Why you shouldn’t go to church

I’ve been to almost every kind of church imaginable. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Non denominational, etc. I’ve attended churches based out of schools, theaters, and even shopping malls. Each are different in their own way. Some have great worship, others don’t. Some have a phenomenal speaker, others don’t. The list can go on and on. At one point, I became focused on the organization and structure of churches and didn’t like it. I started down the road to becoming an anti-church kind of guy.

As I started listening to a pastor named Dan Mohler, digging more into the Word, and spending more time alone with God in the secret place, I started to realize a few things. I came up with a list that I wanted to share with my fellow believers.

Here are three reasons you shouldn’t go to church.

You shouldn’t go to church looking for acceptance. God created us in His own image. That one fact alone means we are accepted, valued, and thought very highly of by the Creator of all things. There isn’t one human on this planet who could give us more than that. We have to quit church shopping in an attempt to try and “fit in.” Church isn’t a social club where the cool people all meet to drink coffee and talk about how perfect they are. Ask God where He wants you, become love, and go plug in somewhere.

You shouldn’t go to church in order to check off the box. Being a Christian isn’t about living a robotic life where we have to complete a list of daily chores. Go to church every Sunday. Witness to at least three people. Read your Bible x amount of minutes each morning. Pray for this amount. Memorize five scriptures per week. Come on, Saints. The Gospel is so much more than that. These are all essential items in our walk with Christ, but we aren’t here to complete a religions to-do list. We are here to love people.

You shouldn’t go to church to strengthen your relationship with God. I personally believe we grow more with God by spending time with Him in our prayer closet, alone, with no one else around. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you can’t have a relationship with God in church. I just believe a lot of people run to the church building every weekend thinking that’s where God is, when the truth is that we’ve already been given what we need. John 14:26 says (emphasis mine):

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

When we wake up on a Sunday morning, get dressed, and head out the door, we shouldn’t be thinking about what we might get from church. We should be thinking about ways to love others, help those in need, and make an impact on the body of Christ.

Hebrews 10:23-25 says:

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Let’s not attend church for our own selfish reasons. Let’s attend so that we might stir each other up in love and good works. When we walk out of that building on a Sunday morning, we should look even more like our King.