As pastor of the Christian Reformed Church of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Rev. Garrett H. Stoutmeyer is in a position where he has every opportunity to observe the church-shopping habits of CRC members and others who either relocate in Florida or otherwise make that state with its inviting climate their winter home.

My ministry is conducted in one of the largest tourist centers of the United States. Annually hundreds of thousands from every state in the Union, and from many countries abroad, come to Fort Lauderdale, the “Venice of America.” In that tourist migration are thousands of men, women, and children of Reformed persuasion, and in particular of Christian Reformed affiliation. We are each year meeting more and more Canadian (Christian Reformed) visitors, particularly from Toronto and Montreal, etc.

Thankfully, hundreds of Christian Reformed tourists are loyal to their own denomination and faithfully support its local ministry. What shall we say but “thanks to God” for those who twice each Lord‘s Day make the local Christian Reformed Church their spiritual home, away from home. But what of the many, many others of our denomination (I suspect the majority), who make no effort to look us up, seek us out, and add themselves to our fellowship? When Sunday comes, with its recurring regularity, denominational loyalty does not exist for many, and other churches are selected. Sunday comes and we go church shopping. Which church shall we select? The church where it is easier to get lost in the crowd.

– some shop by size: big or small? Some prefer a small church for its intimacy and others a large church where it is easier to get lost in the crowd.

– same shop by the ministry of the church: is the white? black? integrated? and how much is it going to cost? will the price fit within the weekly budget?

– some shop by location: is the prospective church convenient to home or motel? is it located on main-street USA? is it a main-line Protestant denomination? where do my neighbors or fellow tourist friends attend? will I have to drive out of my way to attend the local Christian Reformed Church?

– some shop by the ministry of the church: is the minister a “good” preacher? is he handsome? does his delivery comfort and console? or is he one who disturbs by preaching sin and judgment?

– others shop by musical taste: what of the organ? organists? choirs and soloists? is the music highbrow or lowbrow, etc.?

A far more serious problem, however, is the choice of a permanent church home. Statistics show that thousands each year are moving south, and into areas served by our Christian Reformed churches. However, only a very small percentage affiliate with our Christian Reformed churches.

The Synodical Committee on Membership Loss in its report to the Synod of 1971 cited many reasons for our denominational losses. One of the reasons, however, that I do not recall reading in their report is the ineffectiveness of our “check–and-balance” system. Church Order Article 41 at least semi-annually requires every Council/Consistory prior to the meetings of Classis to answer these questions, “Have you informed other consistories or pastors about members who reside, even temporarily, in the vicinity of their church? Have you, having been informed yourself of such members in your own area, done all in your power to serve them with the ministry of your church?” When said questions were adopted by the Synod of 1966 the ground appended is most interesting: “Ground: The transiency and mobility of our present population requires as much cooperation as possible for the spiritual supervision of our membership.”

Classical “Committees on Credentials” apparently arc satisfied with the answers received to said supervisory questions. However, my experience, which I do not believe is unique, is that Christian Reformed families and/or individuals move into our areas and establish themselves for a period of months and no word is received from the home Consistory or pastor as to their new location. By the time word of their known location becomes known by the grapevine they are often already settled in a new church home, and lost to the denomination.

I cannot recall the last time I received notification from a concerned/interested Council alerting me to such a Christian Reformed member living in my area and would I please look them up and welcome them to our church. It has been such a long, long time! Meanwhile, Christian Reformed families have moved into Fort Lauderdale and without even once visiting our church have taken their membership and support to other churches. The loss is also felt keenly by the local Christian School which needs the support of every new family. Either we should discontinue the formalities of Church Order Article 41 or make a renewed effort to reinstitute the “check–and–balance” system on both the Classical and Consistorial levels. Pastors too could do so much more in sending ahead a letter of introduction for relocating families to the pastor in the new location.

