First of all, if you are looking for an ideal church, you will be disappointed since none exists. No church is perfect, but some churches come much closer to the ideal standard than others. So, the question before us is what are some of the marks of what an ideal church should look like. I believe that John Stott gives us a good roadmap to help us in this quest, by suggesting seven characteristics that a healthy and thriving church must manifest: “These then are the marks of the ideal Church – love, suffering, holiness, sound doctrine, genuineness, evangelism and humility. They are what Christ desires to find in His churches as He walks among them.”1 Let’s briefly look at each of these seven traits:
Love
An ideal church is a loving church. Agape love permeates throughout the congregation. People really care about each other, and display this love for one another through self-denial and sacrifice to aid a brother or sister, through prayer for one another, and by genuinely caring for the needs of one another. Agape love is the hallmark throughout the church both inside and outside of the physical building.
Suffering
In an ideal church, when one member is hurting, all the other members rally around the hurting member and suffer with them. Also, when the ideal church is doing the work of Christ, it will experience a lot of appreciation by many, but also persecution for calling out sin and preaching the gospel.
Holiness
An ideal church takes sin seriously. It is spoken from the pulpit. Leadership must be above reproach. And church discipline for serious sins by members is dealt with to ensure that this cancer doesn’t spread. Holiness is not just preached in the congregation, but it is lived out by its members.
Sound doctrine
Sound doctrine is critical if a church is to be around ten years from now. An ideal church will take the teaching of the Scriptures seriously and encourage all of its members to study the Word of God daily. Without sound doctrine many a church will lose its spiritual compass, and can even slip into apostasy.
Genuineness
People in an ideal church are real people who don’t put on fronts to impress one another. They are sincere, non-pretentious, and warm and easy to talk with.
Evangelism
Evangelism is the heartbeat of an ideal church. Outside of worshipping Christ, the primary function of the church is to share the good news of the gospel outside of the four walls of the church building. Sharing the gospel is a command, not something nice to do, and a church that keeps the good news to themselves is an abomination to the Lord.
Humility
An ideal church is known for the humbleness of each member as well as its leadership. There are no superstars in the congregation but only lost sinners who have been saved by grace. Each person realizes that only when they are humble can God lift them up and use them to expand the kingdom of God.
My prayer for all of you reading this post is that we would all strive to put these seven characteristics into action in our own lives. When we do this, not only will we manifest a Christlike spirit, but we will gain the approval of our heavenly Father – and what can be more wonderful than this!