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First I looked back with a grimace when you point out that I used the phrase "true community". Eek. Defining what I think that is and what it would look like is far more than I want to bite off in a blog comment (or post). But let me try to summarize a bit here, and I'll respond via email with more detail.

In a nutshell, when I say "community", I mean "life stuff that happens mostly outside of church". Church is where we come together, but if our interaction with each other doesn't extend outside of the couple hours we meet on Sunday, well, we're missing the point.

So how would you describe "true community"? That's a popular word today.

What church were you at (you can answer that offline if you wish unless this is the church where you attended Saturday nights) and where has your journey led you since your first week of searching?

This is rather interesting reading your insight as I am somewhat familiar with Imago and very familiar with Stonebridge. Thanks for sharing!

We tried hard to get those things worked out at our church rather than just up and leave, but in the end the Lord led us pretty clearly to look elsewhere.

Sure, there is some priority among all the data I listed. Shall I make a list?

1. Theology. If the teaching is seriously in error, I won’t go there. I just won’t.
2. Community. (If this could be item 1a, it would be. But I don’t know how to make HTML do that!) The lack of community is one of the big reasons we are leaving our previous church.
3. Attitude toward children/family. I want to be in a church where children are truly seen as a blessing; where parents are recognized as having primary responsibility for training their children (not just abdicating the teaching responsibilities to the church); and where teenagers are expected to become disciples, not rebellious brats. (In poetry and prose I am unskilled, but I’m not afraid to use hyperbole!)
4. Music. Given that I’ve been a church musician or worship leader for nigh on half my life, this is going to be relatively important. Still, if the church does well on the first three points, I’ll forgive a lot here.

When we come down to actually making a final decision, though, I think the importance of the data will fade some; regardless of how geeky we are, we’re not going to just plug all the data into Excel and decide on the church with the highest score. Ultimately it will come down to God’s leading, which, in the absence of audible voices or letters on our doorstep, ends up meaning that we pray a lot, discuss it a lot, and then go with a combination of these listed factors and our gut.

Ah, Andrew… all married now. You do know that you broke a few girls’ hearts at NPC, right? (Bronwyn, Genesis, Abbie to name a few). Hope you and your new wife are extremely happy.