*Disclaimer - When I refer to a church, I always mean a gospel-centered, bible-obeying, truth-living, great commission-believing church.
**Disclaimer #2 - The views expressed in this blog are my views, from my perspective. They are not in any way, shape, or form meant to judge how others feel. They are my reasons alone and are not meant as a "should" for other people at all. Really. Believe it. I mean it.
I have done a lot of thinking in the past couple years about why I am in the church I'm in and why I believe I'm meant to stay there. We pick our churches for a variety of reasons when we first become believers. I started off this new life 10 years ago in the church where I remain today.A lot of people have come and gone and yet, I stay. It has led me to really delve into the reasons why I feel so strongly about staying.
Is it the preaching?
While the preaching is excellent, I have to be honest and say that I could listen anytime to gifted preachers. I could hear it anywhere. In this culture of technology, I could spend all day, every day, and never hear the same preacher twice on-line. So, it's not the preaching that makes me stay.
It's gotta be the music, the worship band, then.
I love music- I love to sing out loud, I love how music draws me closer to God.
My church was singing from hymn books when I started going there then they graduated to a full band playing praise songs. I've heard it all, I've enjoyed it all. I imagine I'll enjoy whatever comes next as well. My preference is contemporary praise and worship with lots of guitar - But, it doesn't matter, ultimately. I can leave a church service and turn on K-Love or pop in a CD or put my earphones in to listen to my MP3 player. So, it's not the music that keeps me there.
Maybe it's the children's/youth ministries?
We've gone through plenty of programs with plenty of kids to not many kids so not many programs in my church. The opportunities for my children to be with other children learning about God are wonderful! The lack of them is sad. But, my children will never learn at church what they don't see at home. What my kids see and hear at home about God is worth far more to me than any children's programs. I have loved my childrens' teachers, leaders and mentors at our church, they have added plenty to their lives - but other churches have done it better, are doing it better and many churches do it not so well, so I could find that easily enough. But that's not what keeps me there.
It must be the Bible studies and teaching that keep me there, then.
I have grown up in Christ through studying the bible with other believers. I love hearing their revelations, their experiences, their knowledge. I love the Bible- every word of it. My church has some incredibly gifted teachers and study leaders. However, I can go online and listen to bible studies; I could read a book and get the same knowledge; I can go to half a dozen other churches and find bible studies just as good. So, that's not the reason.
So, it's not the preaching, the music, the programs or the bible studies. What else is left?
Perhaps it's the vision.
My church strives to serve God, reach out to the community, to love our neighbors, to love each other, but above all, to love God. What could be a better reason to stay than that? Well, I could do all those things and never step foot in a church. I could walk into any church in the area and find the same desire. Isn't that the point of our Christian life and our churches? To love God, love each other and to love our neighbors? My church is not alone in this vision, so it's not why I stay.
I stay because I made a committment when I became a member there. Not a committment on a piece of paper, not a legally-binding committment, not even a morally-binding committment. I believe that I could walk out the door of my church and still be okay with God, as long as I am serving Him with the gifts He has given me. There's not much in the Bible about leaving a church. Frankly, it just wasn't relevant when the Bible was written. So, I don't have to stay. But, and this is a big but, I entered into a covenant when I became a part of this church. I covenanted with God and with His people to share my life with this body of believers. I made a committment to pray for them, to be prayed for, to pray with them, to pray in their place when they can't find the words. I made a committment to share my joys and to share my sorrows. I made a covenant to bear with them, endure with them, love them. When I became a member, I chose to invest in their lives as well as allow others to invest in mine. I chose to "know" them well so that if I saw someone acting differently, I could see it and know what to say. I chose to really look at them- notice the joy in their faces when they finally "got" it; notice when they were struggling with a sin in their lives, notice when they were overjoyed with a victory over sin. I look around and my heart thrills when I see a mature Christian who has prayed for years for her family to know Christ, finally sees an answer to that prayer in a big way. I'm overtaken with sorrow when I see others going through painful circumstances. I cannot separate my life from this body of Christ any more than I can separate from my own family. When a body of believers get together, they form a bigger picture of who God is. They are cemented together by the Holy Spirit, they are a living, breathing picture of God. So, that's why I choose to stay. That's why I have to stay - I am a part of this body and we are the church. I don't claim to understand how that all works but this is what God put in my heart 10 years ago and it still remains there today. So, even during times of great stress or times of extreme dry spells, I can still be steadfast because of the committment I made.
And He's still there, He hasn't gone anywhere. And there's still work to do for His kingdom. No matter how tired I may get, if I work in His power, I'll be just fine. Ultimately, I work for Him, I serve Him, I am loved by Him. And that's all that matters.
