San Diego Church Review & Guide

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2005-09-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

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Maranatha San Diego

2005-08-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

San Diego Church - New Reviews

2005-06-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Escondido United Reformed Church

San Diego Churches Reviewed

2005-06-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Grace (Mira Mesa)

Escondido United Reformed Church

new San Diego Churches Reviewed:

2005-05-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Bonita Valley Community Church

St. John of the Cross

2005-04-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

A new san diego church review has been posted: St. John of the Cross

San Diego Citadel Corps Community Center (Salvation Army)

2005-03-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

New San Diego Church Review:
San Diego Citadel Corps Community Center (Salvation Army)

St. Gregory of Nyssa Greek Orthodox Church

2005-03-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

New Church Review:St. Gregory of Nyssa Greek Orthodox Church

Kairos Prison Ministry

2005-02-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

New entry on Kairos Prison Ministry

Christ Lutheran Church

2005-01-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

New review Christ Lutheran Church

Eighth Church of Christ Scientist

2005-01-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

New review of Eighth Church of Christ Scientist

The Way Christian Church

2005-01-14T22:18:00.000-08:00

New review of The Way Christian Church in Chula Vista.

Faith Presbyterian Church

2005-01-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

New review of Faith Presbyterian Church in San Diego.

The Vertex

2004-12-03T16:48:00.000-08:00

New Review: The Vertex

Orange County Church Reviews

2004-11-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

We've launched a new site to review churches in Orange County. Orange County Church Reviews

La Mesa First United Methodist Church

2004-11-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

New Review: La Mesa First United Methodist Church

St. Francis and St. Taricicus Old Catholic Church

2004-11-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

New Review: St. Francis and St. Taricicus Old Catholic Church

Calvary Chapel San Diego

2004-10-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

New Review: Calvary Chapel San Diego

New Hope Friendship Missionary Baptist Church

2004-10-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

New review: New Hope Friendship Missionary Baptist Church

Faith Bible Church

2004-10-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

New review: Faith Bible Church

New Posts

2004-10-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

9 Marks of a Healthy Church
New Church Review: Matthew's House

New San Diego Church Reviews

2004-09-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Fields Church
Clairemont Covenant Church

San Diego Church Guide & Reviews

2004-09-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

A handful of new reviews posted at: http://www.sandiegochurches.org

School is Back

2004-08-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Review of some local 'younger' churches with a bent toward 'postmodernism' or 'emerging worship'. (All reviews now at: http://www.sandiegochurches.org/

The Flood (emerging worship)
Kaleo Church (emerging worship)
The Rock
Mission Gathering (postmodern)
Coastlands Church (postmodern)

Site Moved to www.SanDiegoChurches.org

2004-08-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Please visit our new site location with new reviews and current updates. http://www.sandiegochurches.org

Grace Bible Church

2004-08-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5
Site Design: 2/5
Site Content: 2/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 5/5
Beliefs: 4/5
Community: 3/5

Summary: Grace Bible Church is a solid Bible teaching church. They are from the reformed baptist persuasion. They list their beliefs as well as their churches Constitution, By-Laws and Statement of Faith. Anyone interested can learn exactly what this church believes and how this is administered at their local church. I am glad to see a church so willing to share openly what they believe.

The website is from another era. It uses frames and is very simple, which makes it easy to navigate but there is not that much to see. Without knowing it you switch from html to pdf documents. They also have pictures mostly dating to 2001. All this being said, the church looks like a great place to be taught the things of the Lord. The sermons seem full of meat which would grow all believers.

Grace Bible Church is a sound Biblical church even if they aren't net savvy.

Horizon Christian Fellowship

2004-08-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5
Site Design: 4/5
Site Content: 3/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 3/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 4/5

Summary: Horizon Christian Fellowship is one of the 'mega' churches in San Diego. It has a school, cafeteria, a coffee shop (called the "Sacred Grounds” Coffee Cart), Youth groups, Single's Ministry (The Edge) and about 40 other ministry areas. Their website is sleak and well designed and you can quickly find which compartment of their church you fit in to.

