Why Church?

More than ever, people are asking why they should attend church. There are good theological reasons, obviously, but folks tend to look for the practical reasons. Broadly speaking, I see three primary reasons for church attendance.

On one level, church attendance give you resources for more successful living through scripture, prayer, and fellowship. Life works better when you do things God’s way, and having friends makes everything better. You feel better if you believe you are cooperating with God. It is a way of loving God.

On another level, church involvement gives you mission opportunities, so that you can make a difference in the world. Churches organize food pantries, clothes closets, marches for justice, mission trips, homeless ministries, prayer meetings for important causes. You feel better if you are actually doing something to make the world a better place. It is a way of loving people.

But if church only makes life work better, or connects people with causes, then it is not going deep enough. Faith is not about feeling better. It is about being better, through Jesus.

On the third level, church involvement should help us see that our own daily lives are a mission from God. In this journey, he helps us to love him, and he helps us to love others. But along this journey, he is changing us, making us more like Christ.

Church is the delivery system God designed for drawing us into relationship with him. He wants fellowship with us. He wants us to become like him. He wants us to experience the deepest levels of fulfillment. He wants us to have real life.