For many years I was very private about my faith, I rarely went to a church at all and it was always my preference to worship at home, on my own. I had a chance meeting with an old friend who invited me to come to his church the Westside Family Church, I reluctantly went and it turned out to be one of the best decisions that I ever made.
The fact that I am now heavily involved in a church has not changed the way in which I worship at home, but it has given me a great deal of additional benefits which are attached to my faith in God. If you aren’t sure whether going to a church is the right thing for you, here are some of the reasons why I would say that it is a great choice to make.
Community
The level of community at my church is incredible and it works on a number of different levels. The first part of the community is the one which I am now a part of, the church community, a tight knit group of fellow believers who work for each other and their families to ensure that everyone is looked after. The other aspect of community which I enjoy in this church is that of the outer community and I have been able to help people near and far through my involvement and volunteering which has taken place through the church.
Praising Worship
Worshiping at home is very often a quiet and introspective event, something which I believe is necessary to my beliefs. With this being said, I have now been introduced to a form of worship which uses praise and song to give thanks, my church even uses electric guitars to really turn the levels up when it comes to how we worship. This is something which can only be done when in a community and it is exhilarating to be a part of and in my opinion, brings us all closer to God.
Learnings
I am an avid theologian and enjoy reading my Bible and the Holy Scriptures very much, this is all well and good but going to classes and being taught important values during mass are equally as important and it was something which I missed out on in the past. When a religious leader stands at the from to the church, reads a passage from the Gospel and then explains who it is relative to our modern day lives, you take much more from it than you would if you were only reading from a piece of text.
Aside from learning, I have also been able to use the wealth of knowledge at my church to answer questions of faith which I have had in the past. Any problems or questions which you may have can be easily answered by those within your church and it is an aspect of going to church that I have enjoyed the most.