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Christian Living

Why Do You Go to Church?

Reasons People Give for Going to Church

I often wonder why I go to church. Seldom do I come up with a good answer, that is, the real reason why I show up on Sundays. I’m not even sure if I know the theologically correct response.

Here are some reasons I’ve heard over the years:

  • Because I have to (“my parents make me”)
  • Because someone expects me to (“my boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/parents expect it”)
  • Because I’d feel guilty if I didn’t (while guilt can be a powerful motivator, is it ever a good one?)
  • Out of habit (“it’s just what you do on Sunday morning”)
  • To be a role model to others (“set a good example for the kids”)
  • To impress others (“it will be good if my boss/coworkers/neighbors see me there”)
  • Because God will be mad at me—and may even punish me—if I don’t (they fear God as mean and vindictive, not kind and loving)
  • To be inspired, motivated, or prepared for another week (can recharging for an hour, really sustain us for seven days?)
  • To listen to great, powerful music or teaching (doesn’t going merely for what we will receive, reflect a consumerism mentality towards church?)
  • Because the Bible says to (actually the Bible says to not give “up meeting together,” see Hebrews 10:24-25; it doesn’t say “go to church.”)
  • To learn about God (listen to a sermon)
  • To worship God (to sing to God or about him)

The truth is, at one time or another, these have all been my reasons for going to church. In response, someone may quip, “Well, as long as you’re there, that’s what really matters.”

I disagree.

In fact, I wonder if it’s better to stay home for the right reasons, than to go to church for the wrong reasons. Which would God like more? It’s something to contemplate.

As I read the New Testament—striving hard to not look through the lens of my experiences—I see some elements of learning and more so of worship, but mostly I see community.

To hang out with others who follow Jesus, to share life with then, having God at the center.

True community doesn’t happen at most churches. At other churches, community is a side effect. Rarely is community the focus of church. I think it should be.

That’s mostly why I go—even if I’m disappointed when community doesn’t happen.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

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Categories
Christian Living

Complaining about Church

What You Expect Forms Your Experience

When leaving church a few weeks ago, a man called out, “Hey! You! Come here!”

I didn’t much feel like interacting with another homeless man asking for a handout. He’d be unhappy with my solution, and my wife, fearing for our safety, wouldn’t want me to stop. I shook my head and kept walking.

“Seriously, do you go to that church?” He tipped his head towards the building I just left.

I took a few steps closer. A slight man, but he possessed a formidable force, complete with lip-sneer and eye-glare. Physically he was no threat, but his countenance urged caution. “Yes, I do.”

“Well, I just went to that church,” he snarled. “Not one person talked to me!” Given his aura of invective, I wasn’t surprised.

Yet, at the same time, as our church has grown, we’ve become less friendly. Even if he lost the attitude, there was a good chance no one would have greeted him.

“I’m sorry.”

“And all you did was ask for money—that’s all I heard the whole service.”

We seldom talk about giving. We don’t even take an offering. But today we mentioned money, briefly: “If God’s telling you to give, then give, but if you don’t want to, then please don’t.” It took thirty seconds of a 75-minute service.

“We must have been at different services.”

“Are you even a Christian church?” He snarled again, this time with more fervor. “You never mentioned being covered by the blood.”

I’ve heard the phrase, but never understood it. Since it’s not in the Bible, I don’t much care what it means. “Is it important for you to hear that?”

“Yes, I need to hear it every week!”

“It sounds like you want a Baptist experience.”

This confused him. “Well…I used to go to a Baptist church.”

I pointed to one nearby, but he shook his head. “I’ve been appointed to investigate all churches.”

I didn’t even care to ask who appointed him or why.

He continued his barrage. “And you didn’t even have an altar call!”

That’s when my wife piped in. I assumed she went on to the car, but instead she hovered about twenty feet behind me. “We have a prayer team. You could have gone up for prayer after the service.”

“There was a prayer team?”

“Yes,” I said, “but I think what you really wanted was a Baptist experience, so you need to go to a Baptist church.”

As he paused to contemplate that, I ended our conversation. “I’m sorry you were offended.”

What I should have said was, “I’m sorry we offended you.” I should have asked his name. I should have offered to pray. I should have taken time to learn his underlying angst.

But I didn’t. I just wanted to go home. Maybe I’m one of the reasons our church isn’t as friendly as it once was.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Categories
Reviews of Books & Movies

Book Review: Revolution

By George Barna (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)

In Revolution, Christian futurist, George Barna deftly and convincingly communicates that our world is on the leading edge of a revolution—and that virtually everyone is oblivious to it.

Barna states that “this revolution of faith is the most significant transition you or I will experience during our lifetime,” (p 11). While this might sound like hyperbole, Barna is completely serious.

