Church a la Roy

I love church!
I love my church, C3 Church Christchurch, and I also love The Church.
I am convinced that the local church (and in turn The Church globally) is the hope of the world. That we have the solution, not the problem(s), and we should be the solution as we bring Christ into the picture.

I know so many people that would say that they love the Church (global) but that they are not into church. I have had conversations with people (Christians even) who refuse to be planted in a specific church. They refuse to be a committed member because of 'church politics' or 'they only want my money' or 'I like to sleep in on Sunday' or 'that church is too big' or 'they're just a bunch of hypocrites' and so on and so on.

I can't even begin to address all complaints or points of view, that is not what I'm here to do. These complaints are all valid to a certain extent. But I will say this - with all the faults in the church, it is still the one thing that Jesus Christ ordained as the vessel through which to show His glory to the world and bring salvation to the 'lost'.

The book of Ephesians is full of teaching like this - in fact, read all of St Paul's letters, they all have an underlying theme of building the church. Jesus Christ Himself said in Matthew 16:18 "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it."

Jesus gave His life for the church. He believes in it. He knows there are faults with it - let's face it, there's humans involved, and we all have flaws and faults. But He still chooses to use the church to reveal His glory.

I believe in church, I am passionate about it. I am not passionate about Religion, but I am passionate about God. I believe that saying I love God with all my heart should by default mean I also love the church and would do all I can to build it. When I think of it like that, it makes sense to give time and money to my church, it makes sense to be there every week and serving in any way I can, it makes sense to defend it and fight for it, it makes sense to invite people every week, it makes sense that my church should grow and become a large family, carrying influence and having a positive impact on my community.

Church in itself sometimes does not make sense. Decisions that are made, the layout of the service, something the Pastor said, the words of a song, things like this sometimes (or quite often) don't make sense. But in light of the Gospel, in light of Jesus, in light of His plan to bring redemption to the world, Church makes an awful lot of sense. Don't be a hater. Be someone God can use. Get into a good church, be planted in the house of God, let Him grow you and shape you and refine you, and let Him use you for His Glory.