photo by xip

I know the “in a building type” Christian church is unpopular these days, but I just can’t get myself away from it. I love the church. I love it for a lot of biblical reasons, but I think those have been delved into by many books already. So here are the one that are not necessarily biblical reasons.

1. I love that it’s organized.
I know people hate organized religion, but I love structure and organization among people. I myself am not an organized person in terms of things, but when I get people together, I love it when everyone knows their roles. I love it when people work together as a team. I love it when people follow the leader. Which leads me to the next reason…

2. I love heirarchy.
Yes, another really BAD word. I said it. I love heirarchy. I like knowing who is in charge and who is in the middle and who are the followers. When I was little, we made up a “spy” club and assigned everyone in the club ranks. It places responsibility on certain people and defines clear roles for people.

3. I love big groups of people.
Walking into a room where there are 50… 100 people or even more waiting for an event to start is an awesome feeling. It’s even more awesome when you know the names of most of the people in the room. Everyone is greeting each other. Everyone has smiles on their faces, laughing at jokes and is generally happy to be there.

4. I love good worship bands.
Good worship bands make it so easy to get into worship! The music sounds so good! The guitar, drums, bass… every instrument contributes to the wall of sound. The worship leader knows the exact words to say to manipulate the feelings of the congregation into pouring out their hearts to God. I know that it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with God and it’s a superficial thing without true spirituality, but I love the music anyway. Who doesn’t appreciate good music?

5. I love good sermons.
I hate bad sermons, but good sermons are beautiful. They are a work of art. They draw the attention of the congregation and captive with just the truth of God and the preacher’s words. They can engage you emotionally, and intellectually, but most of all, they’re supposed to engage you spiritually. Very few things in life can engage you in all three of those aspects at the same time. They challenge you to a new level of spirituality and inspire you to do things you’ve never done.

6. I love eating out afterwards.
Deciding where to eat is always a pain, but the fellowship when you’re actually there is great. You can engage other people with what they thought about the sermon or how the worship songs inspired you or just talk about life and where another person is at. Fellowship allows you to see that you’re not alone in your struggles and that a lot of people are going through the same thing as you. Church allows you to get connected with these people fulfilling a need for community.

7. I love that you can rely on it.
Churches may come and go, but typically they don’t come and go as quickly as you do. Usually you will leave a church before the church collapses on itself or dissolves. You lose touch with friends, you move away, you transition in your life but that church is still there. It’s a steadying force in a life where there is so little that’s steady. True there are churches that only stay around for a few years sometimes, but that’s not normally the case for typical churches. So you can go to church and expect to hear a sermon, a little worship, hang out with people.

What about you?  Are there any “wrong” reasons why you love the church?