On Sunday morning, or whenever you go to church, what are you looking for? What do you expect when you get there? Would you miss it if you didn’t go?
The number of “unchurched” has been growing steadily, and comprises a larger portion of American adults than ever before. George Barna and his organization have highlighted many characteristics of this growing trend. And many who consider themselves “church people” go less frequently than they have in the past.
But perhaps it’s worth looking closer to home. Just ask yourself, Why do I go to church?
Perhaps you are looking for:
- Bible teaching
- A cutting edge experience
- Entertainment
- A feeling of safety and familiarity
- Being part of a community
- Help with spiritual growth
- A high-church liturgy
- Opportunity to help others
- Christian education for your children
- Assuage your guilt
- Hoping to get into heaven
- It’s what you’ve always done
- It fulfills a sense of duty – you’re “supposed” to go
- A place to experience divine healing
- You’re bored, and looking for something to do
- You feel desperate or empty inside
- Opportunity to learn and grow
- You’re part of a denomination
- To be seen by other people as a Christian
- Opportunity for connecting with missions
- To feel emotionally better
- To get food, or other material help
- To feel encouraged
- It’s your job (you work there, paid or unpaid)
- To worship God
Wow. You didn’t imagine there were so many different possible reasons to go to church, did you? And there are probably many others.
God has this strange idea that church is about Him! Tweet that.
I’m not sure any of the above ideas are especially BAD reasons for going to church. But perhaps the best reason of all is that church is where God is. It’s not that church is the ONLY place He is, but that’s where He considers His home on Earth.
So look for Him next time you go. He can show up in many different settings – large or small, denominational or independent, liturgical or free. And it also stands to reason that if you’re going to church and God isn’t there, perhaps you should think about finding a church where He does show up.
Your Turn: What are YOU looking for when you go to church? Leave a comment below.
Tweetables: why not share this post?
- It’s possible to go to church for many different reasons. The best one: GOD is there! Tweet that.
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