What Do You Go To Church For?

I was having a conversation with a very good friend yesterday, and we were diving into the pros and cons of various life paths that we could take in the coming year, when a discussion arose about church, community, and the gospel. And, through the course of our dialogue, we came to the conclusion that, when you go to church, the experience, if broken down into chunks, would not center around you.

This is not, however, how I've seen the church going experience unfold a lot of the time.

The priorities of the average American church goer tend to be as follows:

-Do I feel good when I leave?
-Do I feel loved here?
-Am I "getting fed?"
-(Here's one for the married folk) Do my kids like the programming?
-Are the interactions comfortable?
-Are the facilities nice?
-Are there people in my life-stage there?
-Is the worship band good?
-Does this place cater to my Sunday needs?
-Is the service short enough so I can get home in time for football?
-Do I relate to these people?

Now, I am not, by any means saying that these are bad things to want. I want to be able to relate to my congregation. I want to feel loved when I come to church. I love a good worship band.

But these things, when they become the hub of your criteria for a "good" church, will fundamentally damage your ability to experience God in the body of Christ.

Because ALL of those things on that list are about you. Which is the exact opposite of what Christ intends for his followers.

Say someone in your congregation gossips about you, or says something offensive right to your face, or does something that you just don't quite agree with, or really don't agree with, or even are deeply hurt by. If you have a mindset that is focused on what the church can do for you, you're going to get angry because your church isn't serving you in the way you want. So angry, maybe, that you might even leave that church. Onward and upward, to life without those hypocritical Christians. You think I'm kidding? There have been multiple times where I see the church hurt individuals in my life, and they've just walked away.

To those people who've walked away from their church, or are thinking about walking away, because of what someone has said or done, I deeply apologize for the hurt you've sustained. But I'm not surprised it happened. Because the people that you were going to church with were imperfect. They are imperfect. And they will never be perfect until God fully sanctifies them after they die. And the same applies to everyone else who has/is/will be living in this world, including you. So you might want to reconsider staying in your congregation, because you're not going to find a perfect church. And if you do find one, you'll ruin it by going there.

I'm going to take it one step further, though. I'm going to suggest that not only should you think about hunkering down where you're at, but I'm going to challenge you to serve the people there with a joyful heart despite what has happened. In Luke 22, during the Last Supper, after Jesus has just symbolically presented the New Covenant, he prophesies that one of the disciples will betray him. And a giant argument breaks out. Each disciple is out to justify that, of course, THEY are not the one who will betray Christ. And, if that was not enough, they also begin debating about who out of them will be the greatest in heaven. I can imagine this conversation going on for about a half hour while Jesus is banging his head against the table, praying to the Father, asking Him why these guys just don't get it.

And then he does something amazing. He redirects their priorities (again). He tells them that "the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves." He directs them to serve unconditionally, and uses his own life of service in the text to reinforce the necessity of unconditional service. Oh yeah, and then he promises them positions of honor and authority in heaven.

What? Jesus gives to them and serves them even though they're acting in a completely selfish way? Yes. Yes he does. Despite their narcissistic reaction, despite any hurt he must have felt because his friends are more worried about themselves then the pain he must be going through thinking about being betrayed to die, he serves them. Gives to them. And challenges them.

And he calls us to do the same with one another.

I think that if we shifted our mindset to a more Christ-centered approach when we think about what it means to go to church, with unconditional service at the forefront of our minds, we would enable God to work more fully in our lives. Our list would begin to look more like this:

-Where is an opportunity for me to serve someone?
-Where is an opportunity for me to forgive someone?
-Where is an opportunity for me to apologize to someone?
-Where is an opportunity for me to step out of God's way?
-Does this church believe that the Bible is the word of God?
-Does this church believe that Jesus came, died, and rose again, conquering all of sin and death?
-How can I enter into someones pain in this community?
-How can I cast a vision for what I see God doing in this person's life?
-Where am I falling short in this community?
-How can I cheer these people on to be better reflections of Christ?

So how does this impact you? What do you think priorities are for selecting a "good" church? How do you avoid/escape "bad" churches? When do you think it's okay to just leave a church body?