So why do we do Church? Is it to make a check list so we can show God when we go to Heaven "Look how many hours I've logged in the church building"? Do we do church because we need to fill an emotional void? Do we do church because that's what we've always done? Do we do church because we want an authentic relationship/encounter with God?
Maybe we do it for all of these reasons, maybe none of them. I have a big problem with Church though. We as Christians are called to go out into all the world and spread the teachings of Christ. Jesus says that we are the Church if He resides in us. (What in the heck does that mean anyway? Why do we have to have our own language?) How are we supposed to spread the teachings of Christ if we are meeting one morning a week in a corporate setting with other believers?
Why is it that (almost) every Church is the same? First is sunday school, then a little bit of time to socialize before service starts, everyone goes to the sanctuary, sing a few songs, hear a few announcements, sing a couple more songs, give tithe, maybe sing one more song, then the pastor talks for 45 minutes about something that you'll probably forget about when you're out to eat for lunch with the people who sat in the same pew as you. How does that help us go and make disciples? I understand that we need to all be on the same page and it's good to have a time set aside to learn. But why do we have to do it this way? Why can't church be a place where we go and discuss? The model of church right now leaves no room for discussion. How are you supposed to make your faith your own if you can't logically come to a conclusion about it? One could argue that we have small groups for that reason, but if we are doing that what is the point of having church on sunday morning the way we've always done it? Why can't we use that time to go out and spread the news?
Why do we do church? Is it for the believer or for the non-believer? Most non-Christians that I know say that they hate going to church. They feel rejected. They feel like they don't belong. They feel like the pastor is holier-than-thou and condescending towards them. They don't feel welcomed. They feel like everyone is being fake. I don't think that most Christians realize this. I know some Churches do try to go out of their way to make non-believers / visitors feel welcome but it is usually not the case.
I have another post that I will be making about my observations of the amount of people being saved within the church (4 walls corporate congregation) as opposed to outside of the church (one on one discipleship/relationships/etc). It ties in with this post but is definitely another conversation.
This is probably way too long and to broad but these are some questions that have been on my mind. Sorry if I wasn't even coherent. I do plan on breaking some of these questions down in another post, but I wanted to get some of this out there right away.
4 comments:
Good stuff man. Again I have had many of the same questions and still wonder "why do we do church?" I think the bottom line and purpose for church is so we may develop our relationships with fellow believers so that we might develop a deeper relationship with God.
God should not be consolidated to a single day but i have little trouble with the idea of consolidating my interaction with Christians to one day.
A few things to think about. 1) do you consider yourself apart of Church (not a church but the Church). 2) if so then what are you doing to change peoples view of Church?
I like it. I like the questions that are being raised.
I think this question of 'why go to church?' is only really relevant in areas where Christianity isn't persecuted. Publicly honoring Christ is so difficult when it's easy, and longed for when it's not allowed. In many countries our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are literally dying just to meet together.
With the boom of the printing press in the 1500s, modern inventions of television and radio, and even newer social networking sights like myspace and twitter, it is very difficult for out minds to wrap around why we would need a church. This can become a very narcissistic question "What do I need church for? I can get my preaching from a tv show or through a podcast."
This leads to the question you asked "Why do we do church? Is it for the believer or for the non-believer?" It isn't for either. God is the purpose of going to church. It is an act of worship. It isn't the only act of worship of course. But the church holds Christ before people.
For me the local gathering has been about gaining understanding and wisdom for my everyday life. Unfortunately, being 27 I don't have some of the wisdom of people who have been following Christ for 50 plus years. It's also been a time to gain knowledge of the scriptures from people who have a greater knowledge of what the scriptures originally meant.
