And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25
I think the church is the single most important entity on the planet. Sadly, many Christians don't share this viewpoint. For many, the church is just something to attend on Sunday mornings. How can I say this? Because of the lack of priority the church is given by the bulk of Christians. This was never what or how God intended the church to be.
What would it look like if people put the same (if not more) energy, effort, resources, and time into their local church as they do other groups and organizations? What would our churches look like?
I believe in the church. I firmly believe what we do in our churches today will matter in 10,000 years. The message that we carry is the most powerful message the world has ever seen. Yet, when it comes to people committing to the church, it seems that many BELIEVE (according to their actions) that the church really is not that important. Look at the stats.
Fifty-one percent of churchgoing (professing) believers attend church ONCE A MONTH! Do you know what the number-one reason is for not going to church? “Because it’s hard to get there in the mornings.”
My father used to have a saying: 'We do what we want to do.' If you wanted to get up and go hunting or fishing, you would bust your backside to make that happen. I know men who get up at 3 and 4 a.m. to go do some type of hunting and fishing. Yet we struggle to make it church by 10:30 or 11: 00 AM? I’m not buying it.
Modern Christians are not buying into the message of what the church is. Why? There are a ton of possible reasons, but I’ll cut through all the red tape and just say this: I think we don’t love and believe the message of Jesus. We do not LOVE the idea of gathering and worshiping with fellow believers. How can I say that? Because we do what we love to do, or rather we don't do what we don't want to do.
We, as Christians, are a part of so many other organizations and activities, and we give our time and our creativity as well as our resources to make those places successful. What would those activities and organizations look like if we only showed up once a month? I'll let you answer that.
So, my next question is this: why do we only want to be a part of the church ONCE a month? Do you believe in the message/mission of your church? If the answer is yes, then why not go all in at your church?
Sadly, many who attend church are consumers rather than Kingdom builders. Many come and sit for and hour and consume. This is not biblical. Biblical Christians are called to be activated at their local church this means to actually be involved. They shouldn't just come and consume. Believers in Christ should come to WORSHIP, fellowship, engage, minister, and actually plug in. They should be looking for ways to be the hands of feet of Christ in their local body. Not making excuses as to why they don't want to go worship. When we make excuses as to why aren't involved in our local church body we are in direct violation of Scripture. Hebrews 10:25 is a direct command, not a suggestion.
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25
What would your church look like if you dedicated a good chunk of your time, money, creativity, and self to make that place successful? Sometimes the church has some cranky/ stuffy folks in it. But so does Rotary, the Scouts, and your local sports booster club but we don’t give up on them. We keep pressing forward.
Like I said before, what we do today in the church will matter in 10,000 years. If you don’t like how things are going at your church, GET INVOLVED AND HELP MAKE IT BETTER! They would love to have your input. They would love to get you on a committee. They want to hear your ideas.
If you’d like to see a study or activity happen, then tell someone. Or even better, just jump in and start putting something together. Go sit down and ask your pastor where you can get plugged in. Ask him, “what can I do?” Pastors LOVE those questions.
We have two directions we can go after thinking about this topic. One, we can get offended and make more excuses and exclude ourselves further from the blessing of being part of the fellowship of believers. Or two, we repent of our apathy towards the gather of the saints and then commit to go all in at our churches and see how God uses us in the places we are planted. I personally think option two is the better of the two.
I think that if we saw Christians going all in for Jesus, all in for His local body, all in for the mission of the church, our communities would look different.
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