Why Church?

Many people find church a hard part of their walk with Christ whether because of hurts, time commitments, circumstances or because they sense hypocrisy. Some of us find it hard to relate to Christians who hold different views than us, we wish the music was louder or softer or that the organ would come back in style, and we just can’t seem to agree with our pastor’s view on theology.

So why do so many of us still attend church regularly, and why do we view it as so important?

First, going to church is an expression of our love for God. When we come together on a Sunday we spend quality time together lifting up God’s name. While we do seek to praise God through our daily devotions or when reading the Bible, a primary purpose for church worship is to take time out of our schedules and spent time meditating on and praising the name of our Lord.

Positive Community

Second, church is a beautiful place for positive community. While we all carry our different baggage with us to church fellowship (see Stephen W. Simpson’s article Why I Went Back to Church: God on the Ground for an interesting take on this), God calls us to come together with other believers regularly. In fact, God states that when we are in a relationship with him, it will follow that we are in fellowship with others (1 John 1:7), and that where two or more believers gather together, there God will be also (Matthew 18:20).

Similar to the issue of community is the idea of accountability. When we engage with other believers we have motivation towards living a right life before God. Meeting with others and talking about our triumphs and our struggles spurs us forward in our personal faith journeys.

Bringing Honour to God

Also, attending church brings honour to God and pleases him. When God met Moses on the mountain and gave him the Ten Commandments, the fourth commandment he gave was: ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’. God cared enough about setting a day aside for his glory that he included this in his law. When we honour his request, we please God.

Christians will never be perfect people, which can make church-going at times unattractive; and there are people or situations that can hurt us and make us feel distant from church, but praise, the community, the accountability and the honour it brings to God overwhelm the problems that we tend to face. Plus, as Stephen W. Simpson says, ‘We can get over ourselves and the little things that divide us, learning to see each other as God does.’

(from War Cry magazine)