Visiting Churches intro

I've known basically 5 churches my whole life.

1. the church i attended as a child
2. the church i attended when i got saved
3. the church i attended while growing up into the faith
4. the church i attended while at seminary in Louisville
5. the church i attend now


Each of these churches are what i would consider for the most part, conservatively thinking churches. All are christian churches. All teach the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. All believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. All believe and teach that only those who are in Christ are saved. In fact, i'd say on about 90% of theology, each of these churches agree. The main differences are mostly in the philosophy and practice of ministry.

Over the last few years i've become more and more interested in what exactly the Evansville area has to offer in the way of Christian Worship. I've asked myself, "where do people worship and why do they worship there?"

Well i've decided to find out. Over the next several weeks i'll be attending 17 different churches. Each of them will be Christian. Many of them Evangelical in nature. my purpose is 7 fold:

1: understand the preaching content (not style)
2: understand the worship (musical) content (not style)
3: understand the process of conversion as defined by the leaders
4: understand the marks of membership
5: understand the visible process of sanctification
6: understand the understanding of role of leadership within the church
7: understand the spreading strategy of the Gospel

Along with my goals, i want to state what i'm not aiming for in this study:

1: not looking for the best church (obviously 'best' is a very relative word)
2: not aiming to attack any one or two churches
3: not promoting any one church over another
4: not looking for a new church
5: not intending to promote the idea that 'church hopping' is a good way to live


so thats about it. Lord willing, i hope my study will be interesting enough for you to read. edifying enough for you to be built up. critical enough for you to see why differences in churches matter. and ultimately, purposeful enough that you see the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in my words.