Finding a good church is like finding a good Sheepcote. How many people think that every church believe one God, so no problem go to any church. But a wise man does not think like that. Because the church is not just a gathering place. This is a spiritual home for a believer. In the house in which the person should have an spiritual environment in which that person can grow up spiritually. The good sheepfold mentioned above emphasizes the sheep in the sheepfold and the shepherd of those sheep rather than the place. For a sheep to grow up in a good way, the shepherd certainly has an important role, but other sheep also have an important role. Therefore, one should be very careful in choosing a church. Alistair Begg says
A good church is a bible- centered church, Nothing is as important as this- not a large congregation, a witty pastor, or tangible experiences of the Holy Spirit.
And I’d recommend Mark Dever’s book What Is a Healthy Church?
Biblical Sound Doctrine
First of all, you need to know whether the church you are looking for believes in Sound doctrine or not. Therefore, before taking membership of that church, first know the essence of the faith of that church. How many times can it be that some churches say they believe in the Triune God but they do not practice that in the church. Therefore, before you choose a church, you should observe the practice of that church. And I’d recommend Bobby Jamieson's Book
Sound Doctrine: How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God (Building Healthy Churches)
Biblical Preaching
Likewise, the second thing is whether there is biblical preaching in that church or not. It is very important to understand that. For that, you test the sermon preach in that church. Because in recent days, things like liberal preaching, moral preaching, inspirational preaching and materialistic preaching have taken place in the churches rather than the biblical Christ-centered preaching. If there is no biblical preaching in the church, then the church is dead.
Biblical worship
The third thing is how they practice biblical worship in that church. Worship is becoming a entertainment in many churches these days. Music, emotional things and entertaining things have taken place in worship. So you need to understand that the hymns being sung in that church proclaim biblical truth? In addition, do they exalt Christ over themselves in that church? You have to get the answers to the questions etc. I'd recommend two books one is Matt Merker's Book Corporate Worship and other one Bob Kauflin's book Worship Matters
Biblical Discipleship
Fourthly, the church is not just a gathering place but it is a spiritual home for a believer. Where the biblical discipleship plays an important role for the believer's to grow up. Within biblical discipleship, various activities are done to equip one another in Christ, including Corporate Bible study, House fellowship, Corporate prayer, Quality meeting. It should be checked whether these things are practiced in that church or not. I'd recommend Bobby Jamieson's Book Growing one another: Discipleship in the Church