Top 10 Reasons to Come To Church
Homecoming is tomorrow at our church and every year it is one of our family’s very favorite Sundays. Seeing familiar faces of our church family both new and old, sharing together in the singing of hymns that warm your heart and lift together to worship the Savior of the past, present, and future, the smells of dinner which is the very best that the hands and homes our community has to offer, all come together to unite us as believers, as the church.
A few months back our pastor, Patrick Clark delivered a relevant and insightful message that has stayed with me and resonated in my heart about the purpose of church. I jotted down each of the reasons our pastor gave grounded in the truth of both scripture and my heart’s experiences of church.
According to the Pew Research Center, 69% percent of people in our state say that religion is very important in their lives, yet only 47% say that they attend church services weekly ( http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/29/how-religious-is-your-state/?state=south-carolina) In an age where church attendance is an all time low, people’s need for encouragement, for belonging, and for surrendering to and serving Christ together has continued since the disciples began gathering together in the early church documented in the book of Acts.
Over the years I’ve heard many reasons believers give for not attending church… having to work, wanting to sleeping in, staying out late, having too much to do, wanting to rest, going out of town, having been hurt by people in church, not feeling accepted, not understanding the purpose, feeling like it is an obligation of time, finances, commitment…
I empathize with many of these reasons and believe that most are coming from a place of misunderstanding or fear of what church will cost them such as time, a tithe offering, an expectation of what they will have to do or be or change.
What I would like to take a few minutes to share are ten reasons why we choose to go to church and what it gives us as individuals, us as a family, and us a church.
Number One: We go to church to worship.
Pastor Clark shared with us that church really began immediately after Christ ascended to Heaven. “Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Luke 24:51-52) In the busyness of life we can easily forget as Dr. Gary Rogers would say, “Who we are and Whose we are.” Gathering together each week to worship our Creator and our Savior can help put life into perspective. There are no words really to describe the sound of a hundred or more voices joined together in harmony honoring the Creator of the Universe. It is healing to my heart to hear the words to my favorite hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness” sung aloud with hands held high and voices lifted up. “Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon, and stars, in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness, To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.” Throughout the seasons of my own life I have found corporate worship to be not only enjoyable but powerful. Billy Graham is quoted as saying, “The purpose of this Christian society called the “Church” is, first: to glorify God by our worship. We do not go to church just to hear a sermon. We go to church to worship God.”
Number Two: We go to church to wait.
Pastor Clark shared with us that in the beginning of Acts it is recorded that Christ told his followers not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. His followers gathered together to wait and to pray. “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers.” (Acts 1:12-14) Whether it is waiting for our paychecks to buy something that will fulfill us or waiting for the right person or the right job, the world reminds us all the time that we are waiting for something in our lives. In church we choose to work during our wait through serving Him and in our worship, we wait together for His promises. We may be waiting for healing, waiting for restoration, or waiting for His return. No matter what we wait with a purpose, knowing He is at work in our wait time and it is a continual encouragement to be reminded through His word of His faithfulness and of the support we have in each other.
Number Three: We go to church to pray.
When we are gathered together in our worship of our Lord and Savior we also devote ourselves to prayer. While we can pray anywhere at anytime, there is a special blessing in corporate prayer. When our oldest daughter, Lily Grace was born with congenital heart defects and was facing surgery, when I couldn’t voice my prayers in audible words because of the tears and worry in my heart, the women in my church could and surrounding my baby girl and I they prayed not only for her healing but for my heart to accept His will even if it wasn’t mine. There is something awe inspiring in a service where every head is bowed in shared humility lifting up our prayers to Christ. Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” When I was a new teacher one of my students asked me during our morning meeting what I did over the weekend. When I told him that I went to church he asked me later if he could go with me. With his grandmother’s permission, Greg and I picked him up every Sunday for several months and took him to church with us. One of my favorite memories was when we took Brandon home one Sunday after dinner and he said, “Mrs. Johnson, ya’ll pray a lot at your church. It helps me pray too.” Prayers have and continue to help me and they are most powerfully felt when your friends and family are bowed in prayer beside you.
Number Four: We go to church to praise.
We not only go to church to worship, to wait, and to pray, but we also go to church to praise God for who He is and for what He has done for us through Christ. Pastor Clark reminded us that in the early church believers gathered together regularly to praise God. “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2: 26-27) No matter what is going wrong in your life, when you are gathered together with fellow believers you can always find something in your heart to be thankful for and many times it is the prayers of others that remind you of what you may have taken for granted. I believe Thom S. Rainer, current President of Lifeway explained the joy in praising together best with this quote, “Church membership is a gift. A gift that must be treasured. It should not be taken for granted or considered lightly. Because it is a gift, we must always be thankful for it. And when we are thankful for something, we have less time and energy to be negative…Healthy church membership means you find your joy in being last instead of seeking your way and being first.”
Number Five: We go to church to preach (Luke 2:42-47)
Pastor Clark shared with us that the early fellowship of believers devoted themselves to listening to the apostles’ teaching. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42) And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common.” I can’t tell you how many lessons I’ve learned from pastors who have surrendered to Christ and who thoughtfully and prayerfully provide a sermon that takes the scriptures from the Bible and provides a context for us to apply truths to our daily lives. Podcasts promoted to help us live our best lives and self-help articles and books abound, but to me I have received the best help for living my life from the pew at Pelham First Baptist Church. Every Sunday there is a word that is just for me at just the right time. There is one for you too. D.L. Moody is quoted as saying, “The preaching that this world needs most is the sermons in shoes that are walking with Jesus Christ.” I am continually thankful for the pastors across the world whose best sermons do not come from the pulpit from their daily walk following Christ.
