Anyone searching for a church will eventually encounter a group that uses Christian words for something else. Lists of names are the usual response, and they age badly: names change, new groups appear, and a list tells you nothing about the one that is not on it.

The tests below are older and more durable. They are the questions the church has asked for centuries.

1. Who do they say Jesus is

This is the first question and the decisive one. Historic Christianity confesses Jesus as fully God and fully man, one person, eternally existing, not created. Groups that make him a creature, a lesser god, an exalted man, or one of many, have departed here, and everything else follows from it.

2. Is Scripture sufficient

Orthodox churches receive the Bible as the final authority. Watch for a second source that outranks it in practice: an additional scripture, a founder whose interpretation cannot be questioned, or ongoing revelations that correct the text. The tell is not that a group values a teacher; it is that Scripture is no longer able to correct that teacher.

3. How is a person saved

Historic Christianity holds that salvation is received by grace through faith in Christ, not earned. Watch for schemes where standing before God depends on meeting the requirements of the organisation, and where leaving means losing salvation rather than losing membership.

4. How does the group behave

Doctrine shows itself in conduct. Warning signs: leaders who cannot be questioned or held accountable; discouraging contact with outside family and friends; forbidding you to read other Christian teaching; financial pressure that is not transparent; and treating anyone who leaves as an enemy.

A healthy congregation can survive your questions. If asking one costs you standing, that is information.

What is not a warning sign

Unfamiliar music, an unfamiliar language, a tradition older or newer than yours, a small congregation, poverty, or practices that merely differ from what you grew up with. Most of the worldwide church is unfamiliar to most Christians. Strangeness is not error.

What to do if you are unsure

Ask a mature believer outside the group. Read the group description of itself and then read what it says about those who leave. And take your time: no healthy church needs a decision from you this week.

This platform lists Christian congregations, and we keep other religions and groups outside historic Christian confession out of the directory. If you see a listing that does not belong, every church page has a report link, and our help board is a place to ask before you visit.