I am often challenged to prove
that Church attendance is important. I once heard the following and have found
it to be true…
You don’t have to go to church to
be a Christian, but I don’t know any sold out - on fire - evangelicals who don’t
desire to attend church regularly.
It’s been said that going to
church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to Mc Donald’s makes
you a Big Mac. I agree with that. There are lots of people who go to church for
all sorts of reasons that have little or nothing to do with being a Christian. BUT,
if you are truly seeking a deeper, more mature relationship with Christ, you
are not going to find it outside of church. That’s like thinking that you will
find a Big Mac at Taco Bell.
If you follow the blog, you know
that I spent a week in the mountains with a bunch of teenagers the first of
this month. We chose to include “little ones” on this trip. These are
kiddos who are entering 6th grade in the fall and moving into the
youth group. At least 2 of the mamas were concerned about their little ones
going off with the “big kids” for a week. It wasn’t like they could run home in
the middle of the night if they got homesick. We were about 10 hours away from
home.
I admit, I was a tiny bit
concerned, but quickly learned that I had no need to be. Here’s why….
These kids showed me what church
should be like. The “big kids” made sure that the “little ones” were taken care
of. Being far from home wasn’t so hard because the “little ones” had “big kids”
to help them through the week. They had people they could trust to help them
through the obstacle course, navigate the waterfalls, or find the courage to
ride a really big horse through the mountains. Were they perfect? Absolutely
not. They teased each other and gave each other nicknames. The older boys took
a group snipe hunting and played all manner of pranks. That’s what you get when
you take a bunch of teenagers off to the mountains for a week.
Know what else we got? A week’s
worth of memories of kayaking, waterfall climbing, hiking, horseback riding,
and a feeling that, when it comes down to it, there is someone there to help
when you get homesick…or stuck. When you have an obstacle in front of you that
you can’t get over or when you are rafting down the river and you get stuck on
the rocks, there are people who will help you get going again. When you have a
choice to make, there are people there to help you make the right one.
That’s what Church is like. The
people aren’t perfect. They aren’t supposed to be. They don’t all get along and
they aren’t all best friends and that is really okay. Church helps us when we
get homesick for heaven. Church helps us when we have obstacles we can’t conquer
on our own. Church helps us know the right choices. Being part of a church means
knowing that, when it comes down to it, there is someone there to help you
through the rough spots. As we go thru
life together, we grow. We look for those who are homesick and offer them hope.
We look for those who are struggling with an obstacle and we offer a helping
hand. We look for those who are stuck and help them get moving again.
I’ll close with this. The kids
who didn’t go on the trip don’t share the deep growth in friendship that the
kids who went have. Not anyone’s fault. They just weren’t there to experience
it. Same goes with church. You won't feel part of it if you aren’t there to experience it.
