church

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Why Do You Go to Church?

Why do you go to church?

I hadn’t really thought about it before… that’s what Christians do, right? But then several people challenged my assumptions, and this question has been nagging me ever since.

I didn’t always go to church. My family wasn’t “religious” and church wasn’t part of my childhood. When I became a believer, at the end of my freshman year in college, all my Christian friends assumed I’d be going to church with them—so I did. I’ve been attending church regularly ever since.

Recently, during my search for a meaningful church experience, I re-examined my purpose in attending a weekend service. What was the point? I searched through scripture, talked to friends, and read books and articles. Along the way, I learned a few things.

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A Church in a Church in a Church

Over the past few months I’ve written a couple of blogs about my confusion over how to “do” church—one in April and one in May. I explained that at our current mega-church, I felt more like a member of an audience than a member of a family, and that I was exploring other options. At the same time, my husband emphatically wanted to stay right where we are, and I wasn’t going to make any changes without him.

It seemed like a stalemate. Happily, God is pretty amazing. In His wisdom, He had the situation under control and a solution was waiting for just this moment.

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Another Way to Do Church?

As I mentioned a week and a half ago, I’ve been plowing through lots of books on how to “do” church. My most recent read is Houses that Change the World, by Wolfgang Simson. And I have to say he’s shaken my understanding of church.

The book has been around a while—maybe you’ve already read it. Published in 1998, a number of his predictions have failed to materialize, but that doesn’t diminish what he has to say. (He was merely analyzing trends, not trying to be prophetic, so we don’t need to take him out and stone him.)

In general, Simson argues against churches patterned after the synagogue, with a set routine performed by “professional Christians” in front of a lay audience, and in favor of small “organic” house churches where our faith is lived out in the context of real life. I certainly see his point. He’s very persuasive, and I tend to agree with him more often than not.

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Singin’ the Church Blues

Last week a friend asked me how our church was doing. She used to worship there too, but a life crisis sent her searching for something different, and she’s been a member at her new church for three years now.

I answered the way I usually do—the church is still doing a good job on the things they’ve always done well. The sermons are biblical and engaging, the music has a world-wide reputation for excellence, and the staff is dedicated. Short-term mission teams are being sent out and a new project will focus on the needs here in our city. People are getting to know God for the first time and disciples are being made. In fact, it sounds just about perfect.

Then she asked a harder question: how am I doing with the church? And I had to truthfully state that I’m frustrated.

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Priorities

Last week I asked if the church is doing a good job of helping the poor and spreading the gospel.

In my own experience, many churches are at least trying to help the needy and unchurched in their own cities. (Their effectiveness at this is a subject for another day.) But what about the poor and unreached in more remote areas?

It is easier—and perhaps more appropriate—to send money in this case. (I’ll talk more about why I believe that’s true next month.)

As believers, we give to our local churches. A certain percentage of the offering is then designated for “benevolence” or “missions.”  (I’ve seen “missions” mean anything from packaging dried soup mix, to helping the Hispanic church down the street, to “adopting” an unreached people group.) We trust the church leaders to spend our money wisely and responsibly.

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What Would You Say?

Warning: I’m going to ask you to think today.

What would you say to Mr. Benson?

I was relaxing, happily following a succession of links from blog to blog, when I came across Ryan Benson’s “Stump an Atheist” site. Since I used to be an atheist, I was quite curious to hear his perspective. After reading his “about” page, several recent posts, and his hilarious FAQ, I found that I totally agree with him: he is the friendliest atheist on the web.

As he says in his introduction:

Don’t let the title of this blog mislead you; I’m not on a crusade to convert. This is not a challenge to you; it’s a challenge to me. I am not a New Atheist writer; I am a writer who happens to be a new atheist.

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Church Bashing

Sitting in our Global Sunday School class yesterday, I listened while the speaker pleaded for everyone’s involvement in caring for orphans. He cited numerous statistics portraying the church as insensitive and uncaring when dealing with marginalized people groups. Then he read James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”

Meanwhile, I’m reading yet another book, written by a ministry leader from Asia, that scolds the American church for our misplaced priorities. Here are a few quotes to give you the idea:

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Weird Relations

The holidays are coming, and with them, the relatives.

For most of the year, we get to choose the people we hang out with. My close friends are my friends for a reason. I admire them, enjoy their company, trust them with my struggles and celebrate their successes. Usually, they meet a need in my own life—I have birding friends, gardening friends, “deep topics” friends and friends who provide an unending source of encouragement.

Relatives, on the other hand, just… are.

Sure, we pick our spouses. Parents, siblings, and extended family, on the other hand, we are stuck with. They just sort of come with the territory. We may enjoy some of these relations, but every family has at least one weird aunt, uncle, parent, whatever.

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People of Church

Forget “People of Walmart.” Try “People of Church.” While I haven’t seen anyone at my church wearing four-sizes-too-small glowing pink-and-purple spandex, we are definitely a motley bunch. In any church (and especially one as large as ours) there are bound to be some “interesting” people.

Some are exuberant worshipers, dancing in the aisles, while others refuse to even lip-sync the words, standing with arms folded across their chests. We have Mohawks and buzz cuts, long haired hippies and intimidating (until you get to know them) bikers in their church leathers. Maybe we even have you!

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The Unhealthiest Hour?

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I call it “Carb Café.” Of course, that isn’t the official name, but it’s the most descriptive. Like many larger churches, our church has an area where you can buy boutique coffee, breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Breakfast options include cinnamon buns topped with gooey white frosting, huge cake-like muffins in several flavors (including chocolate), and biscuits (white flour and shortening leavened with baking powder) topped with high-fat white gravy. There are over-sized cookies, sausage breakfast burritos (high in fats and cholesterol), and, for a time, Belgian waffles. A bit more healthy are the recently-added bagels with (full fat) cream cheese, sweetened yogurt, and “breakfast sandwiches.” To be fair, they also have apples, oranges, or bananas for a dollar each.

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