From my experience, how do you become a 'mega church'. The first is through the persona of the Pastor who has a dynamic that is either entertaining or witty but this draws a big crowd. Often in conjunction with this growth, the church becomes a mall. It begins offering services to every population group. Now nothing is wrong with either of these in themselves. But the final challenge is what separates the good from the bad.

The biggest fault with mega churches is that they purposefully avoid scriptural teachings to not ruffle the feathers of those who attend. Time and time again these churches preach a watered down gospel that misses much of the deeper, even challenging areas that cause growth and repentance before God. My experience with Horizon is through the interaction of a number of people who have left because when they had serious questions based on the Bible, those in leadership were unwilling to give them answers. They preferred that people do not seek these things.

With this said, Horizon is still a church filled with brothers and sisters in Christ. They are preaching faith in Christ and we all are part of the larger body of believers here on earth working to proclaim the message of the cross to this world. And it is because of this, that this church is still far better than many churches in San Diego.

Horizon is a church that is preaching Christ, but they shy away from some of the meat of Scripture.

Metropolitan Community Church, San Diego

2004-08-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 3/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 1/5
Beliefs: 2/5
Community: 4/5

Summary: The MCC is an open and affirming Christian community. From their site: "This means that we embrace people of any race, ethnic identity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, economic status or life situation to be a contribution to this ministry. We are about bringing people into a vibrant, life-changing relationship (as opposed to religion) that following Christ was originally intended to be." The first MCC was established by Rev. Troy Perry in Los Angeles in 1968, as a particular ministry to the Gay Lesbian Bi-Sexual and Transgender(GBLT) community.

The goal of this church is changing attitudes in the GLBT community toward Christ, and the Christian commmunity toward GLBT people. I agree with this but not in the way MCC intends. It is true that often Christians attacked the GLBT community and are more concerned with specific sin that they forget that Christ conquered sin, all sin. This means that homosexuality is NOT the focus in sharing the gospel with gays. The focus is all are sinners and have fallen short of God's perfect and eternal laws. (see Romans 3) But clearly MCC has a socio-political agenda that is built on accepting all lifestyles, which is clearly not something that the Bible tells us. Yes we are to LOVE all people, but all of us need to come to the cross and seek forgiveness and leave our lives of sin.

I would not recommend this church as indicated by a poor position on Scripture.

San Diego Churches Reviewed

2004-08-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

Rating \ Church Website \ Review

93% Kaleo Fellowship Church of San Diego (Review)
89% Covenant Baptist Church (Review)
87% Harbor Presbyterian Church (Review)
79% Grace Bible Church (Review)
78% Iranian Christian Church of San Diego (Review)
77% The Rock Church (Review)
70% Horizon Fellowship (Review)
60% San Diego First Assembly (Review)
55% San Diego Japanese Christian Church (Review)
53% First Presbyterian Church San Diego (Review)
41% San Diego Church of Christ (Review)
33% First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego (Review)
23% Metropolitan Community Church (Review)
06% A Church For Today's World (Review)

Top 10 San Diego Church Search Results

2004-08-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

Google August 2004
Search: San Diego Church
This Last Week Site
1 1 First Presbyterian Church
2 3 First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego
3 2 The Rock Church
4 4 Kaleo Fellowship - San Diego Church
5 5 San Diego Japanese Christian Church
6 * MCC San Diego
7 7 A Church For Today's World
8 * Iranian Christian Church of San Diego, California
9 * San Diego Seventh Day Baptist Church
10 *International Christian Church of San Diego

Yahoo August 2004
Search: San Diego Church
This Last Week Site
1 1 San Diego Church of Christ
2 2 Church in San Diego
3 * Kaleo Fellowship - San Diego Church
4 4 First Presbyterian Church
5 6 San Diego Arabic Baptist Church - El Cajon,CA
6 * First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego
7 * Kaleo Fellowship
8 * The Rock Church
9 5 Church of Scientology of San Diego
10 8 A Church For Today's World

Covenant Baptist Church

2004-07-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5 (easy to use)
Site Design: 2/5 (looks like a front page template)
Site Content: 3/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 5/5
Beliefs: 4/5
Community: 4/5

Summary: Covenant Baptist Church used to go by the name Unchained Christian Church. Their website is simple in terms of written content, but they do have mp3's you can listen to as well as they stream their services so that you can listen online. Much of the content (what they believe) is hosted offsite but is thorough.

