Which Church?

As a retired pastor with 40+ years in the ministry, I have watched people as they come and go in the local church. The reasons vary as much as the people vary. There was a time when families were committed to the church of their grandparents and parents. Right or wrong, that is no longer true. I tried to find how often families change churches but could not find any research that shed any light on the matter. The fact is people DO change churches and even denominations, that being the case, I pondered how do people choose a new church?

For many, "church shopping" is like buying a new car. You 'test drive' a church by attending several weeks to see how you like it. People choose a car by how comfortable it is. Choosing a church is similar. How does this church make me feel? Some people do not want to be committed to one church, so they look at the religion section in the newspaper to see which church offers the best program each Sunday. They may decide to attend Church A on Sunday morning because the pastor is a renowned Bible teacher. This same family may attend Church B Sunday evening because of their fabulous music ministry. And on Wednesday evening, they attend Church C because of their excellent Children's Ministry.   

The average person looking for a church home is basically concerned about what the church can do for me and my family, nothing wrong with that but there was a time when people also considered how can they use their talents and abilities in serving the local church. One pastor jokingly said, "If you have someone in your church that you wish would leave, just ask them to teach the 5th grade boy's Sunday School class."  

One last though to think on. If Jesus Christ was living today on planet earth, what kind of church would He choose? Interesting thought.