What should I be looking for in a church?

[aron]

Originally Posted by Kevin

What drove me away were their theological views and their attitude towards other Christians.

I'm strongly convicted to look in a more Bible-based, Christ-honoring direction and can do that in a loving manner, then staying would seem to be the better course of action. I don't know exactly because no church is perfect..

The LC has a terrible attitude toward other Christians. I can still hear WL saying, "Too poor". Contrast to his disciples promoting his "rich ministry". Such an attitude of condemnation of others and self-satisfaction really marred this ministry and the group affiliated with it.

(WL did repent at the end, on the matter of "receiving others", but it didn't make much of a change that I could see)

And the main problem with their theological views, in my opinion, isn't that they were laced with ignorance. On this side of the mortal veil we're all ignorant. It's that ignorance was foisted on us like it was objective reality. Listen to any message given by WL and you would hear, "We all must see that. . ." and "You must say. . ." repeatedly. No choice was given. Bad theology, or at least highly subjective and speculative theology, was placed in front of us and we were forced to eat.

Look at any HWMR - "we must" and "we need to" and "we have to" is attached to ideosyncratic fluff. Not all of it, of course; some is sound. But there's enough subjective nonsense to fill several rooms.

Originally Posted by jcyrb

Look at the conservative wings of the Presbyterian churches.

I agree with jcyrb. Go somewhere safe. Don't worry about boring. Go somewhere conservative, and relatively safe. Where abuse is less likely. Ultimately you are responsible for your journey. But you want to conduct your journey in a place where people are not pressuring you to conform to unbiblical standards, like in the LC.