Esther Paige Becker

I think we often take church for granted because of various reasons. 

1. We think of church as a meeting place, and to see friends.

2. We like to go to church, possibly for looks, or, for first impressions.

3. We do it because our friends do it.

4. We go to church because we don’t know what to do on a Sunday.

I’m sure we have all fallen short of at least one of these reasons. I know I have, and I’ll just tell you. I have gone to church just because my friends were there. And I was definitely not going 95-100% for the Lord. And that was wrong. We should give God all of our attention and praise.

The point of church is to comprehend most things that the Lord is trying to communicate with us, and to also have a relationship(s) with those attending church with us, as well as giving the Lord our attentive minds and thoughts, and praise. We also go to church because it’s our family. Let’s talk a little more deeply about our church family.

I have more than one family?

Yes! You have your biological family, and you also have your church family! What is a church family? A church family is the congregation gathered together because God commands/calls us to be whole with the church and the people inside. Now, does your family get along perfectly all the time? Because mine sure does! NO WAY. Every family has their own difficulties, including mine. We’re all sinners and we make lots of bad decisions and mistakes. Sorry, but that’s just human. And that’s church as well. We should treat church like our family. (I’m not saying to treat them like they’re junk like you sometimes do to your siblings, which you should never treat them inhumane anyway). Do your friends at church make mistakes? Yes. Do our feelings get wounded? Yes. Just like our siblings or parents may hurt you (spiritually) we still need to forgive those who have wronged us. Some people believe that there’s this other church that will be better than the one that they previously attended, and almost all of the time that’s not true at all. It’s like being on top of a mountain, and you think that one side of the mountain will have green grass that looks better than the side that you were on before. We think that the solution to solving our problems at church is this: To leave. Unless the preacher is preaching/teaching something Biblically inaccurate, you should stay committed to your family/church. Think about your family. Let’s say that they hurt your feelings badly. You decided to not tell them. Then you pack your bags and leave. Leaving your family is a terrible idea, unless they are abusing you, or are trying to kill you because you’re a Christian, or telling you to do something wrong. Not something that’s hard, or something you didn’t/don’t want to do. Same with the church. You don’t leave your church family just because your feelings are/were hurt, or because something is hard. Here are some accurate reasons to leave your church: 

1. Your pastor/preacher/priest is teaching/preaching something inaccurate about the Bible.
2. The pastor, and the congregation shame you about how you pray/how you don’t do the exact same thing that the rest of the congregation does.
3. The staff tells you to do something rude, and disrespectful to the pastor/congregation. 

I have three good reasons above why to leave a church. 

When you’ve been hurt by the elders/staff/congregation, tell the pastor! And if the opposite happens, tell SOMEONE at your church, or someone who you trust.