Doctrine is important, many agree, but amenities (particularly social ones) can be the biggest draw. You’d be astounded how many folks knowingly disagree with their church’s doctrines, yet stay on, because of the music, the fellowship, the programs etc. People willingly subjugate truth to other things, because the other things convince them that the church is still a “good fit.”

“It’s hard to find a good church,” some will say.

How so?

“It’s hard to find a church that is a good fit for our family.”

If you read between the lines, this is consumerism. It involves the fulfillment of certain needs as a predicate for joining a given church.

Now, needs, in of themselves, are not the problem.

But the real question is: how have these needs been defined?

If one perceives one’s needs to be a loving church with a high view of God and His Word, that’s a positive start.

If a church is judged a “good fit” if it stands on Scripture, and is marked by the sacraments and church discipline, these are excellent (and necessary) criteria. If a church is identified as a “good fit” because it preaches Christ and Him crucified, then one’s search is on track.

But what if the search for a “good fit” makes those things secondary?

What if a “good fit” puts less of an emphasis on a church’s doctrine, than on its programs?

Or upon its childcare?

Or its music?

Or its proximity to people’s homes?

Or on what time worship is held?

My experience is that people often choose a church based on these sort of secondary concerns.

Doctrine is important, many agree, but amenities (particularly social ones) can be the biggest draw. You’d be astounded how many folks knowingly disagree with their church’s doctrines, yet stay on, because of the music, the fellowship, the programs etc. People willingly subjugate truth to other things, because the other things convince them that the church is still a “good fit.”

Observationally, a “good fit” can be code for “a church with enough programs and amenities to fill all the holes in my family’s social life.”

Young people in search of mates, parents in search of childcare, older folks who want fellowship, so many choose their churches based on the relationships it will grant them with men, not God. And so, the social component becomes the pied-piper of the evangelical world. Programs and amenities that promise social interaction that one (or one’s children) desire are the tune many church-seekers dance to. “Good preaching? Ehh. That’s what Sermon Audio is for. I need a place where I can meet some people!”

Still another set of folks look for a church based on the vacancy of certain roles. 

If an individual has a certain talent, they might cruise churches until they find one that needs help in that area. If someone like to teach, they might look for a place that needs teachers. The same with musicians.

Now, it’s not a bad thing to want to serve. But deciding on a church based on whether that church will give your gifts a platform is not right.

Now, not everyone strives for the wrong bar, or prioritizes the wrong things.

A great number of folks have the right priorities regarding church, even when it comes at a great cost. Some people attend small churches for years, churches that can’t possibly meet all of their perceived needs. They do so knowing that the local church cannot, and should not, be all things to all people.

In their view, the “right” church for you is the one that points one, with the greatest clarity, to Jesus Christ.

And if that is not sufficient, then nothing else will be.

Toby B. Holt is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.