The phrase “go to church” is a “no-no” in missional circles. Some 20-something chastises me every-time I let that phrase slip from my mouth at our church. Church is not a place we go. It is a way of life we live as being God’s people in the world participating in His Mission. Acknowledging that, why get up and go on Sunday to the gathering of His people? I must admit often awakening Sunday morning and experiencing the inertia of getting going to the Sunday morning gathering. And I am a pastor! Why go to such a gathering?
To combat this inertia, I think we can get into some bad habits for “going to church.’ If we got rid of these habits, we might actually be able to see the gathering as a more natural part of the rhythms of our life with God in His Mission. Here’s 6 bad reasons to “go to church” Don’t go to church …
1.) OUT OF DUTY/OBLIGATION. Spiritual disciplines are good if they are openings for God to work and shape out lives into His life and Mission. Too often however, disciplines become duties, devoid of the life they were meant to connect us to. Don’t go to church out of duty or obligation. It should be a regular spiritual discipline that shapes us into His life and Mission.
2.) IF THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CHRISTIAN. If you think being a Christian is what happens in this hour-hour and half – stop going to church and ask what it means to follow Christ when you don’t go. This is where we gather to encounter the living God corporately, respond to Him, be shaped by His vision and His work, and then be sent out to continue this life into the world.
3.) TO GET MY NEEDS MET. If you think some problem in your life will be solved or some need met by “going to church” – don’t go! Because more than likely you’ll be disappointed. Sometimes needs, physical and otherwise, get met at the cross (or around the prayer bench) in instantaneous fashion but most often there’s some suffering that needs to walked through in the death and resurrection of Christ. Most of our needs are ministered to over time as we submit them regularly to Christ and what He is doing.
4.) TO FEEL GOOD, GET INSPIRED. I recognize a lot of times I come away feeling inspired and good after the gathering. But I try to check myself on this. For if I get addicted to a certain “feeling good” worship experience or some inspiration from the sermon – my relationship with God starts to look like – an addiction to a feeling that has become narcissistic. It stunts the growth of my character into God and what He is doing. Maybe I’m too uptight on this?
5.) TO PERFORM. Occasionally I will notice that I’m going off to the gathering to perform. I’m going to go preach, or teach, or guide the children’s ministry. I feel like other people can get into this rut too. I’m going to sing, play guitar, be cool, whatever (BTW I haven’t played the guitar in 20 years). We’re getting a buzz from performing. Something subtle occurs and it’s about my self-accolades. I feel better about myself after doing something for God. I suggest, if this is happening, don’t go to the gathering. Shrink back. All our service in the gifts and to the world should be out of our life with God. It should be an offering unto Him out of the gifts He keeps giving. Of course, we need affirmation in order to recognize what God is doing and calling us to. But that’s a different dynamic. After I preach a sermon, I discipline myself to leave that sermon in God’s hands. I offered it to Him. If and when I receive feedback, it is for the furtherance of His work in my life and the community.
6.) TO GET SOMETHING FROM THE EXPERT. If we go to church to get something on the Christian life from the expert in a sermon or something, I think we miss the point. The so-called expert is most likely gifted to proclaim. He/she has been recognized for God’s work in this regard in his/her life. But the real formation happens in the response and the working out of that proclamation among a people. The expert, on his own, often disappoints or worse starts acting like he/she is the only one who knows Scripture which breeds distrust of any authority in the community. The thought process –GET SOMETHING FROM AN EXPERT – defeats God’s work in community and should be discouraged. Don’t “go to church” if this is the way you think it works.
Over against these reasons NOT to “go to church,” I still believe that the church gathering is a part – just a part – albeit and important part – of the rhythm of Mission. For it is at the gathering, we come as broken people in order to submit ourselves to what He is doing to be shaped for Mission. Here we are led into His presence, the reading of Scripture, the liturgies of submission, affirmation of truth and confession, the proclamation of the gospel and the feasting on His forgiveness and new life at the meal, in praise and thanksgiving and finally into the sending out into Mission.
Are there any more reasons “not to go to church” which might actually prevent church from becoming a part of a Missional rhythm for a people of God. Can you think of any more?
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Thanks Dave!
I knew I didn’t want to go to church anymore…now will just keep in touch with my family and friends at the same place we go to every week that can hold them all in one room to pray, eucharist, hear one of with a gift/charism and office to teach and preach and lead us in the mysteries and …well… gosh darn…that is my church!
I guess I am still going there almost every week and sometimes more…and while there am with my friends and family! So…maybe I am going to a house we all own for that….and what is that word church in its german derivation…Kirk…or house…SHOOT…etymelogically (sp?) I am think I am STILL GOING TO CHURCH.
