Why People Go to Church
by Ben Farrar
“I don’t believe in organized religion”. The phrase is repeated so often that I sometimes wonder if the people who say it give any thought to the implications of what they are saying. It raises two very intriguing questions: (1) What’s wrong with religion being organized? And (2) Is there any such thing as disorganized religion?
In part, I suppose that the reason people express frustration with “organized religion” is a legitimate distrust of prominent figures within the religious establishment who have been proven to be thoroughly dishonest. Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert and Oral Roberts come to mind. These feelings of distrust are completely justifiable, and I must sympathize with them. However, it is the very height of prejudice to assume that all religious leaders are corrupt, simply because some of them are. And it is even more foolish to assume that, because dishonest men can twist a religious system to fulfill their own evil designs, the entire system is wrong. True, there are certain individuals who are foolish enough to condemn Christianity because of the evil actions of a few professed Christians. But these individuals are not numerous enough to account for the great proliferation of the phrase, “I don’t believe in organized religion”.
The great majority of the time, I feel that those who profess not to believe in “organized religion” are looking for a reason to excuse themselves from any religious activity whatsoever. This, too, is understandable, since most religions (especially Christianity) have the effect of making people uncomfortable. But for once in my life, I wish I could meet someone who was honest about this. I would love to be discussing religion one day in the cafeteria and suddenly hear someone say, “You know, my conscience is telling me to find out more about Christianity, but frankly, the whole thing seems way too hard. There are so many rules that I know I could never keep them all. And even though you say that God offers forgiveness, I don’t want to be forgiven. I want to be excused. I want God to give me a wink and a smile and tell me that he loves me and that everything will be okay no matter what I do. I don’t go to church because I don’t feel like it, and I stay away from born-again Christians because they make me nervous. Like it or lump it, that’s the way I feel.”
Never in my life have I seen a man or woman with enough courage to say that. I have seen a man get shot in the stomach with a cannonball and live, but I have never seen anyone who had the guts to admit that the teachings of Jesus Christ make them uncomfortable. Instead, whenever I meet someone who has a problem with Christianity, they try to couch their discomfort in a self-righteous-sounding claim that organized religion (whatever that is) is bad.
Sometimes, I pursue the subject with them, and inquire as to what is wrong with organized religion. If corruption isn’t the issue, they usually claim that they can worship God better when they are by themselves than when they are in a church or at some religious function. This is the most understandable claim made by the unsystematically religious, so it must be addressed in some detail. It is best answered by addressing the question, “Why do people go to church?”
To begin with, Christians do not go to church so they can worship God. Those who do have completely missed the point of what church is all about. Worshipping God is not something you go to church to do. Worshipping God is an action that is done in every aspect of our daily living. Every act of kindness we do, every honest and helpful word we say, every pure and decent thought we think is an act of worship to God. Worship, when done properly, is done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. It is not an act to be relegated to Sunday morning, between the hours of 11am and 12pm. So while it is true that people worship when they go to church, that is not the reason that they go.
Secondly, Christians do not go to church so they can look good in front of their friends and family. Those who go for this reason have completely missed the point. Christianity is not about looking good. Our Founder is a man who intentionally put himself through the most degrading and humiliating of experiences (crucifixion) in order to make life better for the rest of us. Anyone who participates in religious activities simply because he wants to look good is a posturing fool, and has no place in a church or in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Third, Christians do not go to church so they can socialize with their friends. Granted, many of them do socialize while they are there, but that is not the reason they go. If I was going to socialize with someone, I could choose many more exciting places to do it than in a church. And I have never known anyone who went down to the local church just to hang out. I may go to church on Sunday morning, but on Saturday night I’d rather be at the movie theater.
Personally, I have never been much of a joiner, so I really had to push myself to get involved in my local church. I have only one reason for going, and it’s the only good reason I can see. It is this: When I am at church, I find that everyone else, from the Pastor on down the line, encourages me in my faith and strengthens my desire to serve the Lord with all my heart and soul and mind and strength. Likewise, I do what I can to have this effect on everyone else. This synergistic effect is amazing in that everyone, through the simple act of meeting together, can strengthen everyone else.
Christianity is a religion based on love and service. We love God and our fellow men, and we serve them because of our love for them and our desire to help them. Over the years, Christians have discovered that they can serve others far more effectively when they are organized (there’s that word again) into groups that work together.
So this is the reason why Christians go to church: so they can help other people. Many’s the Sunday morning when my alarm clock has gone off and I have desperately wanted to go back to bed. But then I think about the kids in my Sunday school class who will have to go without hearing the lesson, and I do the only thing I can do. I lurch my way out of bed and drag my ancient, rusty, 23-year-old body to church. Because I want to help, even if it does mean losing a little sleep.
And do you know what? I’m always glad I did.
An edited version of this essay was published by The Lenoir-Rhynean, Vol. 1, No. 6
(April 2004), p. 7, under the title, "Organized relgion is about serving the Lord."
Reproduced with permission of author, 4/16/2004