Many Christians will be quick to point out that there is no such thing as a perfect church. This is because every local church is composed of human beings, and none of us are perfect. I agree with this sentiment. However, I, also, believe that, if you're looking for a church, it's important to have standards. Otherwise, you may find yourself associating with a group that may not even be a church. In that case, it would seem that you'd be doing more harm than good.
Once again, 1st Corinthians is a helpful guide, when it comes to this subject. 1st Corinthians 5:9-13, reads as follows:
In the letter that I wrote you I told you not to associate with immoral people. Now I did not mean pagans who are immoral or greedy or are thieves, or who worship idols. To avoid them you would have to get out of the world completely. What I meant was that you should not associate with a person who calls himself a believer but is immoral or greedy or worships idols or is a slanderer or a drunkard or a thief. Don't even sit down to eat with such a person.
After all, it is none of my business to judge outsiders. God will judge them. But should you not judge the members of your own fellowship? As the scripture says, "Remove the evil person from your group."
-1st Corinthians 5:9-13
This scripture reminds us that we need to have standards, when it comes to finding other Christians, with whom we associate. So, it doesn't make sense to go to a church that blatantly teaches things that you know to be biblically inaccurate. It's one thing if your pastor says something that you don't agree with, but may be debatable. Or if he makes a mistake, and says something that is minorly flawed. However, when it comes to undebatable issues --issues, on which, the Bible is crystal clear, that's when I look for the door.
One mature Christian stated this notion, fairly well. He said, "While listening to a sermon, you have to be able to pick the meat from the bones".
It isn't unheard of for me to listen to a sermon, that my pastor gives, and disgree with him on minor, debatable points. This rarely happens. However, if it does, it's usually a topic that's debatable. If I'm bothered enough by it, I may even speak with him about it. These sorts of things aren't reasons to abandon a church. However, if I'm hearing sermons that directly contradict what the Bible says, then, again, that's a red flag.
Fortunately, the Bible is very clear on most issues. Jesus said that his sheep will follow his voice. For me, it's always been pretty easy to discern whether or not I'd re-visit a church. Often times, the distinctions are glaring.
So, what do you do if you're having trouble finding a good, local church? Should you just choose not to go, or should you compromise on your standards?
I would never recommend compromising on important biblical standards. If I ever ran into this sort of situation, I'd simply drive farther, and go to an acceptable church that is farther away. This may be less convenient, but, at least you can be at peace, knowing that you're in the company of true believers.
If you're looking for a church, I hope this article has provided some helpful tips to keep in mind. As always, the underlying basis, for this entire article, is based on scripture.
In order to discern whether or not a church is a biblical one, it's vital to have a good, thorough, understanding of the Bible, and what it teaches. Otherwise, how will you be able to discern what's right or wrong?
As you can tell, 1st Corinthians is a valuable book, when it comes to learning about the way the early church operated. Most of the passages, that I've cited for this article, are taken from that book. So, if you're looking for books of the Bible that tend to talk about this issue, I would suggest starting with 1st Corinthians. Titus, is also helpful.
If you want to read about how the early church started to developed, I'd point to the book of Acts.