What Church Should I Visit When I Am Away From Marg?

You are living in Pune, thankful for being part of a Marg church family (hopefully thankful, guys!).

Then comes the time to visit your parents or your children.

The visit to your siblings in Mumbai.

The on-site work project that takes you to Delhi, Singapore, or Sweden.

Even on a fun trip to Manali.

Hopefully you desire to find a church gathering.

WHICH ONE SHALL IT BE?

Some people prefer a church community which has old friends.
Some visit the church they spent their childhood in. (What will your parents say?!)
Some visit churches led by a famous pastor or “anointed” man of God.

Some visit churches to “check out” beautiful girls or handsome dudes and see if God will show them “His will”. This image is dedicated to such champions.

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The Bible does not contain outright instructions on what kind of church you must attend when you are away from your home-church.
For short visits (a week or two in my understanding), visiting any church should be O.K. For longer stays, wisely choosing a church community can benefit you in the long run.

Imagine you find a church even better than Marg?  YIPPEE-KAY!

A “family” identity that thrives through the week, and not just when people meet on a Sunday and on a weekday.
Active application of the wonderful, powerful good news of Jesus in the life of believers AND non-believers.

Ideal! But more often than not, “ideal” doesn’t happen. So then, what kind of a church should you choose to be with?

Church websites and “statements of faith” say things that need to be verified and experienced for ourselves- not just on Sundays, but in the weekly small groups. Usually there’s nothing wrong in visiting a church community for weeks or even months. Let the pastor or elders there know that you are visiting. Ask them if that is O.K.

Here are some suggestions for beloved covenant members of Marg to help choose a helpful church community:

1. Find a church that gladly teaches the core teachings of the Bible and doesn’t shy away from them.

You don’t want to compromise on beliefs that are core to what the Bible teaches.

Does this church believe that God is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? 

Does this church believe that Jesus is the only substitute, the perfect sacrifice for people to be made right before God? Does this church believe you cannot be saved by your own good deeds or charity because we are all sinners by birth? Does this church believe that the Holy Spirit indwells you when you get saved? Do they believe the Bible is completely without any error?

Does this church shy away from talking about sin or the fact that Christ died to satisfy the wrath of a just God?

These are crucial, Biblical truths that the Marg church families have always held on to.

See our statement of faith.

These interesting infographics from Tim Challies address some basics of our faith.

In the case of further questions, you can always contact your respective Marg church leaders. God’s Word gives ample warning about false teachers (Acts 20:26-31). We love you, so we say – stay away from imposters and their harmful content.

2. Don’t bang your head over secondary (and tertiary) differences. Watch out for emphasis though.

Church does not have a worship band, acoustic guitar, bass guitar or a projector? Neither did the first church, remember?

“Website says this church has a dress code? What’s wrong with them?” What’s wrong with you? You won’t die if you honour their culture. Of course, if someone says wearing such clothes brings God’s blessing, then you have a problem.

Church has hyper-calvinists? If they talk about “4.55 Calvinism”, but have little to do with making disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18-20), I am not sure how you will be built up there.

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Church practices speaking in tongues? Hmm.. Tough one. For starters, you don’t have to wear bullet-proof vests and shoot your way out.

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Not all charismatic churches are out to “destroy your faith”, OK? How would you feel if a charismatic friend said that about Marg?

Precisely.

Find out if they make much of Christ and His powerful work of salvation. What does this church spend their time and effort in, week in, week out? Are they inspiring you to love Jesus and be like him more?

Do they teach you to love your neighbours better? To fight sin-battles? Or do they harp about a couple of over-emphasized spiritual gifts?

Church with folks howling like animals because they claim that the Holy Spirit has possessed them? Since there is no spiritual gift like that in the Bible, this is not a problem of emphasis, but of spiritual darkness. Get out of there before someone bites you “in the Spirit”.

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Pastor says God’s plan is for you to be rich and healthy?

Pastor says you are ill because you don’t have enough faith?

Worship leader says you should put money in the offering bag, because God will bless you then?

Aww.

This is called the “health, wealth and prosperity” gospel. It is actually a teaching based on your good deeds, not on your Saviour Jesus.

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I wonder who are more dangerous- the wolves who teach such stuff or the spiritual “were-wolves” above.

The Bible has one word for us – flee. Press the “Eject” button (1 Tim 6:10-11).

3. You won’t find the ideal church. Remember, you were never part of one. We at Marg are so perfect that it is a pain to look at other churches, right? I know!

God is appalled at your unspiritual, exclusivist, kitty-party! This is the same elitism that had taken foot-hold in the Roman and the Corinthian churches.

I too have been guilty of thinking that we alone hold the key to true worship, to true gospel-transformation! Nothing can be further from the truth. Only Jesus holds all truth and power because He is God, Marg is not! We are rescued people, striving to be faithful; people who need rescuing from temptations each day!

The more you spend time with any church, the more you will see the deep fault-lines true Christians have – and hopefully, God will also show you that you are no better. Hopefully we will be gentle while visiting other churches.

Probably what you feel with your Marg church is not perfection, but comfort. Comfort, that we all have finally found like-minded people.

Comfort is a good thing, but don’t look for comfort when you look for churches. Look for bitter truth and gracious love.

When I visit a church, could I stay back after the gathering time and offer to clean up the place?

Could I help with tract-distribution?

Not sure how to help ? Could I go ask the elders or the pastor?

Look to be like Jesus. Wherever we go, let our prayer be that God will use all things to make us more like His Son Jesus, so the world will admire God’s wisdom and power as we are put to use in other churches.

What is your experience from visiting churches? From visiting a Marg church? Do write in!

Resources
If you want to look up churches online, we recommend these tools. Thank you Luke, for pointing these out:

TGC – Church Directory

Acts 29 – Find Churches

Nine Marks – Church Search

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