How do you pick a church?

At first take this is a question I'll admit I have very litte experience with as I'm not sure I've really ever 'picked' a church being that I've received a check from a church in some fashion for about 10 years. But being at Hillcrest for the last 6 years and hearing the testimonies of many people wanting to join Hillcrest as members, I'm struck at the varied reasons for why people decide to join a church:

• Friendliness- some folks pick a church because it's friendly; Hillcrest for the most is a pretty friendly church and some will stick simply because of a welcoming and inviting environment.
• Denomination- this is fairly typical, though less common now, for people to pick a church in the same denomination that they grew up in.
• Programs- certainly some will pick a church because of the programs it offers such as a youth ministry, a children's ministry, Sunday School, AWANA, Bible studies, etc.
• Personnel- some will choose a church because of the Sunday morning personnel, whether that's the senior pastor (he preaches a good message), the worship team (it's contemporary, it's traditional, it's blended, etc), etc.

This past Tuesday we heard testimonies from 4 people wanting to join Hillcrest as members, and for the first time that I can remember, none of them gave one of the four reasons mentioned above as their reason for membership. Instead, each person identified wanting to join Hillcrest as a member because of our mission to love God and to love other people. For me, this is an encouraging trend, for it suggests that the people who choose to worship and stay at Hillcrest do so for her mission abover her programs or personnel. For me, this is encouraging because one of our core values of service to the community is being picked up by our people, and not just something that we have on a piece of paper or that only our leaders believe.