Church is Supposed to be Enjoyed, Not Endured

I rejoiced with those who said to me,

    “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1

Let’s not move past the significance of this ancient biblical truth. David expressed joy and happiness at the thought of going to the house of the Lord. It filled him with overflowing joy and anticipation. Can the same be said of our churches today? Are people tripping over each other trying to get in our doors? Do people come with a sense of anticipation or out of a sense of obligation? Do your church services feel more like a funeral or a wedding celebration? Is church a duty or a delight?

Here are five ways to turn church from something people endure to something people enjoy (crazily enough, when people actually enjoy church they’re much more likely to bring friends, just sayin’):

1.  Rock out your kid’s ministry. Whatever you need to do, whomever you need to hire, invest heavily in children’s ministry and make sure it is top notch. Make sure they have the best space, the best leaders, the best everything. Parents can put up with a lot as long as their kids enjoy church. If a kid has a horrible experience as a child they’re more likely to choose not to return when they’re an adult.

2. Preach in a way that engages the audience. If you preach out of a liturgical calendar or verse-by-verse, it’s going to be more difficult to engage the audience on a week-to-week basis. Those styles of preaching are great for ease of sermon planning, but not audience engagement. Yes, I’m advocating topical preaching, and no, topical preaching doesn’t automatically mean shallow preaching. For proof, go read some of the sermons of the greatest topical preacher to ever live: Jesus (boom, mic drop).

3. Laugh together. It’s okay to laugh in church. No one’s died. You’re not at a funeral. And it isn’t a library where everyone is supposed to be quiet. Loud and boisterous (think the conversational tumult of a family reunion) engages people, which always leads to more enjoyment. Tell some jokes, laugh with each other. It’s perfectly okay to have fun in church.

4. Play together. Periodically our church gathers together and we just play together. Don’t worry, we get in more than enough worship services, but from time-to-time we stop and play. Playing does many things, including deepening relationships, which leads to better fellowship, which leads to more powerful worship.

5. Sing modern music. We could conduct all of our worship services in ancient Latin, which would be acceptable because it’s how people worshipped for centuries, but it’s not the language we use to today. We don’t speak Latin, we speak English. That’s why we conduct our worship services in English. In the same way, we can exclusively cling to worship songs sung centuries ago, but it’s not our heart music language. The Bible commands us to sing a new song to him. Old classics aren’t wrong by any means, but if you want to bring some joy back to church, trying singing songs in your people’s heart language: modern songs.

When people know they’re allowed to actually enjoy church, it brings the fun back. Who knows, they may even start to say, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord.”