Why I Go To Church

“I don’t have to go to church to worship God.”

We’ve all heard that excuse before Why is it so hard for people to go to church? Some people say they feel closer to God in nature. Or others simply don’t like the style or formality of the church setting. And there is always the excuse of sleeping in or enjoying your one day off.

One thing is for sure: those are excuses.

It’s time to drop the excuses and return to God’s teaching in Hebrews 10: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.”

Going to church does not make you a Christian. And there are many followers of Jesus who haven’t been to church in years. However, Scripture teaches over and over that we are to assemble together. Period. That’s the reason to go. Because God told us to.

But here are three other reasons I choose to go to church:

I LOVE GOD

I truly love my Lord and Savior, and I feel closest to him in his house – the church. There is just something reverent about walking into the sanctuary week after week. I can physically feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. I feel alive and excited to hear a message and lift my voice in songs of praise. I take his Word seriously when he tells me to go to church.

I LOVE PEOPLE

1 Corinthians 12:12 says, “Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” We also know “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17). We grow infinitely more when we share our Christian walk with other people. Discipleship happens when we spend time with mature Christians. Their experience helps us on our walks with Christ. We’re meant to be in community (Genesis 2).

TO EXERCISE MY GIFT

God has given me many gifts, among them teaching and singing. It brings me great delight and honors the Lord when I sing both solos and in the church choir. I also choose to lead in ministries and missions work to use my spiritual gifts of teaching. God gives us these gifts to serve him!

I’ve also been very inspired by this quote by legendary Christian musician Rich Mullins. I pray it will speak to your heart too.

“I remember, you know, you go to these parties on Saturday night and people would say, about 8:00 on Sunday morning ‘Whoa, I have to go – I gotta get to church!’

People would say, ‘Why do you want to go to church, all those hypocrites?’

And I say, ‘Look, why do I want to stay here with all you hypocrites?’

I never knew why going to church made you a hypocrite. They’d say because you go to church and you’re all ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ for two or three hours, and then you go home and sin. I’d say ‘exactly!’ For two or three hours you’re doing pretty good!

Maybe the problem isn’t that you go to church, maybe the problem is that you go home!
I never understood why going to church made you a hypocrite either, because nobody goes to church because they’re perfect. If you’ve got it all together, you don’t need to go. You can go jogging with all the other perfect people on Sunday morning.

Every time you go to church, you’re confessing again to yourself, to your family, to the people you pass on the way there, to the people who will greet you there, that you don’t have it all together. And that you need their support. You need their direction. You need some accountability, you need some help.”
– Rich Mullins

Why do you go to church?