Our Church Family Matters
In my book 52 Churches, I share my experience in visiting various Christian congregations. I talk about what happens before, during, and after the service. Along the way, I recognized the importance of church community.
My goal in researching and writing that book wasn’t to look for a new church, but to see how various churches worshiped God and expand my understanding of the vastness and diversity of Jesus’s church.
A common reaction to my church visiting experiences is that it gives members and regular attendees a glimpse into what it’s like to be a first-time visitor. For many it has altered their perspective in how they view and interact with visitors.
They pledge to be more visitor focused and change how they interact with people they don’t know. Some churches have even reformed their practices in how they greet visitors.
Church Community Matters
One reader, however, was critical of my coverage of what happens before and after each service. Her feeling was that I missed the purpose of church.
“I go to worship God and hear a sermon,” she said. “Then I leave. I don’t go to church to talk to people.”
Her attitude was that the people she attended with didn’t matter. Church community wasn’t important to her. She has it backward. If you attend church and isolate yourself from the rest of the congregation, you miss the reason for being there.
Worship Music
Worshipping God through song is important. Yet doing so with a church community adds depth and meaning to the experience. The blending of our collective voices merges to amplify our adoration of our Creator and our Savior.
Strong voices provide cover for those of us who struggle to carry a tune. Collectively, we are better.
If singing with your church community doesn’t matter, then just stay home and listen to worship music. The professionally recorded tracks have greater quality and are easily accessible from the comfort of home.
The Message
In similar fashion, if listening to a sermon is the only goal, why bother to go to church to access it? There are plenty of powerful messages available to listen to online. There’s no need to drive someplace to hear the word of God proclaimed.
But just as with worship music, hearing teaching with our church community has value—great value. This applies both during and after.
If I miss a critical phrase in the message or don’t catch a complete Scripture reference, I can glance at my wife’s notes and often quickly grab what I missed. And she does the same with me.
Even more important is discussing insights we gained from the teaching with others afterward. This amplifies the experience and the impact for both them and us.
Sometimes a robust discussion follows. Other times it’s a simple and quick exchange the punctuates a point or reinforces a lesson.
We need to be careful, however, that this post-message chat doesn’t become an evaluate-the-minister critique. That is neither kind nor edifying.
Yet when done with positive intent, any discussion of the sermon with our church community amplifies the experience. This applies to both us and others.
Stronger Together
If we only go to church to sing and listen for what it does for us personally, we fall short of what church offers. We need to practice our faith with others. This starts with our church community on Sunday morning (Psalm 122:1).
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.