I know many people that say they believe in God but also say they don’t need church. To say someone is not a Christian because they don’t go to church is down right wrong. But at the same time, if you really are a Christian, you should take advantage of every opportunity to serve God that you can. So I posed the question: Should you go to church?
Obviously, the common answer to this question is “YES” among us Christians. But I want to take a step back and really dig deep into this. There are many reasons why churches are an amazing thing but there are also reasons why the church can be bad.
I will start with the negatives first and I will be using generalizations (obviously not all churches are the same).
- Most churches get caught up in one of two things, attendance numbers or money. Afterall, they are a business.
- I feel like people use church as a safe haven.
- You usually only get one person’s perspective on the Bible
- You don’t have control of what they are preaching on. You may be going through something and the sermon may not be even closely related.
- People get caught up in the church and its politics. If you are always at the church or always with people from the church, when do you have time to preach to non-believers?
- Most churches today don’t reflect churches from the Bible. As people change and society evolves, the church has almost been forced to change with it.
Now for some reasons TO go to church.
- The fellowship. To me, this is the biggest reason to go to church. Surrounding yourself with people that have the same beliefs and are headed in the same direction does wonders for your relationship with God and really helps put things into perspective.
- The experience. There is nothing like losing yourself in worship. If you can do that at home, alone, then all the power to you but for me, when I’m surrounded by a group of people all doing the same, it’s simply amazing. It sends chills down my spine.
- The pastor can point out things that you may have never noticed. That could be issues he sees with his congregation or it could be relationships between different chapters in the Bible.
- You will have endless possibilities to get involved.
- It’s another opportunity to worship God.
- To feel a part of something bigger than yourself.
- Jesus himself went to church.
If you noticed, some of the things from the reasons NOT to go to church are related to the people attending the church. It’s up to you to get involved. If you just go to church and don’t talk to anyone or get to know anyone, and then don’t apply the lesson from service in your own life, is it really doing any good?
I am not a pastor or a priest and I never went to seminary school. This in some ways gives me an advantage over them but it also has a lot of drawbacks. Most pastors have seen and heard just about everything. They also have a huge contact list and can direct you to somebody that may be going through something similar.
My wife and I have each been involved in numerous small groups. Some we went to just once or twice and some we stuck it out for awhile. Sometimes you immediately connect with the people and sometimes you don’t at all. But you may connect with a few people from each one and eventually build up relationships with a good solid group of people.
Next, the power of one person following God with all of his/her heart can be an unbelievable thing. But the power of an entire congregation following God with all of their hearts is on a completely different level. A church on fire for God can change the world.
So when asked if I think you should go to church, my answer is yes but pray for God to show you the right church for you. Get to know the pastor, the people, the worship team and then use those new contacts to do God’s will. Try not to get caught up in just the weekly Sunday ritual, but really focus on how you can change your life to match His plan for you.