Why Do We Go to Church

By Sherri Karnes on September 19, 2017

My last blog sparked some conversation, though not here in the comment section but there was conversation. The conversations that did happen left me with several things to think about. Before we go on a journey about what type of church we need or what type of church we fit into or what’s wrong with churches that they only welcome like-minded people. Before we dissect the church from which we came, maybe we should talk about why we go to church. I have thought about this for a while but I am not sure I have an answer. I can give several reasons for why I go to church but I don’t know if they are the correct reasons that should drive a person to go to church. I go to church because I am a Christian. That’s simple enough I suppose. It says in the Bible, Hebrews 10:25, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. So I go to church because the Bible says I should. That is certainly reason enough to go but I really don’t think it is reason enough to continue going to church. So I have to dig a little deeper about this why we go to church stuff. I have friends who I know attend church because it is a socially accepted place to be with the one you love regardless of who it is you love. Now that isn’t true in most churches but the churches I have attended in the last 15 years that has been true. I suspect that some attend church because it is what they were taught to do. Those of us that were raised in “Christian homes” and were told that if you are a Christian you must attend church, often have too much guilt to deal with if we choose not to go to church. Some people go because it gives them purpose. We feel the need to serve our brothers and sisters or our community in some way and the church provides that opportunity for us. Some of us go because we sing in the choir and we like to sing and we like belonging to a group. Some of us go because it is not only a calling but a vocation as well and we are paid to be there. There are probably as many reasons why people go to church as there are people sitting in the pews but I am not convinced that those are the reasons that God calls us to join together in a body of believers. I am also convinced that those reasons alone will not keep us in a church. We should come to bring glory to God and to worship God but what does that look like. I come to a sanctuary and I worship God but how? This is not about style. It’s not about the music I sing when I worship or whether or not I raise my hands to God in worship. Worship is why we come. Worship is our response to God loving us. God calls us to worship and we worship by responding to what God has called forth in us. What does God call forth in you? What does God call to within you? What answers when God calls? So if we are called to gather together to worship God then why is it that our church experience is too often determined by our response not to God but to the other people in the church. Why do other people determine my ability to worship God? Why, if I am angry with people in my church do I say I am angry with God? Why when people hurt me in the church do I decide that going to church is no longer an acceptable practice. If those things are happening in our worship services then maybe we need to redefine what church is. Church isn’t about you or me but it’s about God and worshipping God. We are there to find sanctuary, which is defined, as a safe place of refuge. Most churches are anything but a safe place of refuge. The act of worship is an act of surrender and an act of abandoning my self into the hands of a loving, merciful God. How can I do that if there is no sanctuary in the church? If I am not safe to worship then how do I find sanctuary and worship? We should come to church knowing that we are in sanctuary. We are safe and we can take refuge there. I need sanctuary but for the moment that sanctuary is my home.

