What is your local church like? Is it strong or weak? Sometimes Christians do not realize what makes a church strong, weak, faithful, or unfaithful. A common misconception is that churches with a large membership are strong, while churches that are low in number are weak. Nothing in the scriptures verifies that hypothesis; in fact, it indicates that it is wrong. The church at Philadelphia had little strength, likely a reference to their size, yet Jesus had nothing against them (Revelation 3:7-13). So, if the size of a local church does not determine whether it is strong or weak, what does? This week, I want to look at some of the characteristics of an ideal church. Keep in mind that an ideal church is not one that has only one of the characteristics that we will look at this week, but one that possesses all of them.

The first characteristic that I want us to consider is unity. The ideal church is unified. In the New Testament, we find many local churches. One of the churches that struggled the most was the church at Corinth. Only the church at Laodicea is described as being in a worse spiritual condition. What was so bad about the church at Corinth? Well, it struggled in several areas, but the one Paul dealt with first was their lack of unity.

1 Corinthians 1:10-11 (NKJV)
¹⁰ Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.

Paul pleaded with the saints at Corinth to avoid division, begin speaking the same thing, and to be perfectly joined together. This was Paul’s plea because they were failing terribly in this regard. Instead of being united, there were contentions among them. The word contention points to saints wrangling with one another. A local church filled with members who are arguing and bickering with each other in anger is less than ideal. It reminds me of the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:25.

Matthew 12:25 (ESV)
²⁵ Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.

A local church filled with contention is doomed to fail. Local churches must strive to be together, being of the same mind and judgment, and working together toward the furthering of the gospel of Christ. Paul told the church at Philippi that he wanted to hear that they were “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). That is what an ideal church does. Members work with one another, not against one another.

When you think of yourself in relation to your local church, do you find yourselves helping the church to be united, or are you contentious and combative? Those who are contentious tend to try to get other members to feel the way they do. If they succeed, the church becomes a divided church instead of a unified one. Only the devil wins in that scenario. Do all you can to help your local church be one that is together. The early church succeeded because they “were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44). That is a good start to being an ideal church.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.