Orange County Churches Review and Guide
Um. Wow. http://www.occhurches.org/
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.
5 Stars (Highly Recommended)
Abudant Life Community (Pasadena)
Corona Evangelical Free Church
Grace Community Church
Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA) (Editor’s Pick)
Portico (Editor’s Pick)
4 Stars (Recommended)
Grace Brethren Church
St. Andrews Presbyterian
Whittier Hills Baptist Church
3 Stars
First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton
Hope Chapel
Plaza Bible Church
Rock Harbor
Saddleback
Saint James Episcopal
2 Stars (Not Recommended)
The Crossing
The First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa
Holy Family Cathedral
Mosaic (L.A.)
1 Star (Avoid)
Crystal Cathedral
Newsong Church
0 Stars (WARNING: Cult)
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Newport Beach
The Los Angeles Church of Christ – Orange County Region
Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church
This guy is pretty whack. I am fairly certain that if he visited Sandals, we would end up being in the “cult” group.
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
this is freaking dumb. how wonderful for this (guy) to act as the holy spirit to lead someone to a community of faith. his view is completely consumeristic and you can’t “judge” a church…especially just by one visit.
i did enjoy all the porn spam comments though.
Can I have a side of fries with that?
Surprised Mars Hill, Seattle ranked so high. It must have been because of this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKHILew-laI
I’ve got a feeling Metrosexuals, women or anyone who is not a meat eating, Ted Nugent type would not be welcome at this 5 star church.
This is more than whack…it’s whiggity whiggity whack…
Why in the world would they recommend a church in Seattle for someone looking for one in Orange County? Makes about as much sense as the rest of his rankings.
And Moo Goo HOO Cachoo, you kind of place yourself in this guys category by making a similar, blanket judgment about Mars Hill.
ya…im confused about why there are churches outside of OC myself.
They didn’t rank us. Crap. I’m totally with you, Canyon Hills would probably get 0 stars.
So here’s my thought for you guys. Assuming you wouldn’t go straight to hell for ranking churches like they do Vegas hotels, what do you guys look for as a church visitor. I’m sure a lot of us try to visit other churches whenever we can. I do anyway. What things attract you? What do you find distracting?
They put doctrine and teaching pretty high. Fair enough. But often, I’m thinking about user interface. How do I feel when I’m in a service. Admittedly, a lot of that has to do with music and media. Interestingly, people that attend our church most often say they do because of the music. Apparently not a consideration for out little friend with a catchy domain name.
So…what do you look for?
Jason 73,
You’re right, dude. I repent.
That site is dead. It hasn’t been updated in almost a year. I really do like the idea of having an index of local churches although WITHOUT the rating system. Someone who is looking, like myself would have a place to start and identify churches that meet stylistic and belief basics.
Dumb list. A more helpful list would be to just list the churches, their denomination if applicable, style of worship, and then perhaps a comment about their own personal experience.
YICK!!!
I want someone really cool and techno to compile a video-audio of all Mark Driscoll clips refering to efeminate men, women, female, wimps, etc. I snicker everytime I read something he writes or says because although he does have some great things to say, he also ALWAYS finds a way to work in an ANTI-female cut.
All that list does is support a mentality of “what can the church do for ME” mentality. We shouldn’t go to church to be entertained or made comfortable, we should go to simply worship HIM. It’s NOT about US!! While I agree with warning against churches that are clearly misleading, etc., but it seemed more like a….well….5 star review! Maybe we should do the same review of our own lives and the personal relationship with have with our Saviour and how are we doing taking up our own cross each and every day.
Panhandler
I watched the video (and have read tons of Mark’s stuff); and I heard him saying that he was “pro-young-masculine-men” , not “anti-woman”. He’s not saying down with women and efeminate men in the church – he’s simply asking the question: Where are the masculine young men in the church? Is the church even tolerant, and encouraging, and building up such men? And, if not, why not? He seems to believe (and with Scriptural backup) that those are the men who will move the church forward (and not to the exclusion of women and efeminate men). At least that’s my take. But, then again, I have no idea what it’s like to be a woman…
But back to the orginal point, all churches have great and not-so-great things about them – this will never change… there is no such thing as a perfect church. Church isn’t even about what we get out of it… it’s more about what we bring to it: 1) loving God with all we’ve got and 2) loving everyone as well as our self… I think those two are hard enough to accomplish without all the complexities we add into church.
That’s why this list is simply ridiculous! A church is “above” any individual in my opinion – but this guy has made the individual greater than the church.
only in the holy of holies that is behind the Orange Curtain…