This church holds to strong doctrine and based upon what they believe, I would recommend this church. I have had a chance to attend a few services and their preacher, Gene Cook is a remarkable preacher and gifted teacher. Their service is a bit more traditional than much of the contemporary worship but this fits well with the community they are building.

I would highly recommend this church, they have a solid foundation, a strong community and preach verse-by-verse through the Bible. This is a great church particularly for those who enjoy singing a hymn.

Top 10 San Diego Church Search Results July 2004

2004-07-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Google July 2004
Search: San Diego Church
This Last Week Site
1 4 First Presbyterian Church
2 3 The Rock Church
3 2 First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego
4 5 Kaleo Fellowship - San Diego Church
5 10 San Diego Japanese Christian Church
6 6 Iranian Christian Church of San Diego
7 7 A Church For Today's World
8 * Chinese Bible Church of San Diego
9 * International Christian Church of San Diego

Yahoo June 2004
Search: San Diego Church
1 San Diego Church of Christ
2 Church in San Diego
3 First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diegp
4 First Presbyterian Church
5 Church of Scientology of San Diego
6 San Diego Arabic Baptist Church - El Cajon,CA
7 Iranian Christian Church of San Diego
8 A Church For Today's World
9 San Diego Japanese Christian Church
10 Grace Brethren Church, San Diego California

Harbor Presbyterian Church

2004-06-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5 (easy to use)
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 2/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 5/5
Beliefs: 4/5
Community: 4/5

Summary: Harbor Presbyterian is a church that made a decision to not abandon the cities core and planted an inner-city church. Harbor has a strong desire to be a missional church to reach the lost with the good news of Jesus Christ. They have a solid and orthodox statement of faith. In addition I am really impressed with their missional desire to serve those in need. (homeless, prison ministry, Mexico poor, etc.) They also have a wide number of community groups. This is essential for growing in fellowship and your knowledge of who God is.

I believe in believers baptism (upon professing Christ as you savior) so this is the only mention I have where I'd disagree. The great denominational divide between Baptists and Presbyterians is over the issue of baptism. Presbyterians believe in baptising babies (like Catholics) while Baptists do not. But this is not a salvational issue. Overall this looks like a great church for anyone to attend.

This is a great church for you to attend, particularly if you are from the Presbyterian tradition.

San Diego Church List

2004-06-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

First Presbyterian Church San Diego

2004-06-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5
Site Design: 3/5 (traditional)
Site Content: 3/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 2/5 (revised web differs from reality)
Beliefs: 2/5 (revised web differs from reality)
Community: 4/5

Summary: This church has a great statement of Faith in their words "We are committed to classical Christian orthodoxy, the Reformed Faith, and the Evangelical theological heritage. The goal of our church is to live, work, serve, and worship together as a Household of Faith centered around the Lord Jesus Christ. Our mission is to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded." Well said!!!

EDIT: I spoke with a friend who has more information on this church. It turns out that although they post their belief statement, it is not the same as what is preached. As part of the PCUSA movement, this denomination continues to slip into liberal non-orthodox beliefs that are shaping the future of their churches against Biblical teachings.

EDIT: 6/9/04 Their website statement of faith does not dictate the reality of what they believe.

A Church For Today's World

2004-06-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 3/5
Site Design: 1/5 (banners, annoying pop-up's, counters and other frustrations)
Site Content: 2/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 0/5
Beliefs: 0/5
Community: 1/5

Summary: As far as the website you can view some of their beliefs, which are based on Religious Science. They state that they have "Licensed Practitioners of Religious Science are trained to view each situation from a spiritual perspective. They work with Spiritual Principle to reestablish the harmony of mind, body, and emotions. All healing is possible for each of us as we access the perfection of the Divine within us." Watch out, this service comes with a FEE!

