Getting the Most out of Church
Praise the Lord, you made it to church! Hope you arrived early enough so you didn’t feel rushed and frustrated. Now that you’re here, let’s talk about how you can benefit most from your time with the people of God.
Take time to fellowship– The local church is a spiritual family, a body of believers knit together in Christ. The love and concern we demonstrate toward one another through meaningful conversation and personal interaction is one of the surest ways to build strong relationships and maintain unity. So don’t just come in and sit down, get up and spend time conversing with God’s people.
Make our guests feel welcomed – Be on the lookout for anyone who may be new. Go out of your way to introduce yourself, find out their name and make them feel at home. If they are not visiting with anyone in particular, it would be a wonderful gesture to invite them to sit with you and your family, introduce them to others and treat them special.
Allow the music to speak to your heart – Open up the songbook, sing unto the Lord and think about the words you are singing. Listen thoughtfully to the choir, the offertory and special music. You may be pleasantly surprised to see how God orchestrates the various elements of the service to impact hearts with the truth.
Always bring your Bible– We use the Bible here at OVBC; it is our standard for faith and practice. We love it, read from it, preach from it, teach from it, study it, memorize it and even sing from it. Some of us even write notations in it and highlight key phrases. So bring it to every service.
Listen attentively and take notes – Come to church ready to receive. In Matthew 13:3-23 Jesus used the parable of the sower to illustrate the different ways people receive the truth. If you want to get the most out of church, ask God to give you eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of His Word. Don’t be a forgetful hearer, come prepared to keep that which is brought to your heart’s attention, bring a notebook and take good notes. Be intentional with the truth.
Bathe the service in prayer – Jesus tells us in Luke 18:1… men ought always to pray and not to faint. Every facet of our church ministry needs your prayers. God has chosen to work in cooperation with the prayers of His people. So much more can be accomplished in your life and in the lives of others attending if we would earnestly fervently pray for God’s intervention.
Talk about the truths you have heard– Don’t just rush home to some unrelated activity. Don’t allow the wicked one to snatch the seeds of truth sown in your heart. Share your thoughts with one another. Discuss some of the applications that came to your mind. The more we communicate the truths we have learned, the more insight and understanding we will gain which will increase not only our effectiveness with the truth but also our retention of the truth.