Sound preaching of the Word should make everyone aware of the extreme seriousness of church shopping. Article XXIX of the Belgic Confession of Faith strongly recommends that one’s choice of a church home should be based on three eternally-important considerations: first, is the preaching Biblically sound? second, are the sacraments Biblically administered? third, is church discipline faithfully exercised?

Anyone who presumes to go church shopping should give his/her primary attention to the preaching! Is the Word preached faithfully? The passing of time has not altered the necessity of sound preaching to any degree. It is still the most fundamental mark of the true Christian Church of Christ. Because the Word of God is:

– PURPOSEFUL: Isaiah said in chapter 55 of his prophecy that the Word of God is like rain and snow that fall not for their own display but to water the soil and cause it to break forth, to bud and develop, etc. It is seed as well as bread.

– POWERFUL: God’s Word never returns unto Him void or empty because it never comes void from Him. Every Word of God thrills with fruitfulness.

– PROSPEROUS: “It shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I send it”—the salvation of some and the condemnation of others.

A further consideration relative to the Word preached is this: is what is not said from the pulpit a careless or deliberate omission? Some pulpits are more celebrated for what they do not preach, such as the Five Points of Calvinism, than for what they positively preach. Some churches are selected for their “positive” pulpits and their “comforting” messages, etc. “I come to church to feel good, not to be riled up!”

Anyone, therefore, who presumes to go church shopping should be most sensiti ve to the preaching. But are we? Are we conditioned like the noble Bereans of the New Testament era to “receive the Word with all readiness of mind, and to search the Scriptures daily,” whether the things we hear are true or not? (Cf. Acts 17:11 and ff). Oh, for such listeners today!

The second consideration directly related to the first, “are the sacraments purely administered?” Are we so concerned about this matter? Are we ready· like the Reformers to reject all ceremonies and observances which are not Biblically instituted? Do we live in the spirit of the church bound to Biblical precedent? Do we respect sincere attempts to guard the sanctity of the Lord‘s Table? Do we demand of our preachers that the Word always be directly related to the sacraments, ,and the sacraments directly related to the Word? The sacraments should never be divorced from the Word for they have no content, meaning or significance in or of themselves. The church we select for worship and service, does it use the sacraments as a visible preaching of the Word? And are the sacraments administered only by lawfully ordained ministers of the Word and only to properly qualified subjects? In order to meet this high mark or standard, to be a living part of the true Church of Jesus Christ, the sacraments must be Biblically administered.

A final consideration is the matter of discipline and its administration. John Calvin has been quoted as writing that if the preaching of salvation is the soul of the church, its discipline is the nerves of the body. If that analogy is correct, I suspect, that there are many, many churches today without nerves! Because discipline on the national and international church scene is for all practical purposes non-existent! However, what kind of family or home life can there be without proper discipline? Chaos! Similarly, what kind of church life can there be if the church family exists without discipline? The church that is lax in discipline is bound to discover sooner or later the abuse of everything that is holy. The Word of God insists on proper discipline in the Church of Christ. I Corinthians 5 is living proof of that fact. Thank God for the discipline of the Word! Thank God for the faithful church officers who take their disciplinary work seriously and prayerfully.

A peculiar feature of Japanese horticulture is the production of dwarf trees. In flowerpots they grow veritable replicas of the giants of the forest. They are not mere plants, but true trees. Some of them are over a century old, yet they attain only a height of two or three feet. They look just like a tree of the forest. The gardener takes infinite pains to grow these miniature trees. They are raised from seeds and when only a few inches high the “repressive training” begins. Not a day passes but the gardener has something to do with starving and crippling them. They are transplanted to pots which do not contain enough soil to nourish their branches. The buds which appear are quickly nipped. And as a direct result of both starvation and spoilation they remain dwarfs all their lives.

What a picture that is of the way thousands of Christians are being fed and cared for by their churches! God help us all to look carefully at the marks of the true church of Christ and seek to determine whether they apply to our church home.