I read a study once that looked into the truthfulness of those surveyed about church attendance. It turns out that half of America claims to attend church regularly but half of those are fibbing. When researchers compare actual church attendance with church attendance surveys, half the people surveyed say they were in church on Sunday when they were actually at home in their pjs.
It is much more common for church attendees to really be Easter and Christmas attendees. They have a church they call their own and might even be listed as members. Somehow alternate weekend plans always seem to come up. But come Easter and Christmas they make sure to keep their calendars clear for church.
There is a good chance I just described you. If I did, then this is not an article intended to judge. Instead, I hope to challenge you to view church in a different light.
Most people, even those who actually attend church weekly, view church as a place to consume spiritual content. Churches hire a pastor so they can serve the people with solid teachings every Sunday. They build a building to house those people and provide a comfortable place for their meetings. They get a worship band to blast out inspirational music that both entertains and motivates the people to a higher spiritual calling. They brew coffee, decorate the halls, and hand out donuts to ensure you, the attendee, are comfortable and able to soak up the spiritual content provided each Sunday.
But this is all wrong. The teaching is fine. The building and worship teams are fine. It’s the approach to these things that are so often backward.
Church is not a place where you are supposed to come to receive. Instead, it is a place where you are supposed to come to give. It’s not about you at all. It’s about the family in the row behind you. It’s about the new couple who are visiting for the first time. It’s about the elderly woman who sits alone with her ragged old Bible every Sunday up front.
If you consider attending church as a thing that is for you, then you can easily find other calendar opportunities more suited to your needs. For example, are you tired from a long week at work? Then maybe a busy Sunday morning at church isn’t what YOU need. Are you in desperate need of a good time with YOUR family? Then perhaps your church family can do without you this week.
But that is where we get it all wrong. Church is not about you. It’s about others. It is not a place where you are supposed only to sit and consume spiritual content. Rather, church is a gathering of people, each dedicated to serving one another in the name of the one who came to serve all.
Maybe that family behind you is desperately overwhelmed with life. Maybe you are there so you can offer them some free babysitting to let mom and dad have a date. Maybe that new couple who just walked in is going through some significant life changes and came here for answers. The pastor may be able to explain something from the Bible, but they will need a real-life friend to show them what faith looks like applied to life. You can’t be their friend if you never were there to meet them. And maybe that elderly lady is struggling to run errands and keep up the house now that her husband has passed. You will never know if you aren’t there to greet her on Sunday and ask her how she is doing.
Jesus once said it is “better to give than to receive.” And this truth is as true on Sundays as it is the rest of the week.