What is church for, anyway?
I’m very much looking forward to getting back to church in person, but the time spent watching church at home online hasn’t been all that bad, either. One of the positive aspects has been our family discussions after the service. Back in the days when we drove to church, we would talk about the sermon a little on the way home, but there was always the gap of hanging out with people and chatting in the lobby before heading home. There would be some loss of momentum by the time we got to talking in the car.
As we were discussing the sermon this past week, I was reminded that we really shouldn’t be expecting to get everything we need spiritually from a Sunday morning church service. Our pastor is great and we’ve learned a lot from him and the other teaching staff at our church, but they can only cover so much in 40 minutes once a week. Many topics, like the one this past week on the End Times, are way bigger and more complicated than one church service can tackle. Even if he did an entire series on the topic, it would still be difficult to handle in a large group setting. It’s really not fair or realistic to expect a church service to fill all our spiritual needs.
What is church for, then? We definitely go to be fed and challenged and taught. It’s a community where we can serve others and encourage each other. Church is a place to invite curious friends to come and hear about Jesus. It’s a place to worship communally and celebrate as a group. Sermons are a great way to grow spiritually, but really, they should just be the starting point. If we never pursue our faith outside of a Sunday morning church service, our growth will be stunted and our faith weak. It would be like marrying someone and then only seeing them once a week to grab ice cream together.
Then how do we continue to grow in our faith? Read and study the Bible on our own and in small group Bible studies. Listen to other preachers on the radio or through podcasts. Read Christian books. Get involved in your church beyond attending Sunday morning services. Volunteer to work with kids, serve in the community or greet newcomers. Step outside your comfort zone. We need input and output in order to be spiritually healthy. We need the input of learning from God’s words both on our own and with others and the output of serving others and sharing what we’ve learned.
That first service back, whatever it actually looks like, will be pretty darn cool! Even when that happens, our family plans to continue our after service times together.
What positives have you taken away from doing church online?
What ways do you engage your faith and grow outside of a weekend church service?