What church should I attend? This is a most important question that all Christians will have to ask themselves at times throughout their lives (hopefully seldom). Whether it be someone moving away to another city and looking for a new church, a university freshman new to the area, or someone driving a fair distance to our church and wondering if they should find something closer, this question has been posed to me often throughout my years in pastoral ministry.
Now there are many possible answers and suggestions that I could and sometimes do give in response, depending on the situation. I could walk through each of Mark Dever’s 9 Marks of a Healthy Church and encourage the brother or sister to evaluate each prospective church according to these 9 biblical standards. I could ask them about the driving distance and how able they would be to plug in to the life of the church outside of Sunday morning attendance. I could inquire about the quality of the prospective church’s small groups ministry and whether or not it is laser-focused on making disciples. I could encourage them to look at some of the smaller (but still significant) signs of church health such as how many attendees carry their Bibles into the worship service and whether the men sing during the congregational singing. As I said, there are many pieces of advice that I could and sometimes do give.
But while all of these factors are important to consider, they are all downstream from one greater, more fundamental concern. The process of determining which church to attend can be boiled down to one primary question: Where will you be most sanctified?
After all, another way to posit the question, “What church should I attend,” is to ask instead, “What church would God have me attend?” And no other verse in Scripture makes God’s will for our lives more abundantly clear than 1 Thessalonians 4:3 which says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” Do you want to know God’s will for your life in every consequential decision you make? Here it is: your sanctification. God’s will—God’s purpose—for your life is your own sanctification. Your growth in righteousness. That’s it. We tend to overcomplicate and overthink things, hoping that God would write his will for us in the clouds, while ignoring the fact that he’s already written it down for us on the pages of Holy Scripture! His overarching will for every area of our lives is our own sanctification. This truth has implications for who we marry, where we live, what vocation we pursue, how we educate our children, and certainly where we attend church.
So let’s apply that truth to the topic at hand. When it comes to deciding upon which church to call home: be jealous for your own sanctification. Prioritize your own sanctification over everything else—over comfort, over proximity, over friendships, over personal preferences, and over convenience. Now don’t get me wrong, some of those factors may influence and affect the evaluation process. For example, driving 2 hours to a church with better preaching is likely not better for your sanctification than driving to a church 15 minutes away with not-as-good preaching but where your family can be more involved and faithfully shepherded. On the other hand, the better church to attend may not necessarily be the closest one, or the one where involvement comes most easily. You have to wisely weigh all these factors against each other. Your conclusion may even lead you to move your family to be closer to the right church. But again, the ultimate thing you’re seeking to determine is this: Where will you be most sanctified?
It’s worth noting in our comfort-obsessed age that the answer to this question is almost always not the church where you will be most comfortable. The church where you will be most comfortable is most likely not where you will be most sanctified. Why? Because sanctification by nature is uncomfortable. It calls you to daily death (Luke 9:23, Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5). It demands that you do whatever it takes to kill your sin (Matthew 5:29-30, Hebrews 12:1). It involves God pruning (John 15:1-2), refining (Isaiah 48:10), and disciplining (Hebrews 12:10-11) you. It even involves suffering and trials (Romans 5:3-5, James 1:2-4). None of that is easy or comfortable. This is why when the New Testament speaks of our growth in godliness it uses terminology like “strive” (Luke 13:24), “train” and “toil” (1 Timothy 4:7-10), “make every effort” (2 Peter 1:5-7), “work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), and “fight the good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12). Because sanctification is hard and uncomfortable. But it is good. It is worth the effort and discomfort. And above all else it is God’s will for our lives as believers. So if things like the unapologetic preaching of God’s Word (2 Timothy 4:2) or the accountability time in small groups (James 5:16) or the gentle correction of another believer in the church (Galatians 6:1) makes you uncomfortable at times, that’s ok! Frankly, church life ought to be uncomfortable at times. Because the church is in the business of sanctification. And our sanctification is an uncomfortable process.
All that to say, when determining which church to join, yes, ensure the church teaches sound doctrine. Of course. Yes, ensure they preach the full counsel of God’s Word. Yes, ensure that sin is regularly preached against and the gospel is regularly rejoiced in. Yes, evaluate their discipleship ministry and accountability structures. Yes, determine how easy it will be for your family to plug in to the life of the church throughout the week. etc. etc. etc. But as you weigh all those factors against each other, don’t overcomplicate and overthink things. At the end of the day, go where you and your family will be most sanctified. Be jealous for your own sanctification. For this is God’s will for your life.
