemiah) and some practical suggestions. One more thing, they’re also publishing other non-Mars-Hill books, so far just Total Church by Timmis and Chester.

$A Book You\'ll Actually Read$ Vintage Church Death by Love

Last week I picked up some books for myself at EMA – Total Church (Timmis and Chester), Why we’re not Emergent (some American guys), and The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Dever)… will give some thoughts when I get round to reading.