Why Go to Church?

Article Written by Pastor Phil Bray

Why go to church? What is the point? What is it exactly that you are trying to achieve by going? It’s a question that we don’t often think about, isn’t it? We go because we have always gone. We go to get our spiritual fill-up for the week so that we can make it through the next week. We go because someone in our family is making us go.
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Why do you go to the gym? You go to exercise, but what is the ultimate goal? You are exercising to what end? Most of us are simply trying to lose a bit of weight. Others are trying to sculpt their physique into a chiseled bodybuilder’s. Still others go to socialize with other gym attenders. In the same way, we go to church for a purpose, but we often do not clarify what that purpose is to ourselves or to anyone else.

Some of us go out of a deep hunger for God and His word. We enjoy singing God’s praises and learning from God’s word. Others of us go to socialize with friends over coffee and donuts. Still others go to “pay it forward,” so to speak. They believe that by going they earn bonus points with God that will come into play on the day of judgment.

I believe in all of this we are “going” for the wrong reason. The author of Hebrews writes, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Heb. 10:24–25). We gather together for the purpose of mutual encouragement—an encouragement and motivation for one another to develop an ever-increasing love and life of good deeds. We gather together for the purpose of maturing and developing into people who love like Jesus, who do the good works that Jesus did while on earth (John 14:12). We preach and teach God’s Word for the express purpose of eventually presenting every person complete in Christ! (Col. 1:28). It is through the renewing of our minds by means of exposure to His Word that we are transformed as people into those who naturally do what Jesus commands (Rom. 12:1–2).
We also teach one another the words of God by means of congregational singing! We sing songs that explain and apply the truths of Scripture to our lives, thus shaping our souls through song (Col. 3:16). We pray for one another to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that we may live our lives in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him as we continually bear fruit and increase in the knowledge of God (Col. 1:9–12). We gather together in order to practically and concretely love one another (1 John 3:13–18).

We do not come to church to be entertained or socialize, though we often enjoy ourselves and socialize while there. We come primarily to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, our Master. As we gather and interact—speaking, singing, praying, and obeying the Word of God with one another—God sanctifies us with that Word (John 17:17). Our selfishness and sinfulness is brought to light, boiled to the surface like the dross off of gold through the exposure to God’s Word. As we interact and intentionally spend time together, God actively shapes us into the image of Christ, shaping and molding us with His Word until we become the people who delight in Him and His ways.
We come together to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. We come with the purpose of being changed by the instrumentality of God’s Word—a Word mediated to us in various ways. Do you come to be changed? Do you participate in the regular life of the church so that you are steadily and gradually shaped into the likeness of Christ’s love? “It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master” (Matt. 10:25a). Are you becoming like Jesus? Is your soul taking on the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control characteristic of Christ?

If you are not experiencing much transformation in your life, could it be for the same reason you struggle to see transformation in your body at the gym? Occasional, half-hearted attendance in which you flail about on a machine for a few minutes every so often will not transform your physique. Occasional, half-hearted attendance at church services in which you flail about emotionally for a few minutes every once in a while will also produce very little change in your soul.