LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY zoethe)

There's so much negativity out there, and so much to fear, that it's nice to remember that not all Christians are scary.

Stand Up, Stand Up for Wicca from Christianity Today.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY photosinensis)

As a long-standing student at my local university, I had an idea. Normally, when residents move in, they are handed an information packet detailing various items of interest, such as local eateries, stores, and yes, churches. Currently, the information in the church listing is rather incomplete, as it only lists addresses of the churches in our area (the Third Ward of Houston, which has many churches, most of them small).

What I'm thinking of doing is attending worship at each of the churches, looking at various aspects of that church. Of course, one must include worship times and college student ministries, but also a look at the community and theology of the church, and whether it's practices pose a threat to students' spiritual health.

Already, I've decided that churches of more than 5000 members will automatically be branded as suspect, simply because it's very difficult to get professional theological counseling in such an environment. Furthermore, such churches tend to cater to their more wealthy members, which also has a detrimental effect.

However, I need some help with finding other, more theological reasons to recommend a church as safe or label it as suspect or dangerous, particularly those that can be seen on a single visit. What, in your experiences, marks a service at a suspect or dangerous church, short of pulling out rattlesnakes during the service?