What Do You Really Get from Going to Church?

Some people pose the question to Christians: what do you actually get from going to church? Because from a purely human perspective, you walk into a building, sit for an hour or two, listen to someone speak, sing some songs, and then go home. What do you really walk away with?

I get the point, and when it is framed that way, I understand why the question is asked. Churches don't work with visible benefits - or at least they shouldn't. Therefore, if you don't see tangible results, it might as well be that it is just a perfunctory act, not a profitable event. The health and wealth gospel doesn't count, for not only that is not the Gospel, but it is law and moralistic therapeutic deism sugarcoated with some words spoken strongly and/or loudly enough to make it look they make biblical sense.

Now, if that's the road we want to take—measuring everything by tangible returns—I wonder why this question is only asked about church. If church doesn't give you anything to walk away with, what then does?

A sports game? You pay to enter, you pay for expensive food and drinks, you watch other people play and then you walk away with... what?

A movie theatre? Again, lots of spending, sitting down for a couple of hours watching something someone else scripted and other people acted in. You walk away with what? 

An event or party? You pay to enter, pay for overpriced drinks, the music is loud, conversation is difficult, and there's no guarantee you'll meet your social goals. What do you walk away with from there?

Even recreational activities you do yourself—what do you walk away with from a Tim Horton's coffee meet-up, watching shorts, sitting at the sunset to gaze at the sky or eating anxiety food? Well, one would argue you're working on rest, health, skills, relationships or utilizing coping mechanisms, and that's fair enough. But what is the tangible, immediate takeaway, effect or gain in all of that? For that seems to be the same concept at the core of questioning what one really gets from going to Church. 

If you can respond to these activities—and countless others—with things people genuinely walk away with (for example, satisfaction, joy, friendships, entertainment, stress relief, social connection, shared experiences), then you should be able to understand why people go to church regularly.

But there's more.

For those who attend church rooted in faith in Jesus, they believe they walk away with far more than human benefits or social connection:

• They walk away forgiven and renewed

• They walk away nurtured by the living Word of God, which burns in their hearts

• They walk away fed by Holy Communion

• They walk away with fellowship in the same faith renewed and strengthened

• They walk away with the desire to act upon their faith, to be people who make a difference in their society and communities

• They walk away with hope, forgiveness, purpose, and a sense of being part of the eternal will of God

Corporate worship provides unique benefits that can't be replicated alone—the blessing of communal confession, shared joy, mutual encouragement during difficult seasons.  If some of these experiences seem intangible and far from immediate to the inquiring mind, it is because they actually are. However, just as you might leave a concert feeling moved by the music, or leave a gathering feeling connected to friends, people leave church with something not only as powerfully rewarding, but in a superior level. For attending Church is something beyond this life only - it is for eternity.

This isn't to say that church attendance is always a joyful moment - there are seasons in life where all we want to do is to sit quietly and lament, cry or reflect. But to dismiss it purely based on "what tangible thing do you get" utilizes a standard we rarely apply consistently to other aspects of human experience.

The question isn't really whether church "gives you something." The question is whether what it gives you has spiritual and eternal value. And for millions of people across centuries, the answer has been a resounding yes.

Now, if you want to truly understand the gifts a Christian walks away with from a Sunday service, there's really no other way to comprehend it fully. You have to become one, through the action of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, to walk away with all these gifts, only when you walk in the Way - The Gift itself, Jesus.