Belonging is a basic need of every person. To belong to a social club, you must perform, pay dues, work. To belong to any interest club you must be able to participate in the activities. Each group we belong to, from little league to chess club, requires our focus and time doing the activity that ties it together. At some point we will age out and life will take us on to a new group. Church is the one group in which we can’t age out and we must not perform to belong. But this is not the reason to attend church.
Church is a place to nurture your soul. We spend our days denying even having a soul and essentially starve it until mourning the loss of a loved one reminds us of the most important part of our being. We neglect nurturing our souls and it shows in our society. We need to tend to this most important part of our God-given life. Our children need to be taught of the existence of our soul and how to feed it. It is through good churches that we learn this. No place else gives us this food for our soul. Church plays a vital role that we often choose to overlook until it is too late.
I am too busy for church. I have so many boxes to check off during the week and church is just one more. Yes, attending church takes time but it is time invested, versus time wasted. That is a huge difference! Spending my time catching up on work or sleep versus spending time in church is the difference in renting and buying. It is the difference in junk food and fine cuisine. It is the difference in time spent building sand castles versus building a house. Yes, it takes my precious time. But the time will pass whether I use it wisely or not.
Maybe you are like me and have a picture of a church planted in your head. In my picture, the church is small and busy. It is Wednesday night choir practice while children chase fireflies on the front lawn. It is a short distance from my house. It is a place where everybody knows my name(like Cheers). They sing old gospel hymns and have amazing picnics.
But that is a picture from 1968. It is a memory. It is not reality. I have to let go of my image of a church in order to learn a new church; one that fits in the twenty-first century. Yes, there are still small local churches. But more often we see mega-churches where nobody knows your name and are a long road trip from your house. There is such a learning curve to belong to one of these monsters! It takes persistence and time to “belong” to one of these churches especially for introverts like me. But before you choose to join any church, here are a few questions you should ask yourself.
Is this church focused on Christ? Does this church pray and pray often? Does this church inspire you to learn more about God? Are members maturing as Christians through the guidance of this church? Does this church look like the community it serves or is everyone there about the same in age, race, and socioeconomic status? Do I have a desire to help this church in any capacity?
If you are currently a member of a church that you seldom attend and it is one more chore to check off the list, please consider making a change. Something is wrong. This is not what the church was meant to be. Not all churches are the same. The focus of the church should be Christ. If it is not, then it is another (rather deceptive) social club. There are many churches out there and there is no rule saying that you can’t visit them. It may take years to find your church family but every minute is worth it. Church is an investment in your soul and the time and trouble to find a church is far outweighed by the benefits to your soul.