I've had the occasion more than a few times of trying to find a church for a friend or a family member....most often from another state. I will usually initiate this search because they are in need of a church. I'll Google a list of all the churches in their area.....and then narrow them down to the denominations where I know at least the gospel is in their history....then I visit the website of the church....if they have one....which they usually do. There will most often be a....What We Believe link....usually with bullets of some sort....categorizing the beliefs as to the Father....and the Son....and the Holy Spirit....and then topics such as.....The Bible....Salvation....Heaven....etc....all very short and concise...and often there is more space taken up with directions to the church than their doctrinal statement.
And then there are always the ministries....which in a megachurch can extend into the dozens....women's....men's....youth....toddler....small groups....outreach to the community....music....hospitality....and if the church is well known enough....there is a link for....giving. Most church websites do not list....sermons....although some do.....and when they do....it usually eliminates that church right there....for my search anyway.
I know from experience that the best churches will be so small that they won't won't even have a website.....and there is really no way that I can find them.....but on occasion I can find a jewel.....or a diamond in the rough....with great links on not only what they believe....but terrific links on where one can go to learn online.....or great books one can purchase. I did find one of these churches last year....for a friend in distress....and directed him to it....even contacting the pastor in advance. So my friend did visit a couple of times....found it boring and left....and continues to flounder in his faith....for one has to know what is important in a church search....and not just what one desires.
Here's my advice if you feel that you have to move on from your church today in which you have been...."always learning but never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth." Forget things like youth ministries as a selling point. If the music is great...the preaching probably isn't. You can get lost in a megachurch....or so busy with all the activities that you forget what you were looking for to begin with....and it's probably not there anyway. If at all you can do it....check the sermons out before you go....or at least the titles of the sermons....and if you go....forget all the smiles and handshakes....look for some evidence in the faces that tears have recently been shed....shed for what what the world is coming to....what has happened to America....and the false answers to those problems that we have been given. Try to see what the conversations around you are about....are they of Christ....or of the great community of which everyone there shares?
Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle.....located in Elephant and Castle on the south side of London's River Themes.....was a megachurch for its day.....but an altogether different type of megachurch. The ministries were numerous....with orphanages and schools and book & tract ministries....but there was a difference here....for all of these ministries had a foundation....the preaching of the whole gospel of Jesus Christ....the at times tortuous attacks the Christian experiences....the need to be born again....the surety of God's Holy Spirit there to guide us....the warnings of false gospels all around....and the heaven reserved for the Christian. Spurgeon read Pilgrim's Progress....according to his own testimony....100 times....and that is evidenced in his preaching. He read other faithful pastors of his past....never stopping to admire his own knowledge....and that is also evident everywhere in his ministry. I've heard it said that a small group of people were praying in the lower level of the church as Spurgeon preached above them. If a megachurch is missing evidences such as this....then all the ministries will most likely be hollow. So look for that church where 'success' is not necessarily determined in this life....but the life to come....keep this as your focus....and you will find that church.