Number Six: We go to church to teach and train.
Some of my most fulfilling time spent at church isn’t in the sanctuary but in the children’s church room with dozens of kids of all ages asking questions, singing songs, listening to stories, and opening their hearts to learn about the life of Jesus. Whether it is reading through the gospels with my Sunday School class, learning how to crochet Christmas ornaments for the ladies in the nursing home with the young girls in our Sunday night G.A. (Girls in Action) group, or spending time laughing and learning together in our Monday night ladies Bible study, church is where we live our lives together. You don’t get to know people at church by coming to Sunday morning service. You get to know people by serving alongside them. I know the ladies at my church better than just about anyone else outside of our tribe on Bramer Road (mama, daddy, my brother, Shawn, and his wife, Rachel). The older I get the more time I find myself at church. That is where my longest and closest friends are. We learn about God’s love here and then we work together to live it out.
Number Seven: We go to church to remember His works and to recall promises.
Pastor Clark shared with us that one of our purposes of church is to remember the life and works of Christ and to recall His promises still yet to come. While we are waiting on Christ’s return, we are called to live out His love. How can we live out His love without remembering who He is and studying what His life was all about? This past Sunday we remembered Christ through our communion service of The Lord’s Supper. As we gathered together to remember His body broken and His blood shed for each of us, we renewed our commitment to Him and to His church to “do this in remembrance of me.”
Number Eight: We go to church to fellowship.
When was the last time you ran out of the house not worrying about what you looked like and then showed up and laughed long and loud without worrying about what anyone else thought? For me, this happens every time our Sunday school class gets together. This past December we had the best time wearing ugly Christmas sweaters and playing “Bean Boozled” guessing which jellybeans would be a tasty flavor like watermelon or green apple or which ones would be disgusting like lawn clippings or dog food. The laughs went on all night. Whether it is a child’s birthday party or us having a dinner together we are our authentic selves and it is a joy to be who you really are with others and spend time together. When was the last time you felt safe enough to be vulnerable about your fears or hurts or troubles? For me, this occurs on a regular basis during our Monday night ladies Bible study. It is there with women who I’ve known for years and women I’ve only known for a few weeks gather together to fellowship with each other and to grow closer to Christ. This fellowship is stronger than just a friendship, because we are united by more than commonalities, we are united by the love of Christ. In the world of social media it is easy to have a lot of “friends” who will serve as the echo chambers we need to feel liked and to feel seen, but when was the last time you felt true fellowship with others?
Number Nine: We go to church to share generously.
There is an old cliché that says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” It really is and no where else in my life have I seen more examples of generous giving than in my church family. There is sincere joy in giving and partnering with local charities and interfaith organizations such as our Greer Community Ministries provides us with multiple opportunities to share and to give to those in need. Whether it is feeding the homeless a warm meal right down the road or if it is sending rain boots to a Romanian village across the world, it is a blessing to be able to give. With countless phone scams and bogus charities it can be difficult to discern a legitimate need from fraud, I encourage you to consider your local church as a place to share your generosity with others. David Platt, author and pastor of McLean Baptist church wrote, “Being a member of a church means realizing that we are responsible for helping the brothers and sisters around us grow as disciples of Jesus. In the same way, they are responsible for helping us. We desperately need each other in the daily fight to follow Christ in world that’s full of sin.”
Number Ten: We go to church to serve humbly.
We believe that each of us has been given unique gifts to use to serve others and to live out the love of Christ. Mrs. Deborah and Mrs. Donna are excellent cooks and every other week they use their time and talents to prepare meals that feed our church family and are also hand delivered to members of our community who are unable to get out or who could benefit from a home cooked meal. We have several men in our church who enjoy being outdoors and while they don’t love cutting grass during the 90+ degree days that mark many of our days in the south, they choose to serve by cutting the grass and weed eating the church grounds. We have mechanics, builders, accountants, firefighters, nurses, teachers, and many more every day ordinary people who use their gifts to serve others. It doesn’t even have to be what you went to school for or what you think you may be good at to be used by God. My friend, Alisha who is an accountant by day but is also an excellent baker, made beautiful cakes to raise money for a mission trip to Romania. Moses is my favorite example of someone who didn’t feel equipped to serve and asked God to use his brother, Aaron but showed up just the same and said, “Here I Am God” you can use me. Even if you don’t feel “called’ you can still serve. Graham Kendrick, worship leader and songwriter wrote “Worship has been misunderstood as something that arises from a feeling which “comes upon you,’ but it is vital that we understand that it is rooted in a conscious act of the will, to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ.” The wonderful thing is that regardless of what you do or where you serve, God takes the offering and blesses it and also blesses you.
Hopefully at least one of these ten reasons was compelling enough for you to consider or resconsider coming to church. Whether it is Homecoming at your local church or not tomorrow, know that you are welcome every day to come and to gather, to share and to serve, and to be a part of the fellowship of believers.
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