Why You Love the Church

I got over a hundred emails on Tuesday from people telling me why they love their local church (OK, so they were also trying to win a free book). I thought it would fun to pass along some of their/your reasons for loving the church.

*****
1. I love being in a church that affirms the essentials (like biblical inerrancy and morality) while serving the poor.

2. Why do I love my local church? Because I’m forced to see that worshiping God can be done in ways I don’t feel “at home” with.

3. I love the careful exposition of God’s Word I hear at every service at my church!

4. I love that we have a high view of the Scriptures, our elders teach verse by verse, allowing us to hit some of the hard doctrine,…which have now become precious to me,…especially in time of suffering. I thank God for His Church and His gifts to His church (such as pastors, teachers, etc.).

5. I love being a part of a body that cares for and loves one another. That can celebrate with each other at births, weddings, baptisms, and ordinations. I love that there is a prayer chain and that any moment there may be several people praying for the different needs and cares of the church. I love coming together as one body to corporately worship the same God.

6. I love the fact that we have a heart for international missions. We have dug several wells in the Central African Republic and have seen Pygmy villages transformed both physically with the water as well as spiritually with the Living Water of Christ.

7. One thing I love about my local church? They are cheerful givers.

8. I love the character and humility of the men who lead my local church.

9. One thing I like about my church? A pastor who’s not afraid to preach expositionally and who won’t skip the hard passages.

10. I love that at my local church there is a diverse group of believers from all walks of life (some old, lots and lots of kids, some students, some blue-collar workers, some teachers, some Ph.D.s) but we come together each other to worship Christ and love one another.

11. I love my local church because of the discipline from God I get there!

12. I love the inter-generational spectrum of faith at my church.

13. I love my church because it is like a family (at times dysfunctional).

14. I love the Church because I couldn’t live without the strength and encouragement I receive there.

15. What I love about my Church? My church has an incredibly strong adoption ministry and emphasis. And, week to week, you can count on the gospel nourishing one’s affections.

16. Even though I often complain about my church, I’ve yet to find another that even comes close to it in terms of solid Biblical preaching and sweet Christian fellowship.

17. I love my local church because its is very focused on winning the lost.

18. One thing I love about my local church is that I’m consistently challenged to NOT be comfortable/satisfied with the stereotypical American lifestyle, and encouraged to take action in promoting God’s peace and kingdom.

19. I love my local representation of the Church because it is a place I can look and see a group of body trying their hardest to be a multi-racial reflection of heaven. Albeit, a sometimes distorted and sometimes painful picture of heaven, but they’re trying.

20. I love that my church cares about the nations and is serious about seeing the Great Commission fulfilled.

21. I love that our local church does an excellent job of balancing word in deed. We are a inner-city church who has a heart for our community.

22. I love that, out of the 60 attenders on a Sunday at my church, ten are in their 70s. They are founding members of the church who are not to be sent out to pasture, but learned from and rejoiced with.

23. There are so many things I love about our church! Here is something I now love, but it took me some time to understand: corporate confession. I used to wonder why I would want to confess something someone else typed up in the bulletin. But then my heart grew softer and I really read the words and admitted that I did need to confess with my spiritual family these universal sin tendencies. I love that we all admit our human nature together, and then later in the service we partake of communion together and the power of what Christ has done!

24. I love that my church cares for my spiritual walk.

25. One thing I love about my church is our pastor with his love for all that walk through the doors and his commitment to teaching the Scriptures, not his own ideas.