Doctrine and Life.

As we look for a church in this area I've boiled down my "evaluation criteria" to just three: Stated Doctrine, Doctrine lived out in the leadership, Doctrine lived out in the laity.

We've gotten to know four churches in this area pretty well. Two PCA churches get very high marks in the first category--on paper we're likeminded. But they both fall woefully short in one or both of the other categories. So their overall "scores" suffer.

The other two churches are Reformed Baptist bodies; so for us they get lower marks in doctrine due to our differences in covenantal theology. But both are stronger in the "lived out" categories. And the one we visited this Sunday was most impressive of all.

I'm also wondering if there's another angle to the stated-doctrine vs. lived-out-doctrine relationship. It's obviously true that many churches deny their stated-doctrine with their lifestyles. For instance, few Presbyterians actually raise their children covenantally although they affirm they are "covenant children" by applying the sign. So couldn't it also be true that some churches live out doctrine that on paper they flatly deny? Should I be surprised that a Reformed Baptist church may actually raise their children as if they were "covenant children", even while they deny that their children are in the covenant?

We've got a few more stones to look under--we've visited 4 of the 7 reformed churches within 30 minutes. The remaining three are PCA churches; what will we find?