Enter in to the sanctuary

Lay all your burdens down

Bring all that you carry

Lift your eyes to Heaven

Leave it all behind

Rest in this sweet comfort

And call on your Savior

Singing….Praise Him

Praise Him

Praise Him

Praise Him

Lift your hands in sweet surrender

Let all your sorrows slip away

No more to remember

Lift your eyes to Heaven

Leave it all behind

Rest in this sweet comfort

And call on your Savior

Singing….Praise Him

Praise Him

Praise Him

Praise Him

Choosing a Church Community

This week my thoughts have turned to church and what people really want in a church community. We have just left a church that we have been a part of for the last 6 years so it seems appropriate to me that we do some soul searching regarding a church community. Finding Your Community in Denomination: Most people I know begin their search for a church by looking first at the churches in their community that are of a certain denomination. If you are a Baptist, you go looking for a Baptist church. If you are a Pentecostal you probably go looking for a Pentecostal church. This would be a great place to start except for the fact that many mainline denominational churches are not open and affirming. Many of my friends and myself included cannot just go out and decide to attend all the Baptist or Methodist or Church of God’s in our area because most of those churches are only open and welcoming to their own kind. If you are white, straight and conservative then you most likely can choose any of those churches. If you are not those things then your church searching gets narrowed down quite bit right from the start. So if looking for a church community by denomination is not going to work where do you turn next? Finding Your Community in Style: If I cannot choose my church community based on denomination then I can begin by looking for churches that have a style of worship that fits my own. For me, that style would involve contemporary worship with modern worship music. I would also look for a church that had relevant teaching and preaching. The teaching/preaching would need to be from an educated viewpoint. I grew up in churches that did not have educational requirements for those that pastored or preached. As a teenager I began attending a Presbyterian Church where the pastors were educated and I found that I preferred and educated Pastor to one that was not educated. As I look in my community for such churches it becomes clear that I am most likely not welcome in those churches either. They are heavy on the “family” values and they cater most of their activities and services to that wonderful American family of Mom, Dad and 2.2 children and maybe a cat or dog as a pet. It is probably helpful if you live in a nice sub-division and fall firmly in the middle class range of income. When my friends show up to these churches they are welcomed until they realize that the guy they were coming with is not just their best buddy and the little girl they bring is their daughter and not their niece or nephew. So much for looking for a church with a contemporary worship service. So it seems that I cannot just look for a church that matches my preferred denomination. I cannot simply go looking for a church that matches the style of worship that I prefer either. What happens is that I begin searching for a church based on who will let me in the door. Something inside of me says this is not how we should have to find a church. I find myself in a church that is much further away that what I would like to drive. I find myself in a church that sings songs that I don’t necessarily like. The preaching may or may not be anywhere near what my beliefs are. They have rituals that I don’t agree with and their liturgy doesn’t quite match what I believe but hey, they let me in the door. So here I am in a church that I would never have chosen based on doctrine, theology, style of worship or use of liturgy. Where do I go from here? How do I find a place in this church? Will I find a place? Are my thoughts welcome here? What happens when I join the church and have to agree to their basic beliefs that may be in direct standing to my own personal beliefs? I am going to explore some of these questions in my blog in the coming days. I think there are some important issues that need discussed regarding what happens when people join a church based not on mutual agreements in doctrine and belief and worship style but rather they join because it is the only church within driving distance that will welcome them without asking them to change.

I am reading a book which talks about what is or isn’t the holiest hour of the week for church folks. The author does not believe it is Sunday morning at 11am or 1030 or whatever times your church has their Sunday worship service. I have thought about that statement and how very true it is at least of the churches I have been a member of. The last church I was a member in I even heard it said that you should leave your baggage at the door that church is no place for all that personal stuff. Now you need to know a little more about that church in order to appreciate that comment. We had a way of piling our baggage up in the sanctuary and then prying it all open and throwing it at one another so that statement about leaving baggage at the door might have been some good advice for that church. However it does seem wrong that the church is not the place for our baggage and for our honesty. Why is it that we put on our Sunday best before entering the church doors? Why is it when someone has the audacity to show up “just as the are” which is what the website and Facebook group says that the church welcomes, that people talk about them and whisper about them in not so good ways? The church really doesn’t want you to show up just as you are. They really would rather that you put on your Sunday best and leave your baggage at the door. Well, I don’t want to do church that way anymore. I don’t want to dig through my closet for my Sunday best. I want to come as I am. I want to bring my baggage and I want to dump it on the altar. I want to hear what the other church people really think. I want honesty. Do you think that after Jesus would preach to the large crowds of people that he and his disciples would go back to their campsite or upper room and talk about the people in the crowd? Do you think they were only honest when it was just the few of them? I hope not. I hope my faith is built on something more than pretty Sunday bonnets and nice pressed dressed pants. It is my experience that pretty Sunday services rarely if ever change our life for the better. I don’t often meet Jesus in that hour on Sunday where everyone is on their best behavior and all cleaned up. I have seen Jesus on Monday evening when friends have gathered to talk about what a long day they had a work. I’ve met up with Jesus at hospitals where people show up just as they are because when that person you love is in an emergency situation, your Sunday best is not what you need. You come as you are. You often run as you are. You don’t stop to make it all pretty. What is it that makes us more honest in that situation than when we meet up for church on Sunday morning? I think we are trying to dress up for God. We really don’t believe He loves us just as we are or that He made us just as we are or we wouldn’t try to dress up what we are. We know that person laying in the emergency room loves us no matter what so we come running just as we are. We might be dirty and tired but we come running. So I want that in a church. I want to know that I am loved just as I am. I don’t want to put on some Sunday Bonnet. Maybe everyone else will still be in his or her Sunday best but if I come then I am coming as I am. Just as I am.