Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Today I am sharing with you Rev. Molly Baskette’s Ten Reasons Why You Should be Going to Church from her book Real Good Church: how our church came back from the dead, and yours can too.
Coming to church doesn’t mean you have no doubts about God or faith or religion. It means you have a place you can share with people who have their own doubts.
Bad stuff is going to happen in your life. A church community cannot be everything to everyone in times of crisis, but when the bottom falls out of your world, it’s great to have a community to lift you back up.
Bad stuff is going to happen in your life, part two. The time to build a relationship with God is not when life turns ugly, and you have run out of all other options. Attending worship regularly helps build a relationship with God and others that will give you a solid foundation when the winds blow and the storms come.
Not all churches are anti-something. Most of us are for people, for acceptance, for hospitality.
Any church worth its salt has really good food on a regular basis.
Churches offer paint-by-number opportunities to serve. Many people would like to help the poor, the hungry and the homeless, but they don’t know how to get involved, how to make the time to be involved, or what they can do to really make a difference. Churches offer you ways to plug in to help those who need it most.
You have a gift. Probably two or ten of them. Becoming involved in the ministry of a church will help you discover and use gifts you never knew you had.
Not all churches are after your money. Good churches want you to have a healthy relationship with money. Sure, churches need to pay the electric bill and the pastor, but money and the church is more about you than it is about than the church. It’s about your own relationship with money. World events have proven that it’s much better to put faith in God than a bank account. Church can help you with that.
Taking a break from our hectic lives to come to church is accepting the gift of Sabbath. We do not take Sabbath and come to worship because we have time and have finished up everything that needs to be done. We take Sabbath because it is time to stop, and we are designed to stop, rest and reflect. Those who do not are destined to crash and burn.
Jesus is really cool. The more you get to know him, the more you’ll understand why people call his way The Way.
What is our reason for coming to church? I would love to hear from you: call, text, email.
Blessings on the journey,