Love Leiden

Why do I go to church?

I was pondering this question the other night as I was supposed to be going to sleep (when I seem to do much of my meaningful thinking!). I know I have said in the past that ‘going to church’ is a bit of a misnomer as you and I are the church and we merely go to an organised worship service on a Sunday morning. But that aside, what actually gets me out of the door on a Sunday morning to often cycle through freezing cold rain with a bleating family alongside?

Well I came to the conclusion that it is a mixture of factors, with various levels of sense:

1. I’m a Christian and that’s what I’m supposed to do, right? I would probably feel guilty if I just sat at home, though I might avoid this if I spent 10 minutes reading my Bible. Heck, I would (and may even in the future) preach on why it is important to be an active member of a church community. So hadn’t I better be there?

2. What else would I do on a Sunday morning?

3. I’m a missionary and I guess our supporters kind of expect us to be pretty regularly attending a church.

4. I’m intrigued to see how the Dutch people ‘do church’. It’s actually a vital part of my cross-cultural learning and will influence later what we do (and also don’t do) as church planters.

5. Sunday services are an opportunity to worship together, although I must admit I have very seldom felt that I have had a meaningful encounter with God in such a context for the last four years. A very sad admission.

6. Sunday services are when we share fellowship with other. This is one area where our current church is pretty hot. The after service atmosphere is buzzing and many people stay and chat for quite a long time. People have introduced themselves to us virtually every week that we have been there.

7. It is a chance to learn about God, normally via a sermon. Having been a Christian most of my life and going through Bible college kind of spoils this part of a service as most of it you’ve heard before. The last three churches I have been in have had very different sermon styles. One was short and sweet and very variable, though generally mission oriented; one was very Bible-centric and academic; and one was much more lifestyle orientated than expositional.

There are probably more reasons.  All this said, I generally find Sunday morning meetings stressful and usually sit there wondering what on earth I am doing there in such a weird environment, so utterly different from the culture that I live in for the other 95% of my week. Surely there’s something wrong there? To my mind church absolutely must be culturally relevant; not totally shaped by the culture, but at least reflecting it generally. I’d rather hear Coldplay in church than another 19th century dirgey Dutch hymn! (By the way, are there any Dutch-written hymns in a major key?)

Just plain cynical? No, I try to keep myself from that and reflect on how I would do things differently. Yikes, soon I’ll soon be trying! I’m currently reading a top book The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch (also co-wrote The Shaping of Things to Come, a recent classic) which is helping me in my thoughts for the future.  I’ll report back in more depth on this book at a later date.

Why do you go to church on a Sunday morning?