Basic Church Information
Church Website: https://www.thepointslc.com/
Church Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pointslc/
Church Address: 5133 Heath Ave, Salt Lake City, UT 84118
Questionnaire
At first, I thought this church might actually come through and answer our questions, but after a few months of emailing back and forth, I was finally told that I wouldn’t be helped.
So, let’s see what we can find out for ourselves.
1. What is your church's official position on tithing?
While this church’s website and Facebook Page don’t show any explicit pressures to give, they do have a Giving Page that lists “Tithes” as one of the ways in which we can give to their church.
They also have a few other options regarding where you’d like your donation to go, including “Pastor Appreciation,” the “Hebrews Coffee” Shop, and the “Joshua Project,” which is a new facility they want to build for their kids and teens ministries.
After watching their online services, which you can find posted on their Facebook Page, I didn’t hear any calls to give or see any plates passing, but it seems the video recording starts at the beginning of the worship service and there are actually people making announcements and other statements to the congregation before recording. It’s possible that this church does preach tithing and it just hasn’t been shown on video.
Until we can visit in person and experience an entire service for ourselves, we can’t say either way for sure.
2. Does your church have a particular set of rules or requirements that members must follow or abide by in order to retain their membership status with the church?
While we can’t find any information on the website regarding this and no one answered this question for us, there is a small sign that this church may have official membership agreements. Being affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention is it. While the SBC has no official stance on church memberships or requirements, allowing local churches their autonomy, Southern Baptist churches do tend to be more on the legalistic side of the scale.
However, since we see no other signs of this at The Point Church and since they apparently don’t list their affiliation with the SBC on their website, we can’t say whether this church has memberships or not.
3. Are you transparent with your church's financial information? How much does your church bring in through donations and tithing, and how is that money distributed?
Perhaps with more in-person checking we will be able to find out more on this question, but since the Questionnaire was stonewalled, we don’t know this.
4. Which denomination does your church align with the most, if any?
As we’ve already observed, while this church doesn’t list that they are Southern Baptist on their website or express it on their Facebook Page, according to the Wikipedia page on Pastor Corey Hodges, the church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Baptist Convention.
5. Is your church's pastor available for other questions or comments regarding the church, its doctrines, etc.?
Perhaps if you’re able to snag Pastor Corey on a Sunday after the service, but I wasn’t able to find any way to contact him online. While the website does provide an email address for contacting the church, it wasn’t pastor Corey that answered me, and I see no other way to contact him anywhere else.
6. How is your church's doctrinal flexibility and tolerance regarding non-essential doctrines?? If a member has a disagreement with the pastor or leadership on a certain doctrine, how is it handled? Does the church change its position on non-essential doctrines fairly often, if at all?
We don’t know whether this church has an official protocol for handling doctrinal disputes, but being that this church is affiliated with the SBC tells us that there is probably very little flexibility or tolerance in the way of disagreements. We’ll know more once we can do more in-depth checking of this church.
7. Does your church require that its members be baptized? What is your church's official position on baptism?
There is no information on this church’s website or Facebook Page expressing its official position on baptism or whether they require it of church members. We do see a lot of baptisms being done through Facebook posting, but nothing that tells us whether they require it or not.
8. Please describe what a typical service and/or meeting looks like in your church.
This is one piece of information they actually do provide on their website on the I’m New page.
“Join us for a contemporary experience with a live band and a relevant message. Our congregation is multicultural, with members from over 35 different countries. Dress is typically casual, but come how you feel comfortable. Our service is about 75 minutes long. We have weekly groups for your children, that meet at the same time as the adult service. We invite you to come a few minutes early, register your children using our secure check-in system, and then stop by our Hebrews Coffee Shop. Your first drink is on us. We hope to see you soon.”
9. How many people do you have on staff at your church, both paid and volunteer?
Another question not even partially answered on their website. The complete lack of information on this church is a little concerning.
10. What is the pastor's educational history?
According to Wikipedia, Pastor Corey Hodges has a Masters of Arts in Divinity from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
11. How does the church discipline its members with their sin?
Another question that will require further checking to find the answer. Nothing on the website or Facebook Page tells us how the church handles sin discipline.
12. How is the pastor compensated (income, benefits, bonuses, etc.)?
As usual, no one will tell us this, and there’s no way to know for sure.
13. What is the size of your church and any other space the church owns for meetings and church services?
The Point Church’s Facebook Page has about 1,500 likes and follows, which means they probably have about 350-500 regular attendees. As for building size, we don’t know this either since it’s not listed anywhere, but you can see their building for yourself with a simple Google Map search.
Do you have information on this church that might be helpful to other churchgoers? We couldn't learn much about this one. If you have documentation that could help us, upload it on our Support Us Page.