What does a spiritual church look like?
Of the four pictures which ones depict a spiritual church service? What criteria would you use to make such a determination? How would you judge such a thing?
The answer to these question can be tell-tale as to how corrupted in your thinking you’ve become by group self-righteousness (tradition) or personal self-righteousness. The right answer is all four could be a depiction of a spiritual church service and all four could not be a depiction of a spiritual church service or any combination thereof.
I have learned through the years that Christians have a tendency to judge spirituality based upon what they’ve become accustomed to, so if any one does things differently than what they are accustomed to they are automatically dismissed as being spiritually dead.
What criteria would you use?
- How many services does a church have to have to be considered spiritual? One, Two, Three, every day...
- How long do church services have to be to be considered spiritual? 45 minutes, 1 hour or more?
- What ministries does a spiritual church have to have to be considered spiritual? Bus ministry, Sunday school, Nursing Home, Door to Door Visitation program, Food and Clothes distribution to the poor, Teen Group, etc...
- Does a spiritual church have to have an altar call to be considered spiritual? Does it even have to have an altar? How long should the altar last? Are you not spiritual if you don't go forward? What kind of music ministry makes a church spiritual? Do they have to have a a choir or not have a choir? Does a spiritual church use soundtracks for special music or forbid the use of soundtracks? Does a spiritual church just sing hymns? Does a church have to use hymn books to be spiritual? Can a spiritual church use a projector instead of hymnbooks? Are instruments allowed or forbidden?
- What are the services of a spiritual church like? Does there have to be special music? Does there have to be congregational music? Are offering plates used or an offering box? Do things have to be done in a formal way? Does the preacher have to stand or can he sit? Can a projector be used?
These are the typical types of things and many more that many Christians use to evaluate how spiritual a church is. Reality is none of these things determine whether a church is spiritual or not, but they may indicate how caught up in tradition and self-righteousness you are.