Church Attendance: Here Are Some Reasons to Go

I am currently working from my iPad. It's a beautiful Spring day and I’m on my flight headed back to St. Louis. I've just left one of my favorite cities, Miami, and as I am writing—while on my flight, I happened to sit next to a guy that for whatever reason shared with me his previous church experience. Unfortunately, it was an experience that was quite negative, but this is common. Most people have had an experience with religion and not Grace. Why attend a service at a church? Is it even relevant anymore? Well, here are some reasons to go, and we want you to consider these reasons:

1. Be Honest With Yourself—Let’s Keep it 100:
What does this mean? It means you honestly feel you need it. Let's put it this way, assuming you are a Christian and are prepared to be brutally honest. You need to finally admit you're not perfect. I know. It’s tight, but it’s right. The last time you read your Bible was never. The last time you prayed was at dinner and the last time you cussed somebody out was this morning when your check didn’t arrive in the mail as you though it would or someone took your parking spot at Wal-Mart. It happens to the best of us. You are not perfect! Honest conviction for me means that sometimes church is the one time a week that I re-align and become Grace Conscious again.

2. Real Relationships
If you don't have genuine relationships at the church you've been going to, then I can tell you right now, you’re in the wrong place. I talk to people all the time and what I hear them dealing with the most is loneliness. So what you have 5000 Facebook friends. Be real for a minute and ask yourself, how many of those FB friends are prepared to help you when you are down to your last, when you need a baby sitter because you have a job interview or will just send a message to see how you are doing? How many of these friends will keep calling you or texting you if you relocate to a different city? How many friends stay your friends if you go to a different church or if circumstances change? Real relationships are lacking. A good reason to go to church is because you've got some place you can feel welcome-- appreciated and not tolerated, and connect with people you can call family. To be real honest with you, it keeps you grounded and connected.

3. A Place To Serve
A good reason to go is because it should be the place where you get to help people. That's what church should be. If not, it's just a glorified Happy Hour. What separates a church from a social club is Love. Come on, we can all say we're Christians, but if we are not personally involved with helping others—it’s called Outreach, then we're just faking like the hypocrites, talking and doing nothing. Be a part of a church where you can get involved and help people, even if it's only once a month. Perhaps your schedule doesn’t allow you to do a whole lot, but you still want to help, trust me what “little” you can do, is a LOT to the person receiving. As we often say, it’s better than nothing.

4. What’s God Got to Do With It? EVERYTHING
The main reasons for going to a particular church are so shallow these days. We go to churches that are: close to home, large in membership, have good music, where we grew up, where our parents go...among other reasons. Where's the God factor in any of these things? I know one thing about myself; if I feel like God has told me to do something; I'm going to do my best to maintain it. Where has God told you to go? Maybe He hasn't...then it might be time to seek Him about it. Maybe you know...then it might be time to follow through. Comfort is irrelevant.