• About Us
• Church Family
• Pathfinders
• Online Magazine
• Church Location
• Site Map

Why go to church?

by Pr John Macindoe

 
Why go to church? .... read on for invalid excuses

 
Let's be honest. Some mornings you wake up and you just don't feel like going to church. Take the following story: 

One morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, "I'm not going." "Why not?" she asked. "I'll give you two good reasons," he said. "One, they don't like me, and two, I don't like them." His mother replied, "I'll give YOU two good reasons why YOU SHOULD go to church. One, you're 44 years old, and two, you're the pastor!"

All of us can come up with reasons for not going to church - some of them even sound convincing. But most of them orient around what church will do for us. Do we go to church to gain a sense that we're OK with God; to pray; to worship; to enjoy the music; to be encouraged by a challenging sermon? These are all good reasons for faithful attendance.

But on their own they are insufficient. What if we don't like the music, or the prayers, or the preaching? What if we assure ourselves that God loves us just as much at home as at church? What if church makes us feel a bit flat?

The writer to the Hebrews orients church attendance not around personal desire, but around the needs of others. 'Do not give up the habit of meeting together… but let us encourage one another' (Heb 10:25). Your presence encourages and your absence discourages. We need you and you need us. Come to church.

Copyright © 2018 Thornleigh Seventh-day Adventist Church