Why Go to Church?
For most of my life growing up, I went to church. I went because my parents did and my big brother did. My parents went to different churches because they were raised in different denominations. My mother was Roman Catholic and my dad Missouri Synod Lutheran. On Christmas Eve we all went to my dad’s church at 6 p.m., out to his parents’ farm for dinner, and then back to town so we could all attend Midnight Mass together. We could not receive Communion together at either church.
I received my nursing education at St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in Memphis, TN. I went to church 2-3 times when I first arrived there and then only attended church when I was home. After graduation I had planned to live at home, save my money for a year, and then move to an apartment for a year and get married. That plan worked for about 3 weeks! My BFF agreed to move out with me a year early and I was free to live my life as I saw it then.
And church? You’d think that without that piece of my life, that was a steady piece of the foundation of my life, I would notice and correct that deficit. Not until two bolts of light brought illumination into the well controlled life I felt I had.
The Living Bible Paraphrase was the first Bible I ever read. It was a gift and it read like a novel. I was a reader. I started in Matthew; read to Revelation; then to Genesis, and with a bit of determination, I concluded with Malachi. And then I joined a Bible study group and bought myself a translation Bible, because I had questions!
I went to church because it made me feel closer to family and I thought it was good for our children to be close to positive influences and their family. And then came June 1995. I accepted that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to earth and died for me. Me, a sinner. A grievous sinner. He came to earth from Heaven— died on a cross — for me — for all sinners. Do you think of yourself, your life, as that of a sinner? Then that is the reason for joining a church. A church that teaches what Jesus taught and does what Jesus told us to do.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” — Matthew 22:34-40 NIV
[Jesus said,] “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” — Luke 6:35-36 NIV
For me, church is fellowship with other believers in Jesus. It is a place of learning without criticism or rejection. It is a place to be encouraged, guided and loved, not judged. It is God, and only God, who is my judge and corrector.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.” — John 8:6-8 NIV
Pray to our Father in Heaven to lead you to the church that will encourage you, teach you, welcome you to worship Him and connect you with the brothers and sisters in your Family of God who are glad to welcome you and get to know you.