I think their own website says it all, the Church For Today's World is an Interfaith Spiritual Community, teaching the principles of successful living through "Science of Mind." There isn't much to review here. The Church is a heretical cult that worships the individual and not God.

WARNING: This Church is not a Christian church.

Top 10 San Diego Search Results

2004-06-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Google June 2004
Search: San Diego Church

This Last Week Site
1 1 San Diego Church of Christ
2 2   First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego
3 * The Rock Church
4 * First Presbyterian Church
5 3 Kaleo Fellowship - San Diego Church
6 4 Iranian Christian Church of San Diego
7 8   A Church For Today's World
8 5 Episcopal Diocese of San Diego
9 9    San Diego First Assembly
10 *    San Diego Japanese Christian Church

Yahoo June 2004
Search: San Diego Church

1 San Diego Church of Christ
2 Kaleo Fellowship - San Diego Church
3 Church in San Diego
4 First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diegp
5 First Presbyterian Church
6 Church of Scientology of San Diego
7 San Diego Arabic Baptist Church - El Cajon,CA
8 Iranian Christian Church of San Diego
9 A Church For Today's World
10 The Rock Church

Church Seeking Question # 5

2004-05-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

Another important part of being involved in a church is being in fellowship with other Christains. You want to make sure you find a church that you can become actively involved in. Hebrews 3:13 and 10:25 make it clear that if you want to have a successful Christian life, you have to be involved personally in your church. It is often in these more intimate settings accountability, encouragement and growth takes place.

Some of the questions you should think through are: Does this church have regular times for small groups? (Bible studies, prayer groups, etc.) Could you begin attending one of these right away?
Are there people in this church that you could get to know who could help disciple & befriend you?

San Diego First Assembly

2004-05-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 3/5
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 4/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 3/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 3/5

Summary: The First Assembly churches website is fairly busy, with a primary focus on communicating the 'where's and when' of their services and other meetings. Each of the main buttons compartmentalize the different groups you can attend, ie Children, Youth, College, 55+, Couples, Recovery, etc. It seems there is a lot of opportunity for different community groups.

The church posts the Nicene Creed and Apostles´Creed as their statements of faith. They fall within the broad evangelical base which holds a strong view of scripture as truth. They are a pentecostal which puts an "emphasis on Spirit-driven service to our world". A quote from their website says: "Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel". If this is speaking about healing in terms of Christ works to redeem us through His work, yes, if it is about physical healing, this is where we disagree on what the 'gospel' is. It is at this place that many will differ on their beliefs with San Diego First Assembly. This issue can be devisive. If you'd like read more from an essay by John MacArthur titled, "A Look at the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement Is it Biblical?"

Evangelical Confessing church which holds a pentecostal position. Suggest you learn more about this if you plan on attending..

San Diego Japanese Christian Church

2004-05-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 3/5
Site Design: 2/5
Site Content: 2/5 (Dated links, little to no information on what they believe.)

Church Review
Scriptural View: 1/5 (Not described.)
Beliefs: 1/5 (Unknown.)
Community: 4/5 (Little shown, some pictures & a guestbook.)

Summary: This site is primarily a piece to give directions, phone #'s and other contact information NOT to communicate to people what they believe. They have two newsletters that I can't read because they are in Japanese. The only content are a series of "Footprints" stories from people who attend and/or visit the church. Based on the pastor's education (Fuller Theological Seminary) and some of the comments posted, clearly they have a heart for Christ and a desire for people to come to know Him. These Footprints include scripture quotes and a high view of trust in our soveriegn God. But because of the lack of information, I cannot fully know what they believe.

Not much information, but it appears to be a Christ-centered Church. If you speak Japanese, this may be a good place to check out..

Top 10 San Diego Search Results on Google (May 2004)

2004-05-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

This Last Week Site
1 1 San Diego Church of Christ
2 2   First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego
3 4 Kaleo Fellowship - San Diego Church
4 3 Iranian Christian Church of San Diego
5 6 Episcopal Diocese of San Diego
6 * San Diego Seventh Day Baptist Church
7 5 MCC San Diego
8 *   A Church For Today's World
9 *    San Diego First Assembly
10 *    First United Methodist Church of San Diego

The Rock Church

2004-04-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5
Site Design: 4/5
Site Content: 4/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 4/5 (Fairly solid.)
Beliefs: 3/5 (Solid but light.)
Community: 4/5 (From the website small groups, pictures, events listed, forums, classifieds, etc.)

