Spiritual Sword: Finding the Right Church V56 No 1

Take a drive through your hometown or through any town in these United States.
Notice the many church buildings that litter the landscape. On this corner you see
First Baptist Church, and maybe a block away you observe the First Methodist Church.
Drive around a bit and you will also come across the First Pentecostal Church, the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, and perhaps Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Additionally, you might peer at some of the independent bodies such as the Love and
Truth Church and others.

Now suppose you are looking for a church to join. How do you decide? The Baptists
practice immersion. The Methodists practice sprinkling for baptism. Does this make any
difference to you? The Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians all believe
in baptizing [sprinkling] babies. The Baptists subscribe to “believer’s baptism,” that is,
one must be old enough to believe in order to be a proper subject for baptism. Do you
care one way or the other? Would any of these doctrinal factors influence your decision
about which church to join?

There was a time when doctrinal differences were very important to people. People
actually searched the scriptures to determine what the Bible teaches about salvation, the
church, and sound doctrine. Debates once were conducted between representative men
on points of doctrine, and these debates provoked much interest and attracted huge
crowds. Today, there appears to be a greater emphasis on other factors. Which church
building is nearest to where I live? Which church has the best program for children?
Which church runs a bus or transportation to their services? Who has the best music?
Which church membership would be better for my business or profession? To these
searchers, doctrine merits very little attention. It does not matter if a church practices
immersion or sprinkling, or whether baptism is for infants or believers. The only
question is, what kind of program do they have for young people, or who has the best
grocery giveaway or benevolent activity for the needy. These questions are very similar
to what one might ask in order to decide what community club or social club to join, but
are these the right questions to ask about finding the right church?

ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE

EDITORIAL Is There Such a Thing as the “Right” Church? Alan E. Highers
How Many Churches Did Jesus Build? ..........................Allen Webster
The Origin of Denominationalism ...............................Alan E. Highers
Can Denominations Be Justified? .........................................Jon Mitchell
Does the Church Matter?.......................................Steve Higginbotham
Identifying the Church: Worship .......................................Mike Hixson
Identifying the Church: Governmental Structure ............Phil Sanders
Identifying the Church: Plan of Salvation........................Hiram Kemp
Must We Follow the Bible?................................................Hugh Fulford
Why Are You What You Are?.......................................Wayne Lankford
The Courage to Change ......................................................Glenn Colley
Seven Ones (Ephesians 4:4-6)....................................................Bill Boyd
The New Testament Church..........................................Alan E. Highers