To support this conclusion, he expounds on the characteristics of those who will participate in this revolution, takes a look at the current church, details seven trends, and suggests that the future will present us with new and exciting ways of being the church.

He points out that Jesus was the ultimate revolutionary and that we in the United States can (and should) follow his example; this book shares the initial steps in doing so.

Revolution is a must read for anyone truly serious about sincerely following Jesus and who wants to make the most of this unfolding opportunity for a kingdom revolution.

[Revolution, by George Barna. Published by Tyndale Momentum, 2012, ISBN: 978-1414338972, 160 pages.]

Read more book reviews by Peter DeHaan.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Categories
Reviews of Books & Movies

Book Review: The Practicing Congregation

The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church

By Diana Butler Bass (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)

If you follow the media at all, you have likely heard of the demise of interest and attendance at mainline churches in the United States and abroad.

Although there may be some truth in that assessment, it is only part of the truth. There is also occurring numerical growth and spiritual success among some mainline congregations.

The Practicing Congregation looks at those churches, encouraging and enlightening us along the way. This sentiment is succinctly summed up in the subtitle: “Imaging a New Old Church” and as such it becomes a primer for tomorrow’s church.

The contents of this book are applicable to all who follow the God revealed in the Bible, but is focused especially on mainline churches.

As a bonus there is a compelling afterword by Brian McLaren that extends Butler Bass’s mainline principles to evangelical, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox perspectives.

For the academic minded, this work is heavily and thoughtfully footnoted.

[The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church, by Diana Butler Bass. Published by The Alban Institute, 2004, ISBN: 978-1566993050, 129 pages.]

Read more book reviews by Peter DeHaan.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Categories
Reviews of Books & Movies

Book Review: The Great Emergence

The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why

By Phyllis Tickle (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)

The subtitle to The Great Emergence provides a concise summary of this book’s content: “How Christianity is Changing and Why.”

To respond to this statement, Tickle first explains what emergence is, then how we arrived at this point, and concludes with where it is going.

Along the way, Tickle provides a succinct and insightful history lesson of Christianity, complete with Protestantism and Catholicism (Western Christianity) Eastern (Greek) Orthodoxy, and Oriental Orthodoxy.

She notes 500 year cycles at which point major changes, or “Great Transformations,” occur.

We are currently at that point of great transformation.

She introduces the “The Quadrilateral,” a matrix that effectively portrays the distinctions within North American Christianity. As readers progress through the book, the diagram morphs as additional detail is added and future trends are projected.

This aptly serves to provide a clear graphical summary of the text’s detailed explanations.

This book offers a cogent summary the emergent and emerging church, as well as offering a clear and compelling glimpse into the future.

[The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why, by Phyllis Tickle. Published by Baker Books, 2012, ISBN: 978-0801071027, 224 pages.]

Read more book reviews by Peter DeHaan.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Categories
Visiting Churches

Praying for Church

Say a Pre-Church Prayer

One of the practices my wife and I followed when we visited 52 churches was to pray before we headed out the door.

This seems simple enough and something we should have always done, but praying prior to church was a practice we seldom did, more likely skipping it than remembering.

However, one year of visiting a different church every week taught us to embrace this practice; we depended on it. Indeed, without prayer to prepare the way, disaster would have surely resulted on more than one occasion.

52 Churches: A Yearlong Journey Encountering God, His Church, and Our Common Faith

Almost every week we prayed we would hear what God wanted to teach us. Often we prayed for ways to give back to the people at the churches we visited.

Sometimes we’d pray against fear or apprehension—or even that we could find the church. A few times, I needed to pray for a good attitude. And towards the end, we prayed to fight fatigue and to keep an open mind.

For the 52 churches, we remembered to pray 51 times. (The time we forgot was in rushing to Saturday Mass after squeezing in time with family.)

After experiencing firsthand the benefits of praying before church, we’ve continued this practice, remembering most Sundays. When we expect much at church and pray for it, we usually experience much. The opposite is also true.

If we take the time to go to church, shouldn’t we also take time to pray for a great experience?

[Read about our journey of visiting 52 churches.]

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 status quo religion 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.

Categories
Christian Living

Skipping Church but Experiencing it Anyway

Today, I will not go to church, at least not in the traditional way. This Sunday morning I am sitting in an airport, waiting for a flight to take me home.

Even so, the church will happen. It might be through a seemingly random interaction with someone at the airport.

It could be through silent reflection at 35,000 feet. Maybe my church will be in words said to a stranger or a deed done that will brighten someone else’s day, giving them hope or encouraging them to persevere.

What I do know is that I must be intentional about looking for these church opportunities. I cannot withdraw into my own little bubble, as is my preferred mode when flying.

I must look for an opportunity. I must be open to God’s prompting and willing to act. Then the church will take place. God will be worshiped and his kingdom, advanced.