Help me here!
Keith
one more thing…going to that assembly….and you can only Go to an assembly…for Eucharist is THE EVENT in a COMMON PLACE that we go to that creates the ONE BODY of CHRIST…according to John Zizioulas in BEING AND COMMUNION…and the only thing that keeps it from being church is that the whole diverse population isn’t there under one bishop….or there aren’t more people going to church the event that makes church.
Of course I understand the fuss about going to church in a consumer, eucharistically ignorant and highly individualized and homogonized way…that doesn’t create….it destroys church…
but it seems to me the missional emphasis on church that I hear sometimes misses the event of Echarist that is in one place more than just symbollically…when gathered together two or more… in the sense Zizioulas describes is not just going to church…it actually creates church in a way that theologizing in our heads in virtual world cannot do. It creates more of the invisible church…a place people go to that no one really is at…a mirage and delusin of church.
I know I am to be corrected…help me.
I’ve often heard this list preached before – whether in regards to church going particularly, or about some facet of church life (worship, service, tithing, etc). And I’ve seen people take it seriously – and stop going – but never to their benefit.
It seems to me that God uses all of these means to get us to a gathering of worship where we can hear a word that convicts us of our immaturity and invites us to a more joyful maturity – a life more responsive to the Spirit of God and oriented to God’s glory. Those that I know that recognize something of these attitudes listed in themselves, and drop out of “church” life, often find they’ve dropped out of “church” (big picture) altogether – or at least largely so. Every time I’ve seen it happen, it always produces bad fruit. I’d rather people come with all their divided hearts, and encounter God through worship, teaching, and ministry (& the opportunity for relational connection) in ways that can bring repentence and new maturity.
I know this sounds like I’m committed to an attractional church model, but that’s not the case. In a busy urban environment, I find our weekly gathering for worship and teaching is probably the most significant time of connection of my week (or provides the most opportunity for setting up other points of contact during the week(s) to come).
Kim
David: Just a thought on #1. I have a history of heart disease. My physician says I should exercise at least three times per week for thirty minutes at a time. Some days I like the exercise. Other times it’s a pain–I do it out of a sense of duty because I believe that it is good for me. And often by the time I am finished I am glad I spent the time at the gym. I think spiritual disciplines are similar, and that’s why we call them disciplines not hobbies. And I like #s 2-6.
Dave .. I agree with you … the Sunday gathering is a spiritual discpline bu which to shape us into mission … it must become part of our regular life rhythm, or else it becomes a duty … or obligation … I think that’s the point of #1 …
On the other longer comments … I hope to get back to em … I’m in the middle of a faculty workshop for couple days with a little in between times.
[...] See David Fitch post today on “six reasons not to go to church.” [...]
“gathering is part of the rhythm of mission” – yes
old quote from Jim Wallis, my paraphrase: both inward and outward movement are key to mission. Without nurture, a community will exhaust itself in pursuit of a mission. Without mission, a community will become stuck in self-preoccupation and will travel in circles. With only mission a community soon loses any real quality of love. With only nurture the community soon forgets what its love is for.
I don’t want to go to church for any of those reasons you listed David. But I’m wrestling with this whole church thing. Today I am asking the question “why should I go to church”? We just moved to SoCal and have been visiting a couple of places but after being out of church for about a year now I’m having a hard time going back.
I guess I’m wrestling with this whole idea of how connected should I get to a local church because what I have found from past experiences is that churches can become very insular and all energy seems to go into deepening those relationships at church. Thus leaving very little time to invest in deep relationships with those outside the church. I’m a young mom with three kids so I can only do so much or I’m stretched too thin.
Esther
check out Len’s post that pinged off this post (a couple comments north of yours)…
[...] From David Fitch. [...]
Dave,
When it comes to reason #1, it strikes me that often times it’s hard to separate our sense of duty/obligation from our practice of spiritual discipline. Both involve doing something we don’t necessarily feel internally motivated towards. I have plenty of times when I don’t feel like going to church for various reasons. I nearly always go anyway and have often wondered if I’m going out of guilt or a sense of obligation. At the same time, the older I’ve gotten and the more I’ve come to understand the shaping power of the liturgy, the more I’ve become aware of how much I need to be there. Sometimes it’s hard to untangle how much of my motivation is guilt/obligation and how much is a deliberate practice of discipline.
So, while I agree that duty/obligation is ultimately a bad reason for coming to the Sunday gathering, I think we don’t want to get people being overly introspective about their motives for coming. It seems like sometimes it takes time and immersion into certain practices (even years) before we come to really grasp their importance or meaning.
