Hint: It doesn’t exist.

I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but you won’t be finding an ideal church anytime soon. One may have a great preacher on stage, but their missions work leaves a lot to be desired. One church’s

(c) timothy hursley
(c) timothy hursley

worship music is done with excellence and passion, but it has no singles ministry to speak of. One is involved in soup kitchens and crisis centers in the community, but the people in it haven’t been taught to grow by reading their Bibles.

The good news: The perfect church for you may be right around the corner.

I recently had dinner with a good friend who applied the same rationale to church-finding as I applied to husband-finding. There are some things that are non-negotiable, and they are different for everyone. For you, they might include weekly communion, or belief in certain aspects of theology that you ascribe to, or a spectacular music program. Anything that isn’t non-negotiable is, by definition, negotiable. If you have a problem with something in a church that’s negotiable, maybe you just need to get over it and commit to strengthening the church in whatever way you can.