Good Reasons Not to Go To Church
A few years ago a friend sent me a link to this video, and I’ve continued enjoying watching it from time to time. I thought of it again this week as I know how many of our congregations get “kick-started” after the summer is over and school and other activities get going again.
What I like about the video is that it illustrates a number of misperceptions of church – that the people have it all together, have the answers their looking for, etc. – and invite us to imagine the opposite – that church is where you go when you don’t have it together, are searching for answers, and so on.
It reminds me that although there are plenty of reasons people give for not going to church, the one they most frequently give for starting to go to church is simple: someone invited them. Someone, that is, reached out to them, asked if they’d like to go, kept asking if it took a few times, sat with them, introduced them to others, and made them feel more at home.
When we moved this summer we ended up in a home not too far from a church. A few days after visiting there for the first time, one of the pastors called to invite our kids to a youth outing. And then again to invite us all to a family get-together. We were hooked.
Here’s the thing: as much I’d like to think that what really matters is the preaching or worship, I know deep down that there’s nothing more important than reaching out and making someone feel welcome, making them feel like they don’t have to have it all together, that they belong. And you know what? Any one of us can do that pretty much every day of the week.
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I won’t go because I am not the same color as the other people who attends my friend’s church. I have nothing against African Americans, but I don’t like being someplace where I am the token white against all those blacks. I know they are top man on the totem pole in terms of birth percentage; the whites are now a minority group. There is also some friction between some of the members of my friend’s church and I; I am just seen on occasion.
Cheryl that is a poor excuse for why you won’t attend and sadly within that statement is a hint of prejudice. There are churches all over the place that you can attend if you are that uncomfortable. If this church is majority African American then I am sure they embrace you for attending. There is a constant image of hateful, ostracism and Caucasian dislike that America often promotes pertaining to African Americans and it needs to stop. What does birth percentage have to do with it? Friction is a constant among all human beings and especially in churches. I don’t attend church simply because it is hypocritical and the true history shows that the teachings are false and as with most European history it is distorted. Know where you came from…so that you can know where you are going.