I also go to the local gathering out of duty. On the surface that may not sound good but duty is not always bad. For example I used to play a video game on Xbox and it was my goal to break into the top 100. (Why that was important might be another question, but it was a goal and I wanted to do it.) I couldn't just wake up one morning and achieve that goal. It took practice, I choose my duty of practicing daily (many times for much longer than I really should have). My point is this, I believe choosing our duties is one of the highest forms of freedom. I choose Christ I have the duty of putting God before the world. One of the ways that I do that is through celebration of what God has done in me. The weekly gathering gives me an opportunity to do what my heart desires all week on a community level.
For those that might think that attending because of duty might be a bad thing, listen to this quote from Phillip Roth's book The Professor Of Love. "On her own she decided to have that abortion. So I would not be burdened by a duty? So I could choose her just for herself? But is the notion of duty so utterly horrendous? Why didn't she tell me she was pregnant? Is there not a point on life's way when one yields to duty, welcomes duty as once one yielded to pleasure, to passion, to adventure - a time when duty is the pleasure, rather than pleasure the duty.
It brings me pleasure to have the opportunity to gather with my fellow brothers and sisters and learn together, love together, and simply exist together.
I could post a really long response to all those questions but I won't. Hehe. I would suggest this thought though...When doing all of those things were you encountering God?
I have been along pretty much the same road you have minus I went to a Old-School Hymn and organ only church for 4 years of my life as a Pastor. During that time I was so dry and things were so boring and pretty horrible. It was then that I figured out it was up to me if I was going to get anything out of it or not.
You can sit in the best and greatest churches and get absolutely nothing if you don't want to or don't actively seek to get something out of it. I am not saying that you were doing that but in my walk, I had to get away from the idea of a church "Service"
That word has such meaning when we think about church. Are we coming to church to get "Serviced" by God? by the Pastor? By the people?
I hate going to church "services"
I go to church to spend time with God with other believers in a time that is strictly dedicated to Him. Which I have heard all of the remarks about how you can do that at a coffee house or have time at home or whatever but honestly in all situations like that I have encountered it never happens and most people simply get too busy or forget to give time to God. Church is a set time during the week I get to center myself on God.
I go to church to help other younger believers out on there walk with God. I wonder sometimes what I would be like now if 2 generations before me they said "Who cares about church I am tired of it." I doubt I would even have a relationship with God. Maybe He would have pulled me in somehow but it is a scary thought.
With no one to relate to me at my age because they thought church was dumb would I have ever been interested?
There are lots of other reasons I go to church and why I get frustrated and mad and angry and Spin my wheels in the system trying to change the way things are done. I am constantly convicted when I think about giving up on the church.......Because its not about me...
I think our generation as a whole is so selfish with its thinking on church. What does church do for me? What is church giving to me when I go? This church isn't "Servicing" me well enough now..
I am sorry if this sounds bitter, I am going through this battle now with College kids who were raised up through the ministry having people there for them to pray and care about them, to listen when they hurt and just to simply be there, leave the church and not care at all about the upcoming generation of kids.
I will stop before I get going. Love you and I appreciate the thought provoking questions. They strengthen my resolve.
I understand and have heard all of these reasons given for why Christians should be attending "church." Even after understanding, I still sense (and personally experience) dissatisfaction and frustration in many other believers and non-believers alike.
As an ex-pastor's kid and a former youth staff person, I have been well versed in church culture and church ritual. I don't want to answer this question about, "why church?" to convince myself why it's necessary in my life. I want to ask this question in a much BIGGER picture.
The bigger picture being: Why do we make the typical American church experience so foreign to anybody who hasn't grown up in it? Why on earth do we do and say the ridiculous things we do? (i.e. have our own "Christian" language, have "worship services" though we claim that our everyday interactions are acts of worship, etc.)
I suppose I'm sick of being embarrassed to bring my non-Christian friends to church. I'm tired of seeing the church becoming more of an emotional crutch than a productive center of growth and learning.
Am I the only one that feels there's so much unnecessary junk that is attached to our experience of church?
I love Christ's church...or in Christianese, the Bride of Christ. Why does she seem so complicated and ineffective compared to the early church in the New Testament?
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