Summary: In addition to looking through the Rock's website I've had the chance to attend the Rock on a couple of occassions. Overall, the Rock is a bible-believing, Christ-centered church who recognize that all people need Jesus in order to be reconciled to God. They are a great church for newbie christians and they seem to have a heart for the lost. This is a good church for a believer to attend.

My only 'critiques' would be that their messages/sermons are fairly light. From my visiting and even if you look on the website, there are many biblical truths that are either not communicated or avoided. Being located on a college campus each year new students and hopefully converts are blessed by coming to the Rock, but at some point in a person's faith they may need to move beyond what the Rock can offer. Secondly, I'm not a big fan that so much attention is centered on Miles McPherson. There is the Miles McPherson Page, the Miles Ahead Ministry, they even have bought google ads and in the space to enter a description they put "Led by Pastor Miles McPherson" as their content. I believe a church should not focus so much on one man, except for Jesus Christ our Lord.

A good bible-believing church that preaches Christ but doesn't always dig into the deeper issues of faith..

Metropolitan Community Church

2004-04-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 3/5 (A lot of visual clutter but simple.)
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 2/5 (Not much content.)

Church Review
Scriptural View: 0/5 (There is no writing that communicates their view.)
Beliefs: 0/5 (Nothing communicated.)
Community: 3/5 (From the website there are events listed, small groups, forums, etc.)

Summary: MCC has a simple website with 4 main pages. Unfortunately they have decided not to place any of their beliefs on the site so we cannot review their church beliefs.

We're all in the dark on this church until they post some content & what they believe..

Church Seeking Question # 4

2004-04-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

As 'The Purpose Driven Everything' takes over the Christian world, churches are thinking about their purpose. This is both sad that we would forget but encouraging as christians we begin to understand our role in this world and God's involvement through us.

Biblically, the purposes that every church should be seeking to fulfill are worship, evangelism, training, encouragement, fellowship, and service. It is important to find a church that takes these seriously and is actively working to make them happen. God has saved us so that we can be the 'light to the world' that we would 'spread the good news of Christ' these ideas are called "missiology" or studing the mission of the Church as God planned it.

Matthew 28: 18-20
18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

So the next question to ask is...

Does this church see it's purpose to glorify/worship God and evangelize the lost?

Kaleo Fellowship Church of San Diego

2004-04-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5
Site Design: 4/5
Site Content: 5/5 (A lot of content)

Church Review
Scriptural View: 5/5
Beliefs: 5/5
Community: 4/5

Summary: What does Kaleo mean? Kaleo is the Greek source word, which Bible translators render as "called". At first glance, this site may not look like your typical church website. Different images rotate each time you visit the home page, displaying core values of the church. The design is well thought out and easy to navigate. Clearly this church has a desire to minister to people via their website. The website has a lot of content and it is updated frequently. You can find sermon mp3's & documents, articles, a class on the foundational beliefs of christianity, a library of online teachings, cultural reviews of film, music, book, art and other commentary.

Kaleo does a great job articulating their beliefs, and it's easy to find it on the website. They hold to a strong Biblical position in their views. They say it best, "It is our passion that Kaleo would become a community that is being freed and transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is learning to worship God as His sons and daughters, and that is inviting others to experience the liberating power of the gospel."

I'd encourage anyone to go check this church out..

Iranian Christian Church of San Diego

2004-04-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 3/5
Site Design: 2/5
Site Content: 3/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 4/5 (Right on, from the site: "The Bible is fully and completely inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God.")
Beliefs: 4/5 (From what I read, they are solid.)
Community: 3/5 (Seems to be good from website.)

