Orange County Churches Review & Guide

Orange County Church Reviews and Guide is a website that provides assistance to people who are seeking a church. Often it can be difficult to find a church home, whether you’ve just become a Christian or are moving into the area. Our prayer is that this site will be a tool you can use to find your next church home.

How we Rank: Our primary concern is determining what a Church believes. Do they hold scripture as true? Do they preach from God’s word so that they are providing the counsel of God’s word and applying it to the believers life? This is the primary concern. Next is examining their interpretation of Scripture. Are they trying to make scripture say what they want it to and interpreting it by their feelings or do they recognize we need to change when we contradict what God has commanded.

5-Star Churches: These are the best churches and are the ones we recommend people attend.
4-Star Churches: These are good churches that are recommended, there may be a lack of knowledge to be convinced of the highest ranking or small concerns that are not foundational.
3-Star Churches: These churches are good but are missing key beliefs, interpretations or theological convictions that impact the life of the believer.
2-Star Churches: These churches are Christian but either teach things contradictory to scripture or it is unknown what they believe.
1-Star Churches: Churches that claim to be Christian, use the Bible but have serious errors in their belief to the point of rejecting Jesus’ teachings.
0-Star Churches: Cults that use the word Church.

THE BIBLE: We believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the word of God and the only rule to govern the lives of people and affairs of the Church.

GOD: We believe the scriptures reveal there is only one true God who is sovereign, eternal, holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, and creator of all things. He is loving, gracious, merciful and long-suffering toward His people and is also righteous in his judgment of the ungodly.

TRINITY: We believe God is revealed in the scriptures as three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three, while being distinct persons, are one God and equal in power, majesty, and glory.

HUMANITY: We believe people are born sinful and completely alienated from God and under His judgment. People, in their nature, are unwilling and unable to believe God and serve Him. Only a supernatural, sovereign work of God can regenerate the heart and enable people to recognize their sinfulness and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

SALVATION: We believe the only salvation for sinful people is faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. This faith is a gift of God’s grace given to people according to the will and pleasure of God.

THE CHURCH: We believe the Church to be God’s people (past, present, and future) worshiping, loving, and serving God with Christ as the Head of the Church. We believe that God has called His people to devote themselves to a local church by becoming members, taking vows to the Church, and accepting the authority and rule of church officers (elders and deacons) who minister and discipline with love.

THE SACRAMENTS: We believe that God has instituted two sacraments: the Lord’s Supper and baptism as signs and seals of His grace to strengthen the church and edify its members.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: We believe that God calls His people to live for and serve Him joyfully using their gifts and talents to His glory, for the building up of the church, and as a witness to the unbelieving world. As a community of believers we are expected to rejoice with, suffer with, and bear the burdens of one another in the Body of Christ. We are to pray earnestly for one another, encourage and admonish one another in love as we grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbally inspired word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Pet. 1:20-21; Matt 5:18; John 16:12,13).

We also agree with the following creeds:

Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

What exactly is a healthy church? How do we discern what church to attend. I ran across a great ministry that helps “local churches pursue, develop, and maintain nine of the most important marks of any healthy church. In identifying and promoting these nine, we are not intending to lay down an exhaustive or authoritative list. There are other significant marks of healthy churches, like prayer and fellowship. We want to pursue those ourselves as well, and we want you to pursue them with us. But these nine are the ones we think are most neglected in most local churches today, with the most damaging ramifications. So we think it is wise for us to concentrate on these nine and let other parts of the Body universal promote other important marks of a healthy local church.

Here’s a brief summary of what we mean by each of the nine marks. Read the rest of this entry »