Although I will skip going to church today, I will not neglect God. Instead, he will give me a different kind of church experience. Although likely lacking song and sermon, it may be even more profound and powerful.

Whatever church looks like for you today, may you truly worship God in spirit and in truth, wherever you are or whatever you do.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Christian Living

Is a Big Church Better?

In the developed world, especially the United States, size is celebrated. If something is big, we judge it as good. If it’s bigger, we applaud it as better. And if it’s the biggest, we acclaim it as the best. People equate size with success.

Churches fall into this same trap.

If a church is big, people assume God is pleased, that he has blessed them. Surely, God’s favor rests upon big houses of worship. The bigger it is, the more spiritual they must be, more holy in character and surely more loved by the Almighty.

People, both those in the church and those outside, equate size with success.

The opposite implication is that small churches are somehow lacking. Little is lamented. The logic is that tiny churches must be doing something wrong.

God is surely displeased, so he withholds his favor. Their small numbers suggests serious spiritual error.

We likewise judge ministers at these churches, with large-church leaders celebrated and small-church leaders ignored. But this is a societal assessment, not a spiritual indicator.

While there could be an element of truth in these assumptions, they are far from universal.

Too often, big churches have little connection with high spiritual standing, but are merely a reflection of successfully tapping into society’s consumer mindset.

While small churches may best provide the opportunity for spiritual growth.

Consider God’s rejection of Saul and selection of David or the victory won by Gideon’s tiny army.

With God, size doesn’t matter. And if he doesn’t care, why should we?

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Christian Living

Should Churches Pursue Excellence in All Things?

A phrase I hear from time to time at churches is to do all things with excellence. Other churches don’t speak this directly, but they do understand it.

One reason for this may be pure, to give God our best. Or the motive may be practical, to provide a quality program for an increasingly entertainment-minded public.

Relating to all aspects of a church service, from greeting, to ushering, to taking the offering, and so forth, excellence applies more readily to the sermon and most specifically to music. Let’s frame our discussion on music.

While the first motivation of giving God our best is laudable and the second reason of quality programing is understandable, there are three downsides to this well-intended mindset.

Talent is Elevated

When excellence is the focus, talent becomes key. A musician’s spiritual condition is a lessor concern or even ignored.

Some churches even recruit talent from anywhere they can find it, regardless of a person’s faith or lack thereof, disregarding his or her lifestyle or priorities.

The result is a music performance instead of musicians who lead the church in worshiping God.

Lessor Talent is Dismissed

Every artist knows that there will always be someone more talented. When that person comes along, the musician of lessor talent is downgraded to backup status or simply discarded.

The result is people whose hearts are right with God and who have a desire to use their God-given talent to worship him, being rejected because a higher level of excellence is now possible.

Consumerism Results

Excellence feeds into the American desire for quality. This changes worship into performance. If people attend a church because of its excellence, they will just as easily leave it for one that is even more excellent.

They become church hoppers, looking for what best entertains them and gives them what they want; they are church consumers. God and faith become the casualty.

In my 52 Churches adventure, I visited churches that pursued excellence in all things. Although they entertained me, it was harder to encounter God there.

However, at the churches that did the best they could with whatever they had, the focus moved away from performance towards the true worship of Almighty God, who they elevated to his rightful place.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Categories
Christian Living

Should a Christian Community be Homogeneous or Heterogeneous?

It’s fun to be in the company of likeminded individuals. It’s comfortable to hang out with people similar to us. But are fun and comfortable, necessarily good things? Do they promote personal growth and advance understanding?

Being with people like us?—uniform or at least similar in perspective—is a homogeneous experience. The opposite of homogeneous is heterogeneous. A heterogeneous community is diverse, comprised of dissimilar people.

They might look, talk, dress, or act differently. Perhaps they hail from distinct neighborhoods, cultures, or even countries. They could be rich or poor or somewhere in between.

They might embrace diverging priorities, worldviews, political alliances, or (gasp) even hold to an alternate theology.

How comfortable are we spending time with people who view God differently than we do? Will we bask in a diversity of perspectives or cringe over perceived heresy?

One of the things I learned from visiting 52 churches in a year is the grand variations in Jesus’ family.

Our vastness and distinctions are beautiful. I’m delighted to have had the experience— and I miss it now that it’s over.

I’ve heard that if two people agree on everything, than one of them isn’t needed. We must apply this to church. How can our faith grow if everyone agrees on everything?

Most churches today are homogeneous, but I think we should be heterogeneous. We need to embrace, pursue, and celebrate diversity in our faith communities.

I learn the most from those whose ideas and understanding differ from mine—or even contradict them. It’s not always a fun or comfortable place to be, but I think that’s where Jesus wants us—and where he would be.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion 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.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.