Summary: The site is not the best quality. It has scrolling marquee's and looks to be designed by an amateur. Some of the content talks about Christmas and New Years, considering it's April, this site isn't all that current. Also, part of the content is in an Farsi language. But enough about the site design....on to the important things:

After the two first reviews, I was starting to become frustrated at the churches in Google's top 10. It was refreshing to get to this site. Not only are they doctrinally sound, they clearly have a heart for evangelism and living out their beliefs. In America where Iranians are often vilified it is awesome to see a group who love God and are commited to truth. What about the Middle East conflict? They see it in proper terms, communicating Jews need to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. All in all check out this site, it's sermons and their commitment to living out the gospel...

From what is on their site, I recommend this church. Particularly if Farsi language is your first language..

First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego

2004-04-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 4/5
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 4/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 1/5 (Scripture is a 'guide' but they do not believe it to be God's truth.)
Beliefs: 1/5 (I would say they are not 'orthodox' in their beliefs, changing the words of scripture to bend to their own agenda.)
Community: 3/5 (From the looks of the site, very community focused. They want to love and accept all people.)

Summary: This site has a clean design and easy to figure out interface. Solid usability for the average browser. You can view past sermons (The last sermon listed is " I Can’t Stand Conservatives; They Are So Bigoted!" and othes such as "Proud To Be an Unrepentant Religious Liberal!"), see their calendar of events, and check out all the social action they do in the community. I would say we could learn a lot from their level of social justice, as they reach out to the community around them and love them.

As far as their beliefs. They believe in universalism (everyone goes to heaven) and enjoy a focus on religious pluralism. Which really means they are making NO claim on truth. There is no God who calls us to believe in Him, rather it is up to the individual to 'find god' and live any way they see fits their feelings. You can read their sermons that communicate this such as "Hinduism: Many Paths to the Same Summit" or "Truth Is One, The Wise Call It By Many Names".

The First Unitarian Universalist Church is not Christian but do agree with some of the 'christian philosophy found in Jesus teachings'.

San Diego Church of Christ

2004-04-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

Website Review
Site Usabilility: 3/5
Site Design: 2/5
Site Content: 3/5

Church Review
Scriptural View: 2/5 (They do hold to scripture, but legalistically so.)
Beliefs: 1/5
Community: 3/5 (Great community, they will always invite you to Volleyball....without telling you about their Bible Study for you to follow.)

Summary: The site has a plain but simple design. It has a focus on the community, with events and a calendar of activities. They have sermons online in mp3 format. They also have studies and articles online. One of my biggest concerns, is that they do not have what they believe displayed!!!! I know I could listen to 10's of sermons to try to figure this out, but I don't really care to do this. Also, they are also known as the 'International Church of Christ'. This is a cult has had problems on a number of college campus. (read article) I have a friend who did come to Christ through the Church of Christ, but quickly left when he saw the manipulation that occured. They said things like if you don't stay at their church you are not a Christian, or that you can only be baptized by their Church.

A great site that investigates cults summarizes the following: "The International Church of Christ (ICC), does not deny any of the essential doctrines of Christianity. Aside from its requirements on baptism as a necessary part of salvation, it is Orthodox. Therefore, I do not categorize the ICC as a non-Christian cult. Rather, I see the ICC as a Christian Church with some serious problems; namely, legalistic and excessive control over its members." For more on this click here.

I recommend that people avoid this group.

Top 10 San Diego Search Results on Google (April 2004)

2004-04-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

1. San Diego Church of Christ http://sd.ucd.net

2. First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego www.firstuusandiego.org

3. Iranian Christian Church of San Diego www.farsinet.com/iccsd/

4. Kaleo Fellowship - San Diego Church www.kaleochurch.com

5. MCC San Diego www.mccsd.org

6. Episcopal Diocese of San Diego www.edsd.org

7. Covenant San Diego Church www.covchurch.org

8. The Rock Church www.therocksandiego.org

9. San Diego Japanese Christian Church www.sdjcc.tierranet.com

10. San Diego First Assembly www.sandiegofirstassembly.com

Reviews of each of these San Diego churches will be coming shortly.....

