by Charmaine Lloyd

Created on: June 02, 2010

Should Christians go to church?  This is an ongoing debate - even in my own head.  Why aren’t they going? I don’t go to church for a number of reasons. But is it right? I am not a Theologian and can’t argue with scripture.  If you will bear with me, I want to approach this from the perspective of personal relationship with God and my past experiences of church. 

Does church enhance one’s relationship with God?

Having a relationship with God does not require brick and mortar, incense, and rituals. God is omnipresent, not so? God can be found everywhere if you just look for him. However, my friend, Karen, became a Christian in the privacy of her own home without having attended church in 10 years.  She had searched for Him for many years following her exposure to Christian camps and church meetings (she was just tagging along with me when we were teenagers).  So God can be found everywhere, but how many of us would have become followers if the seed had not been sown through organised groups such as church, church outreaches, Sunday school, etc?

 Learning about the Word at a deeper level

Then there is the idea about growing and learning more about God.  How much in depth learning is happening outside the church?  I am quite capable of reading and talking to God at home.  Though I have good insights, and am of reasonable intelligence - how much learning and growth is happening in my private relationship? If I want to improve my performance in any discipline (e.g. business consulting) I attend seminars and courses and belong to professional societies.  Is going to church the same?  Can I understand more about God by listening to people who have studied the word for years? By discussing him with like-minded people and hearing what they understand.

 The church – a place for all?

Then there are people like myself who feel lonelier amongst my brothers and sisters in the church, than I feel on the outside with my secular or non attending Christian friends.  Church seems much geared toward kids, teens, young adults, couples, and old people.  But somehow the single middle-aged folk are like third wheels.  My friend, Maydie would go to dinners organised by the church and be seated with the old people whilst people her age were seated as couples.  Though she has a love for older people, she wanted to interact with people of her own age.

Another example –

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