7 Ways to Rate Your Church - Christianity Today

Money magazine annually rates the 300 best places in America to live. The ratings are based on climate, affordability, amenities, crime rate, public transportation, medical care, and other factors.

A similar approach has been taken with churches. Several major metropolitan newspapers regularly review churches. A religion writer makes an unannounced Sunday visit and analyzes everything from the sign on the outside to the sermon on the inside. Like restaurant and theater reviewers, some writers even use ratings, from one star (poor) to five stars (excellent).

Before protesting the impropriety of such ratings, reread Revelation 1-3 and recall the biblical reviews of the seven churches of Asia Minor.

Most people rate church atmosphere within the first 15 minutes of their first visit. They may not be able to fully explain how they reached their conclusions, but here’s what they’re likely looking for:

1. Sensing the presence of God

People expect God to come to church. I wish I could define what exactly people are looking for. I can’t. I guess it’s like beauty—you know it when you see it even though you can’t put it in words.

In Steve Macchia’s book Becoming a Healthy Church, he tells the story of a pizza delivery person walking into the new ministry center of Community Covenant Church in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Ten feet into the building, he stopped and asked, “What’s going on here? What’s this presence?”

Just as people can sense the presence of evil, they can sense the presence of God. For some who have never before experienced God, this single characteristic may determine their choice of church. Experiencing the supernatural is such a high priority in today’s culture that its importance dwarfs everything else in rating a church’s atmosphere.

Experiencing the supernatural dwarfs everything else as people rate a church’s atmosphere.

2. Others-centered

Some churches are self-centered. Some are others-centered. It’s not hard to tell the difference.

A friend recently entered a church lobby on a Sunday morning and walked straight into a donut-and-coffee hour. The people were talking and laughing and having a good time. They liked their church, but they never noticed her. After a few minutes of uncomfortable invisibility, she proceeded to the worship center where she sat in a pew alone for ten minutes. Finally an older lady sat and talked with her. The older lady also was new.

By contrast, an others-centered church is immediately interested in new people, what they need, and how the church can help. Such churches have a customized approach that changes with every person. The others-centered church talks little about its programs or its people unless that is truly helpful to the newcomer.

When our son was looking for a church in southern California, someone at one church told him, “You really should check out X Church across town with a singles ministry that would fit you better than anything we have to offer.”

I was impressed. I found that church attractive—truly others-centered.

3. Understandable terminology

Healthy churches tend to speak in terms everyone can understand. They make an effort to translate religious terminology into everyday language rather than to repeat cliches and jargon that constantly remind insiders they are insiders.

An insider knows that a revival is a series of weekday and weekend religious services, but an outsider might never guess. “Passing the peace” is a common part of many liturgies but sounds a lot like asking for more pizza at the dinner table. “The ushers will wait on us for the offering” could mean that they aren’t going to let anyone out until we all put something in. The most alienating lingo is abbreviations: BYO may mean “Baptist Youth Organization” to church members but “Bring Your Own” beverages (or booze) to everyone else.

Blessed are those churches where everyone can understand what is being communicated!

4. People who look like me

As soon as most of us enter a room, we look around to see what everyone looks like. Our level of comfort can be high or low depending on how quickly we find someone else who looks like us. In a room full of women, a man thinks, I’m in the wrong place. In a church where all the people up front are men, women wonder if they are welcome. In a gathering where everyone is young and casually dressed, the older person in a business suit feels out of place. When everyone else is white, the person of color notices.

That can be hard to change. If everyone in the church is old, younger people are less likely to come. The church that wants to be integrated may have a challenge getting started. Yet, it is amazing how even the smallest symbols can make an impact. Seeing one person who looks and dresses “like me” up on the platform or ushering or pictured in church publicity can communicate an open and inviting atmosphere.

5. Healthy problem handling

You can often tell more about a church by the way it handles problems than by the way it handles success. This makes for an easy measure because every church has problems.

What happens when the sound system emits a squeal or drops into embarrassing silence? How does the preacher respond to the howling two-year-old? Do nursery workers apologize or become defensive when they can’t find your baby’s diaper bag? When the church is running behind budget, is there a denunciation for undergiving or a challenge to prayer and generosity?

What makes a healthy church is not the absence of problems. It’s how problems are handled.

6. Accessibility

Every Saturday the Minneapolis Star Tribune reviews a local church, and every review evaluates whether the church building is handicapped accessible and whether there is adequate parking.

However, wheelchair ramps and parking stalls are only the beginning of accessibility. Is there clear and easy access to getting questions answered, meeting new people, talking to church leaders, joining the membership, discovering opportunities for spiritual growth, becoming part of a small group, resolving complaints, and signing up to serve? High ratings go to churches that are “barrier free” in every sense of the term.

At our church, every attender is invited to complete an information card at every service. There are blocks to check areas of interest. Each week many people write questions, comments, and criticisms on the back of their cards. By Monday morning all of the cards are sorted and assigned for personalized follow-up. It is part of our commitment to be accessible in every possible way.

7. Sense of expectancy

Listen to hallway conversations about the church, and you can decide if the primary verb tense is past, present, or future. Most healthy churches are hopeful churches. They are permeated with high expectations of God’s blessing for the future.

The majority of people who come to church feel beaten up Monday through Saturday; they are not looking for another beating on Sunday. They come to church for healing and hope. They want to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. They want to be told that God is there, God has not forgotten them, and God will bless them in the future. The church that truly believes and says that “because of Jesus Christ the best is yet to come”—that is the church that breathes spiritually healthy air.

Leith Anderson is pastor of Wooddale Church 6630 Shady Oak Rd. Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344