Church Seeking Question # 3

2004-03-29T11:26:00.000-08:00

Now that you've examined if the church holds to scripture and that this shapes what they believe, the next thing to look at is how their beliefs tranform their lives. We are told that the "fruits of the Spirit" (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control--Galatians 5:22-23) are part of being a believer.

Do you see the fruits of the spirit in how people treat each other? Will non-believers come in and know they are christians by their love? Does the worship service point you to Christ and cause you to worship God, or does it instead glorify people or rituals? Is the music style an entertainment/concert? We are designed by God to be a people of worship. We will either worship our creator or the created. So the next question to ask is...

Is their a genuine spirit of worship and fruit in the San Diego church?

Church Seeking Question # 2

2004-03-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the churches you are looking at have been narrowed down to only those who claim that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. (Again, if scriptures are not seen as true, all you are going to hear from the preacher is their opinion! We have enough opinions out there as it is.) So the next piece to this journey is to examine how they view what scripture says. Often this is called their 'doctrine', 'beliefs', 'confessions', 'statement of faith', etc. This is a really difficult one because often many preachers do not even know what they believe. Here is an example doctrine statement

For example, does the San Diego Church believe and teach that:

-God is a Trinity--Three Persons in One (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
-Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life
-He died on the Cross as the final payment for all sins
-Mankind is sinful and in need of a Savior
-Salvation is only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ
-A person is saved when he/she repents of sin and trusts Christ as Savior and Lord?

These ideas are just scratching the surface. For example, you could go further examining the state of man's sinfullness. Some people believe that mankind is mostly good and that they just need to find God. Other's believe that mankind in their state of sin can only be saved if God sends His spirit to reveal himself to them. This sound like little matters but they make a HUGE impact on how we live.

Now don't get me wrong, we still have many things left to look at such as the mission of the church, the community, and all sorts of other important things. But for now, the second question is:

2. How does the Church interpret (beliefs) what Scripture says?

Church Seeking Question # 1

2004-02-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

One of the most critical things that seperates churches, is how they view the Bible. Many churches 'highly esteem' the Bible but ultimately do not believe that it is the inspired Word of God. The Bible alone should be the source of authority in a church. We, as Christians, believe God inspired people to write down the very words they wrote by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we do not believe this to be true and you do not trust Scripture to be accurate, then all you are left with is a cafeteria plan. Meaing, that you pick and choose what verses you would like to believe while throwing the rest out. This results in not accepting God for who He says He is in scripture, but building your own God the way you want by accepting or ignoring what is written in the Bible. So question #1 for choosing a church is:

1. Does the Church hold Scripture to be the inspired Word of God?

Searching Churches out Online

2004-02-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, I hate to do this, but I must start with a critique. Today, many of us begin our search process of churches online. So, if you search for "San Diego Church" on Google, what do we find?

1. San Diego Church of Christ - I went to their site and I could not for the life of me find out exactly what they believe.
2. Iranian Christian Church of San Diego - I appreciate that they state what they believe, which is very important for people searching for a church.
3. Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego - Again, they also don't put what they believe. They do say "MCC’s welcome everyone with a particular outreach to the gay,
lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community, our families and friends ". In the very front area of their site, so by this I would say they do not hold the bible to be true, considering they also perform same sex 'Holy Unions'. They list that they have Traditional, Contemporary, Bi Lingual, Charismatic, and Meditative Prayer services. Man these people are trying to be all things to all people.
4. Kaleo San Diego Church - Kaleo also states what they believe, in fact one of the menu choices is What We Believe with a link from here on their official doctrine statement.

PLEASE if you are going to have a church website, list what you believe. This is the starting place for anyone to figure out if this is a church that they should consider. I highly recommend Kaleo's website as a model, it has SOOOO much information it is quiet impressive.

Seeking a New Church in San Diego

2004-01-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Ok. I have a friend that is trying to figure out how to pick a church in San Diego. I thought this was a pretty good question. What do you need to think through in picking a church here? What is important? As we begin to think through this maybe we will come up with a guide to picking a church. I've seen other San Diego Churches Guide but I want to start from scratch thinking through each core issue. I'll be back.