How To Enjoy Church More

How can you get more enjoyment out of church? Is that even the right question?

The Church Is…

What is the church? Is it a building? Is it a denomination? Is it universal? The church is the “called out ones” as the Greek word “ekklēsia” means. It also means “a gathering, an assembly,” and “a public meeting.” It doesn’t say “called out one” but called out ones! It is plural and the church is the called out ones gathering in a public and sacred assembly before God. It is not a building or denomination…the church is the Body of Christ of which Jesus said nothing could stop it (Matt 16:18).

What is Worship?

People who say “I didn’t get much out of worship services today” don’t get it. It isn’t what you can get out of worship services but what you can put into them. One thing you can contribute to worship services is to “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing” (Psalm 100:1-2)! Notice three things about worship; making a joyful noise, serving with gladness, and entering His presence with singing. These are all verbs; make, serve, and come. None of it’s about what you get out of it but what you put into it. That’s what makes it more joyful. If you approach worship with the idea of what you can give, then you can say “I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God” (Psalm 43:44).

Extend the Fellowship

When church ends, the fellowship doesn’t have too. The church should be spending time together outside of worship services in order to draw closer together during services. There are many ways a congregation can receive more joy from church. We can eat together, pray together, work together, study together, volunteer together, and worship together. On the day when a board meeting is scheduled, our church has a pot luck so we can eat and fellowship after services. This helps the board meetings go more smoothly and with less conflict because the board members have had time to rest, fellowship, and eat before addressing the church’s business mattes. It’s better to tackle difficult issues on a full stomach than on an empty one. Simple things like these can make church more enjoyable.

Strangers Among Us

After church this Sunday, why not invite a few members to your home who you normally don’t invite, maybe even someone you don’t know very well or find that single person in church and take them out to lunch with your family. I believe it is very important to have someone in the church that is designated to meet and greet new people so that they’ll feel welcome. If we take an interest in visitors then we’re remembering the strangers among us as Jesus commanded us to do (Matt 25:25). The author of Hebrews tells us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:2). Everyone matters!

Destroy the Legalism

Legalism can slip into churches so easily. The board passes a resolution that communion can’t take place more than twice a month and then the church forbids bingo because it’s a form of gambling. I am not arguing whether these are right or wrong. My point is that we can encumber worship services so much by being too regimented and formatted that we’re strangled by structure. We can have the form down but the worship service can be like we’re just going through the motions. The opening announcements; check! The reading of the Word; check! The opening prayer; check! I’m not saying any of these are wrong but having spontaneity can be beneficial. I hate to be predictable and the services should be led by the Holy Spirit, not a church bulletin.

Organized Religion

Many call Christianity “organized religion,” even though it’s really about a relationship with Christ more than a religion, but there is certainly organization in churches today…maybe too much. Yes, we do need to be organized because God is not the God of confusion but of order (1st Cor 14:33), however we can get into such a rut that these things lose their meaning. Jesus rebuked the legal establishment of His day by saying “woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matt 23:13-15). In other words, they made it so ritualistic and so legalistic that it seemed impossible for the average Jew to ever be a Jew they would accept.

Serving

If you want to enjoy church more, ask the church leadership where you can serve at. There are fewer things that are more enjoyable than serving others. There are typically places in every church open for someone to help with. There is the nursery, ushers, the choir, outreach (evangelism), greeters, Sunday school teachers and substitutes, administrative duties, and just about everything else you can imagine. Our church has a prison ministry and a nursing home ministry but we also give good clothing to those who need them, and a few other things in our community. Almost everyone who serves in these areas tells me they really enjoy it but so do those whom they serve.

Conclusion

Church should be the highlight of our week. We can fellowship with the saints, serve with and serve the saints, we can serve the community in which we live, and we can serve God and give Him our offerings of thanksgiving. We are commanded to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1st Thess 5:18).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.