Gordie …
thanks for the last paragraph … it’s a homerun … I think that is what I was trying to get at somehow … is if people see this as a duty, if people gather out of guilt …they miss the real issue… top submit to the regular practice of being shaped by the corporate encounter with God for His Mission … thanks bro
so the sign should actually say: “BE church”?…that’s an idea:)
While I agree with the premise and main thrust of the argument I think the outcome is not helpful. Going to church for the wrong reasons can leave people feeling confused and distant. However, if that confusion and distance persists the person will end up leaving the church in the end anyway. I think that God often uses our selfish and misguided reasons for going to church for good. And gathering as Christians is necessary whether it is in a traditional church setting or not. In the end this article is useful for those that are already strong Christians but I am not sure I would share it with those that are struggling in their faith or are not Christians at all.
The Church is not perfect and our motivations for going there will never be either. If you wait for the perfect motivations before you go to church or have a relationship with God then you might be waiting forever.
David I read Len’s post and resonated with pretty much everything he shared. But I’m still wondering where that leaves me. And mind you I’m not assuming you have an answer specifically for me but I’m processing.
So in his story it ended where he is able to be part of a new community whose very heartbeat is to live with and serve the poor. But what if that type of community had not been there – then what?
Hey Dave – here’s a piece by award winning poet Charlotte Clutterbuck of Canberra.
below posted at
http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=19662
‘Why I still go to church’
This moment
Which doesn’t drift away.
John Foulcher
‘Why I go to church’
never for the flat parish choirs
sometimes for tea-towelled shepherds
and tinselled sleepy angels
possibly for the story of St Martin de Porres
who promised the rats he’d feed them
if they stopped annoying the prior
certainly not for the sermon that never asks
can Neanderthal men be saved?
can a single death two thousand years ago
redeem the hypothetical populations
of 55 Cancri’s planets 41 light years away?
partly because even if no one is there
sometimes in the vaster spaces
of St Kit’s, I feel a charged stillness
always because of the kneeling, the touch
of fingers on forehead, the taste of the host
the red, green, purple rhythms of seasons
wisdom of parables, music of psalms
now because of you kneeling
beside me, thumbing the scarred leather
of the little mass-book your grandmother
hid at the back of her Protestant linen-press
and perhaps because driving up Canberra Avenue
when the spire of St Stephen’s briefly aligns
with the national flagpole soaring
like Lucifer above Parliament House, the Big Syringe
of modern communication on Black Mountain,
the stone steeple has human dimensions.
– Charlotte Clutterbuck
In response to Mark F,
That’s what I was getting at in my comments as well. That I agree that all the reasons Dave has listed are bad reasons to go to church, but sometimes it is difficult to discern one’s own motives and we don’t want to encourage people to be overly introspective about it when it sometimes takes long years of practice to really “get it” when it comes to something like church.
Jim, great stuff! Thanks much.
Esther – not sure where you are at in So Cal … but try reaching out to J R Woodward in LA (his website is http://jrwoodward.net/) and e-mail me at fitchest@gmail.com and I might be able to give you another name or two depending on where you live.
For Mark F. … I operate under the fundamental assumption that the gathering is for Christians for the shaping of their lives into the Life with God and His Mission. To me there is no reason to try to attract non Christians into such a gathering although the occasional wanderer would certainly be able to find God here and someone to talk to. So when you say “In the end this article is useful for those that are already strong Christians but I am not sure I would share it with those that are struggling in their faith or are not Christians at all” I can’t see any reason why I would offer these “6 reasons” to non Christians. As for new Christians, I assume they must be discipled into the right postures and reasons for gathering into a community. I would hope these “6 reasons” would help – accompanied of course with dialogue and mentorship etc. Does that make sense?
Blessings
” I operate under the fundamental assumption that the gathering is for Christians for the shaping of their lives into the Life with God and His Mission. To me there is no reason to try to attract non Christians into such a gathering although the occasional wanderer would certainly be able to find God here and someone to talk to.”
Your observation seems to me to be a key point that has not received significant attention. A significant marker separating evangelical, emerging and missional is the role of the church. On the one hand I see a line of thought that urges missional activity without the need for buildings or corporate worship/gathering, and in fact a sharp critique of church and denial of church as a fundamental element of the faith (emerging?). Opposing that is the morph of church into the attractional model with a current push to develop disciplining programs (small groups, etc) with the result Missio Dei is seen as a church program rather than an attribute of the Trinity so that the newly drawn in seeker is pushed into missions type activity but only as a part of serving the church (evangelical?), rather than engaging in missional way of life with the church serving as a Scripturally necessary locus of formation (missional third way?).
