One of the better churches I've attended in my life -- probably the best, frankly -- is Grace Church in St. Louis.

Good points:

(1) No "sheep stealing": Many churches expand by attracting restless or sensation-seeking members of other churches. Instead, Grace made it explicit that their goal was to focus on reaching the unchurched in St. Louis, not to just move people from one pew to another.

(2) Their focus was on creating "fully-formed disciples of Christ" -- not just a hit 'n' run altar-call experience. They'd studied the demographics of those who'd made a "decision" at Billy Graham crusades, and realized that only a small percentage ended up sticking for the long run.

As a result, the emphasis was not on a one-shot experience, but instead they encouraged (and made it very easy) to sign up for all sorts of short-term classes where you could be taught the basic Christian doctrines (to let people make more informed decisions, etc.), what church membership means, how to use your abilities and talents effectively, etc.

(3) Common sense and culture: The service was culturally appropriate, combining engaging, upbeat contemporary music, speaking the common language (no special "sermon voice" from the pulpit -- ick), often-humorous dramatic presentations, and thought-provoking video material.

The "sermon" usually combined sound sociological or other evidence (not faddish stuff, but obvious, well-documented stuff, like who tends to be happiest, or what factors correlate with problems in marriage) with teachings from the scriptures and basic Christian doctrine. Not Christianity-lite, mind-you (a'la Willow Creek), just solid Christian teachings in a common-sense context.

In fact, one of the things I was so thrilled about is that it was a "cool" place to take outsiders. They'd come away saying: "Gosh, that was really neat." Many who eventually joined say: "I never felt judged." (Not that Ron Tucker, from the pulpit, didn't clearly lay down right and wrong. But it wasn't a cliquish, holier-than-thou kinda place, and new visitors picked up on that.)

And yes, they had prayer rooms for those needing help. They also now have an full-time area (after school and evenings) where teenagers could hang out -- a cool, supervised, safe environment with older Christians available to help counsel them on stuff they're facing in their life. (And the area simply looks amazing, with game tables, a great sound system, lots of great furniture, and that coffee-shop vibe.)

(4) Doctrine: Minimal doctrinal requirements from members, but high standards for top leadership. As a member, I only had to confess to one or two points of Christian doctrine -- God exists, Jesus died to forgive my sins, etc. Nothing a five-year-old child couldn't handle. And, blissfully, they actually focused on the basics, rather than getting off into controversial fads.

After having to ignore what I saw as rather major errors in every single church I attended, where the "error" (and even if I'm wrong, it was still not a necessary Christian belief) made it into every third sermon, it was so refreshing to just focus on the core doctrine -- especially since that's an area where many self-identified "Christians" are really uninformed.

Take, for example, miracles and "Charismatic" gifts. Most churches I'd attended denied God did such things, and some even seemed to deny miracles still happened. After I got frustrated at that teaching and its prominence (God seemed to have picked that very moment to start doing a few small ones in my life, probably to show me that stance was wrong), I ended up visiting other churches with a different view -- who felt, instead, that every single Christian had to "speak in tongues" and do it in church, en masse. (Which creates quite an interesting experience, to put it mildly.)

Reading the bible, and from my own experiences, I concluded both views were wrong: I noticed that God definitely still did strange and miraculous things. (And God definitely has a sense of humor!) But I also knew the bible also taught very explicitly that speaking in tongues was not a gift given to ("required of" would be more like their view) every Christian (1 Cor 12:30) and also that Paul taught very plainly that if you had such a gift, you should generally do it in private, not in public (unless someone explained) -- since it didn't enrich visitors, but rather just made them think you (plural) were all out of your minds. (1 Cor 14:9,23)

Why this is such a hard teaching for Christian churches to grasp is beyond me, but Grace is one of the few I've ever encountered who'd figured it out. They were post-Charismatic (worship-service-wise, not doctrinally), so they'd experienced the power of what God can and does do, but they'd also realized they weren't following the bible's teachings and repented.

(5) Reflecting the "kingdom". While overt race-balancing initiatives annoy me, I truly believe that if you "seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness", then these other things will naturally follow.

Grace was the opposite of a secular University campus in terms of it's doctrine, outlook, emphasis, and values. And there was close to zero focus on "creating diversity". And yet (I suspect it was precisely because they focused on the basics) the place naturally resembled the surrounding population: multi-ethnic, with people of all colors, races, religious and economic backgrounds naturally intermingled and learning from each other.

I'm not saying all churches have to be like this: but it's kind of a nice thing, and definitely something I was raised to believe in. (The dirty little secret of race & contemporary American religion is that while "liberal" churches like the "United Church of Church" whine endlessly about racial diversity, it is actually conservative churches on the other end of the spectrum that more frequently reflect it.)

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. (Rev 7:9)

(6) Lots of low-startup-cost opportunities for service: So often, American religion has come to be more like "putting on a show." And not that Grace didn't have what we'd call "high production values", but they put an emphasis on the members doing the ministry, not just the leadership.

They'd have "ministry fairs" with dozens of tables and displays explaining where you could get involved: ministry to the homeless, ministries for women, community groups, "Helping hands" (which helped with repairs among those who couldn't), visiting the elderly with pets, etc. If you couldn't find anything to get involved in, it sure wasn't their fault.

Did Grace have problems? Yes, certainly. Most of them stemmed from the fact churches allow us flawed people in. Because they attracted a lot of unchurched people, you'd sometimes encounter people who were not yet spritually mature, who still had obvious annoying habits or did or said wrong things. And sometimes people who were low-level leaders ended up teaching things which were a bit off-kilter.

And the high-level leadership had its problems too -- sometimes, they'd turn their own mistakes and sins into sermon material for mutual edification and amusement. But hey, that's the price you pay for dealing with a group of flawed, fallible, and often sinful human beings, and giving us all chance to serve and do stuff.

As Ron Tucker, the head pastor, used to joke (paraphrasing):

... so the pastor asked him: "Would you like to come to church?"

"No way," the man replied, "that church is just full of hypocrites!"

"Oh don't worry about that," replied the pastor, "we've always got room for one more!"

Grin

Yes, I'm a hypocrite: I believe in many good ideals, and yet fall short of them. Come and join us, in that regard: it's better to aspire to something than nothing. Find something, and aim for it, even if you fall sort of that goal again and again.

And God bless you.