When I was younger it was fashionable among some Christians to speak negatively about the church. You might have come across something of that sort: “we love Jesus but we’re not wild about the church”.
I’m not sure where that impulse comes from but I imagine it may in part flow from a desire to win people by distinguishing “real” Christianity from unappealing, ritualistic or just old-fashioned expressions of the faith. To some extent I can understand that point of view, especially if it really is aimed at winning people to Jesus. It is not, however, a view I share at all. I love the church in general and my church in particular. I think it’s great and I would love to share what it’s like to be part of the church with as many people as possible.
There is a huge amount that could be written about this. But here are just five reasons to love the church (and why you should join one if you haven’t):
1. Community
Being part of the church is to be a part of a true community. When I am sick, people visit me, care for me, pray for me. When I am stressed they check in with me. When we had our kids they cooked for us, cared for the babies when Heather was sick, babysit so we can invest in our marriage, and love and care for our children. They give us money when we need it, encourage us when we are down and correct us when we are wrong. They do this not because they like me (sometimes I am pretty unlikeable) but because they love us even when they don’t like us.
I am not saying that this type of community is only found in the church. But that is where I have found it. And I haven’t experienced it in the same way anywhere else. This is how human beings are created to relate to one another and life is better when we live this way.
2. Diversity
The church is the most diverse organisation in the history of the world. Every week we pray the Lord’s Prayer. When we do we are joining with people in literally every part of every continent on earth. We live in a small, very white, very British part of the world (and it’s a great place to live). But our church is filled with people from ten or more nationalities from four different continents each living authentically and yet worshipping Christ together.
Moreover most weeks in our church we find people of every age from a baby of 9 weeks to a lady of 93 years. My children grow up seeing and knowing not only their friends or ours but men and women who are old enough to be their great grandparents. And because we are in church these people care about my children and try to take an interest in them.
Again I am not saying the church is definitively unique. But I haven’t found this blend of committed, diverse groups anywhere else.
3. History
When we join the church we are not only becoming part of a global family, we are joining in a group that has a history going back thousands of years. Some of the prayers we pray on a Sunday have literally been prayed every week for millenia.
The way we express our faith inevitably adapts to the culture we’re in (I doubt Jesus used an iPad even if Moses definitely used a couple of tablets). But fundamentally we are following the same teaching, the same ethics, the same view of the world that Jesus, Paul, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Luther, Calvin, Shaftesbury, Wilberforce, and Luther King Jr all followed.
In a world where ideas change at lightning speed and people’s lives are increasingly marked with uncertainty and fear, the church is a tree with seriously deep roots. And I love that.
4. Legacy
The ethical legacy of the church is unparalleled in human history. It has improved the lives of women, minorities, children, the aged all around the world. The historian Tom Holland and theologian Glen Scrivener have each written deep historical studies about the ethical legacy of Christianity. It is so pervasive and so saturates our culture that even the ideas we consider self-evidently true (like the need for consent for sex, to treat people with equality, that human rights exist) come from Christianity.
We can go further, however, historians have demonstrated over and over again that the modern scientific method is rooted in Christian beliefs about the world. We expect the world to run according to laws that we can discover precisely because we believe in a lawgiver.
None of this is to deny that the church hasn’t caused suffering to people at times. But even the language and ideas we use to critique the church’s actions are grounded in Christian ideas that were developed and articulated in the church.
Almost everything good about the modern world is a direct or indirect result of Christianity in general and the influence of the church in particular.
5. Jesus
Most fundamentally I love the church because I really love Jesus. And the church is where it is easiest to meet him.
Jesus is, quite simply, the greatest and most significant person not only in my life but in the history of the world. He changes lives and transforms societies. You don’t need to be in a church to meet him – last year I baptised an Iranian lady who miraculously encountered him in a society that could not be more hostile to the church. But that is where you will find him most easily.
Church is where I hear his words read, where I meditate on his life, where I am challenged to follow his teachings, where people pray for me in his name, where I receive his body and blood, and where I commit myself to him week after week.
Conclusion
So there you are: five reasons to love the church. I don’t mean to sound overly triumphalist or insensitive. But I want to be open about how great this is.
If you haven’t been along to a vibrant, lively, caring church then find one near you as soon as you can. If you’re a Christian and not going regularly then let me gently ask: why not? What is more important?
I love the church. It’s great. It can change your life.
Deep Church 