Donald Wickham’s Blog

We’ve been chewing on this question.  We know more and more folks, at least here in the western word, are choosing not to go to church.  So why do we or why should we go to church?  In this context, I’m using “church” as the corporate gathering of Christ followers, typically on Sunday morning.

It seems that for most of us, our going to church is in hopes of being filled up with enough spiritual power to make it thru the week.  We go to church empty and needy.  We are looking for “what’s in it for me”.  So worship (singing) needs to be something we can relate to.  The message needs to be meaningful to us.  We even use the terms “did you get anything out of the sermon” or “did you get anything out of worship”.   And we want to be around people we enjoy or at least are comfortable with.

Now there is certainly nothing wrong with getting good things from the worship, message and fellowship.  In fact we all need these things.  However, there seems to be a big missing element: service.  It’s ironic that we even use the term “Worship Service” for these corporate gatherings.  And, yes, there are a few who are serving.  Serving to the point of burn-out, too.  But for most who attend, they are there to get, not serve.

Some of this neediness is due to the difficulty most of us have in having a close, fulfilling, powerful, one-on-one relationship with Jesus.  Our “quiet times” are just that.  Awfully quiet.  Not much interaction, with us sharing our heart with God and our hearing God’s heart and word for us.  The time spent doesn’t leave us fulfilled, recharged and full of faith.  We don’t know if it’s possible.  We don’t know how.  But we do want it.

What if we were able to reverse this?  To spend our lives throughout the week charging up our spiritual batteries, so to speak, in our relationship with Jesus.  Then, when we gather together we would be coming to let that power spill out in worship and in serving others.  We would be listening to Holy Spirit’s guiding us who to reach out to and how to serve them.  Much of this might have to be done in smaller group settings but still, to change our focus from “what’s in it for me” to “how can I love and serve others”.

The first step is to recognize where each of us is at.  Then to ask Jesus for what He wants for us.  And respond, honestly, to the questions He asks us.  He usually starts with “What do you want?”  The challenge is for us to respond with what is really in our hearts.  We usually answer the way we think He wants us to.  As we get past this, recognizing that God really, really, likes us and loves us completely, our personal relationship with Him can blossom.  And out of that abundance, will be an overflow to give to others.

This seems revolutionary.  But I want to join this revolution.  How about you?

Tags:   church · God's heart · heart · Holy Spirt · love · needy · our heart · revolution · serve · spiritual batteries · spiritual power · What's in it for me · why got to church · worship3 Comments