What do we get from going to church? This seems an almost sacrilegious question to ask. After all don't we go to church to worship God? Somehow I feel that is only partly true for many of us. Most of us start with this question - what is in it for me? Is there something I will get back or something I will benefit from from going to church? The truth is many view church like a kind of 'service provider'. (After all the call it a church 'service' dont they?) We decide on whether to go because of the quality of the service the church provides to us, whether the worship is of the style we like, whether the sermons are to our taste, whether the people make us feel at home etc. Our offering is the 'service charge' we pay. So when we feel one church provides us better service than another, we up and go. After all why stay in a church where the 'service' is bad?
This is a complex question that needs to be broken down so that a satisfactory answer can be provided to those to venture to ask. What is the purpose of church? Ephesians tells us that the purpose of the church is to so that believers can help each other attain (1) unity in the faith and (2) the knowledge of God (Eph 4:12,13). The 'service' of the church is therefore to help the believers grow in faith and knowledge of God. It must therefore permissible for us to ask the difficult question - is my church helping me grow in faith and knowledge of God? Do I feel my faith increasing everytime I go to church? Do I enter into a deeper revelation and relationship with God after each service? This I feel is the 'gold' standard to which all of us who venture to run a church or youth ministry or small group must answer. If the answer is 'No', can we blame our congregation or youths from going elsewhere?
But there is a further complexity to the question and the answer of the business of church. Earlier in verses 11 & 12, Paul writes that different roles have been given to each member of the church to minister to others so that the church can grow. The cutting reality is that all of us, not just those running the church, are responsible for contributing to making the church or youth ministry or small group a place where we can grow in faith and the knowledge of God. It just isn't the responsibility of the pastor, the youth small group leader or the sunday school teacher. It is our responsibility. So where does that leave us? It is right for us to judge our church and ask the question, is it helping me grow in the faith and in relationship with God? If the answer to that is 'No', the solution is not to up and go to another church. The next step is to ask ourselves, are we contributing our gifts and fulfilling our role to help each other grow in faith and relationship with God? You see, there is no perfect church. As someone once said, if you find a perfect church, don't go to it cos you will spoil it. Church isn't perfect. It is run is imperfect people who will stumble and fall and sometimes will let us down. But if we have to faith to give our five small loaves and two fishes, then maybe we will see some miracles happen...