Bill,
I agree with you .. again it’s the development of the three developing streams that have emerged here most recently (last five years) … and I see the role of the gathering as essential yet firmly focused int he forming of Christians into Mission …
Of course … when a stranger to the gospel connects with the believer via a missional order/community in the harvest field … and becomes a believer/participant in Mission … that believer/community becomes the means to bridge into the gathering
peace ..
3.) TO GET MY NEEDS MET.
David,
I am wondering if you can clarify this a bit? There surely is a difference between attending a church with the expectation of having discipleship/healing happen to you or be done to you or for you in some vicarious or consumeristic sense vs. doing faith within and part of a cruciform community.
If what you are saying is that we can find healing in being part of or entwined with a church as we together (which implies an individual commitment) work our our salvation, then I think I agree with you. There are times in which an individual or family is seeking out Christian fellowship and support in their pain because of legitimate spiritual/emotional needs that are best dealt with in a cruciform community and not simply as a loners path.
In some missional circles I feel there is a strong DIY/individualistic streak that strikes me as counter to our Christian formation, within this model spiritual formation of the community (especially our children) seems to be left almost to chance or the responsibility of the parents (vs the responsibility of the parents along with the community in which they take part) and lack intentionality. To think that discipleship and growth somehow just happen individually as we pursue mission together seems somewhat utopia driven in my opinion.
Blog’s aren’t the easiest to convey or tone or intent at times, so I am just curious if you believe that individuals/familys can have legitimate (non consumerist) needs that are best met in a cruciform/crucified community?
[...] Nathan Colquhoun posted 6 Reasons Not To Go To Church. [...]
I’m very tempted to print copies of this and leave them in our church’s hymnals.
[...] Six bad reasons to go to church [...]
Thanks for the missional emphasis here, but I think you’re making motives too high of a priority. I actually think habits are far more important than you are assuming in this post. Only attending when we are doing it with it the right motives is a poor way to approach something that matters. We all have a large casserole of motives for going to church and that isn’t going to change. I prefer to lift up the importance of habits (our character is really a composite of our habits isn’t it?) and to instill meaning into those habits. If I ditched everything I didn’t have pure motives for I wouldn’t do much! We make habits of things that matter to us.
Steve,
I think I’m with you … I think my emphasis here and elsewhere on “liturgy” is that we need our bodies trained, our vision shaped … if we would be participants in God’s mission (Rom 12:1-2). As one who spent much time early in my academic life studying Aristotle, McIntyre and Hauerwas, I think I learned from them that habits cannot be separated from the telos, and the community and the narrative by which they make sense. Otherwise they become legalistic … this is why spiritual disciplines have to be part of that something larger. This little exercise hopefully helps shape us towards the telos for which we might go to church even when we don’t “want to.”
Peace bro
[...] David Fitch on 6 Reasons Not to Go to Church [...]
hi i’m stuck on my homework for christianity. The question is give three reasons against for christians to go to church. please help me- it’s in for monday!!
1. God doesn’t want the church as it is. Toy with the idea that God does not want the church – at least not as it is. Does that give you a motive to stop going? Does that help you see it different? Does that help explain why God is gently leading the church to decline, exposing the child abuse scandals, knocking down fake miracle workers, and legislating against cults that take young people from normal society? God doesn’t want these things, and it is God’s work to slowly knock down the unhealthy church that we have today. Christians should not go to church in order to be radically obedient to God.
2. God wants the church to be more like the true church – the invisible reality whose real nature is more akin to our own families than anything else. So often we neglect our families in order to go to church. We think we have to leave fathers and mothers, abandon children and otherwise destroy normal family. We think “meeting together” means we must divide the church into kids Sunday Schools, non-believer pre-baptisimal classes, men’s groups, and women’s groups and so on. Especially we think that we must trash family so that we can join “believers”. What if the only church God wanted you to be part of was your family? What if that was your priority, your mission field, your place of ministry, your place of sustainence, teaching, learning and loving and ultimately the way God’s kingdom broke through into other families? Going to “church” as we know it would be so wrong. Christians should not go to church in order to be radically obedient to God.
3. God does not want religion as we know it. Theologian Karl Barth claimed religion was a defiance in the face of God, a man made construct that blocks God and God’s revelation in some deep theological way to do with the Word and truth. It is easy to see how religion practically gets in the way of God working in human lives; how it distorts, misleads, abuses power, wages wars and much more. God does not want religion. Even the bible says true religion is the care of orphans and widows and self-preservation from being polluted to be otherwise. The only religion that the bible wants is one that affirms family, and which help those who are not in family. Christians should not go to church because God does not want religion.
Sometimes we go to church to make fashion statements and so that others can look at us. I think this is especially common among ladies. Just my thoughts…:)