"Why Church?": Week 2--The More You Give

Why Church?

by Courtney Brewer

I left off last week in my endeavor to make sense of church by answering the question “Why Church?” with the answer:

“We are designed as social creatures that need fellowship. We need to be known. Also, living in a harsh world that does not know the Lord, it is our responsibility to live like Christ and welcome all who feel like outsiders into
our loving community of believers.”

How often do you hear people say, “I just didn’t get anything out of it,” when they’re asked why they stopped attending church services? I hear this ALL THE TIME. WHAT’S THE DEAL? Are our services getting bland? Are our speakers running out of things to say? Has God run out of new things to teach us?

While the first one could be true, I think there is more. So the question arose again in my mind. Why church? What is our motivation for going to church? Is it to “get something out of it”? To look good? What is the point?? In my study this week, I set out to answer just that.

If we’re looking to “get,” what are we trying to get and where does it come from? (Bear with me on this.) Perhaps it comes from God. Why, then, would I need to go to church for that? I mean it’s HIS house and everything, but He’s everywhere, right? Anything I could receive from Him, I’m sure he could send straight to my Lay-Z-Boy. So maybe we just go to church to be social. We’re supposed to fellowship right? Yes, but we can do that anywhere too. Let’s think about what we do at church. Listen to a sermon and discuss it in Small Groups, right? But why do we do it in that setting with those people? Think about the people you know at church. You have your singers, your speakers, your pray-ers, your tech guys and many more. They’re important to running church, but what about everyone else? Are they just there to experience the show?? Aren’t they the ones “getting”? Does that make them less significant?

1 Corintians 12:12;26-27
The body is a unit, through it is made up of many
parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body so it is with
Christ … If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is
honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ and each
one of you is a part of it.

Yes, this applies to the church (Christ’s bride), but it also applies to each individual church. This letter was written specifically to the church in Corinth. The section about the body follows the section about spiritual gifts for a reason. God has made every person different! Each unique with their own gifts ON PURPOSE, FOR A PURPOSE! Perhaps in larger churches, it is easy to feel
insignificant. Do we always notice the absence of those who have given up? I can tell you I’ve definitely felt like the appendix in the body of Christ, insignificant and waiting to burst. (Sorry, that’s kinda icky.) But when I found my gifts, and I was valued, it changed everything. As I began to explain last week, my unexpected move to Egypt stretched me beyond my comprehension and lavished me with blessings. After I dove into the idea of accountability, I began to see the workings of the body of Christ. Each person in the body is necessary and irreplaceable. While I had often studied that in Sunday School growing up, I never fully grasped the concept until I lived it. My sophomore year, my two friends, Lily and Abby, and I wanted to start a prayer group every Tuesday before school to intercede for our school, our church and our resident country of Egypt. While the goal of this group was not to receive anything but to see things around us change, we were all filled more than we ever knew possible. Each different gift was needed and valued, and we knew God was doing great things.

Did I leave my church to go and find some place I was needed? No, that would have been like my nose jumping off my face and finding someone else’s face to live on. So often I look around the church I grew up in. There are holes, gaps where my old friends should be. Now I know sometimes the Lord calls us elsewhere, perhaps to a new church, state or even country. But sometimes I know it’s because people have given up. Why wouldn’t they? Who wants to be where they don’t feel valued? If that’s you, if you feel like the church doesn’t need you and you don’t need church, I am so sorry. I hope you won't give up! I want to challenge you to find the gap that the Lord has for you to fill. The church desperately misses you! That gap cannot be filled by anyone else but you. So why church?? Because you and everyone else around you will be filled with what you pour out. You were created in the image of The One and no one can take your place.