hi it's Jennifer LeClaire you probably know me from charisma magazine I've got
a couple of columns that I produce every week and and I want to talk to you about
one of them right now it's called when going to church feels like a dreaded
chore I'm sure you can relate when going to church feels like a dreaded chore you
know there's a lot of wonderful wonderful churches out there and I am
not bringing up this topic to bash the church Jesus loves his church the church
is the Bride of Christ and so we don't want to criticize or condemn the church
but the practical reality is that for some people going to church feels like a
dreaded chore and so what do we do about that because that's not the way it's
supposed to be okay that's not the way Jesus intends for it to be so so what's
going on here well you know when I was a teenager I had a laundry list of chores
everything from unloading the dishwasher to vacuuming the floor to doing some of
the grocery shopping to well doing laundry and you know at first I thought
it was really cool because I got a boost in my allowance and so I enjoyed helping
out my mother I enjoyed you know doing the vacuuming and dusting the house and
and and going grocery shopping but but pretty soon it became a drudgery it
became a dreaded show I knew that every Friday I was gonna have to dust the
whole house and I didn't want to dust the whole house I wanted to go out and
have a good time so you know things that would start off sometimes good can turn
into something dreaded if the circumstances around it change or if our
heart changes so let's talk about that for a little bit now I did a Google
search on the term I hate church I wanted to see you know
what's really going on out there and I was really surprised think about
this here's some statistics I want to just share with you real quick
there's 317 million people in the United States right now well that number goes
up every second there's this world census clock and it shows the population
of the US and the world going up it ticks it off with a ticker
and it's really amazing not to off on a bunny trail but how many of
those people coming into the world are you know born and dying and go to hell
it's an evangelism message I won't get into it but they suffice it to say
there's 317 million people in the United States at this time now Gallup research
reports there's roughly 8 118 million people who go to church on Sunday so
that's they say about 40% of the u.s. population goes to church on Sundays now
if you type into Google I hate Church you're going to get a hundred and three
million results one hundred and now there's 372 million people in the US a
hundred and eighteen million people roughly go to church on Sunday and a
hundred and three million Google results say I hate going to church so to me that
that's a problem there's something going on here now there's a 103 million
different articles blogs and posts and discussion threads online about how much
people hate going to church now I'm not a math whiz that's why I'm a writer I
don't like math but even I can see that if you crunch those numbers it creates a
negative quotient I mean there's just no good way to look at that I mean even if
you consider that sure not all of those 103 million results of I hate going to
church are from people in the US and even if you consider that okay maybe
they're not all Christians maybe they don't like going to you know whatever
other religion whatever Church they have maybe they don't like that even if you
take that into account then you have to flip it around and say well okay those
hundred and three million results those were just the the main articles or the
main topics that's not even counting all the hundreds of thousands of comments
that are probably in those discussion threads so there's a lot of talk about
people not liking to go to church as a matter of fact I did a little research
on amazon.com bear with me now and you're gonna find there's a lot of books
on why men hate going to church why people don't like going to church
anymore what to do when you don't want to go to church I mean this is a big
issue this is a big issue and it shouldn't be that way but apparently it
is now I have been in circumstances different stages of my walk with God
where I did dress going to church and you know sometimes
it's just one Sunday because you're exhausted and yeah you know who knows
but I've had experiences where for extended periods I've dreaded going to
church now sometimes it's because I felt like I was walking into a literal war
zone you know you think of the church as a sanctuary someplace where you go and
you don't have to necessarily battle at the same level that you battle you know
in your workplace or out in the world but I've been in churches before where
men I just didn't know what I was gonna get hit with there's so many people
gossiping about each other so many people backstabbing each other you just
don't even know who you can trust it's a sick Church culture and I was a part of
that and I dreaded going to church because again that that Warfare's like
you know I want to go to church to get away from the warfare to get equipped
for warfare to get more revelation more strength more you know whatever more
word in me and it was just really a bad scene there now I've been to other
churches where you know the church grew over time cultish and the pastor's
became very controlling to the point where you know you really couldn't do
anything if you didn't ask them even if it was a good thing they came down on
you they scrutinized your every move they rebuked you and it and not just me
but this was the culture of the church and so I admit there are sick Church
cultures unhealthy Church cultures out there where these sorts of things are
going on now you know this is what most people experience it I did a little more
digging and if you look and see some of the reasons why people don't like going
to churches well there's there's back-to-back services where people are
assured in an out like cattle leaving no room for the Holy Spirit to move that
that's a fairly common complaint another one the service is dead and dry and
religious and that's another complaint and and some of these are legitimate now
some of these some people are just complaining they they wouldn't know the
Spirit of God moving if the spirit of guy came up and tapped him on the
shoulder and zapped him real good I mean they're just dry and religious and and
dead on the inside and critical and judgmental and and we're not talking
about those people we're talking about legitimate things that are going on
another reason I see here that I down on my list there's clicks so many
Church clicks and this is not all churches but usually most churches
you'll find some clicks usually it's it's it's controllable but sometimes it
gets out of hand to where these clicks are ruling and reigning you can't even
get in I mean it's like high school okay and I've written about these issues in
the past there's a people say there's a wrote experience week in and week out is
the same thing it's so program do you know again it's an issue of not letting
the Holy Spirit move a pressure to perform that's a big one people on some
pastors you know they just they they're just they want to build their Kingdom on
your back and there's this pressure to perform and if you don't do everything
right then you know you're ostracized that really does happen there's a
untrust of leadership distrust of leadership too much manipulation to give
which again I can understand and irrelevant messages messages that don't
hit home messages that don't help and equip people to walk out their daily
lives and these are some of the reasons that that people hate going to church
now again entire books have been written on this so where do we go from here
because I love the church Jesus loves the church there's a lot of problems in
the church yes there are but I love that shirt said I know you love the church
too so and if you don't you should so where do we go from here alright well
first we really listen don't turn me off now don't don't stop push stop on the
video listen sometimes we really need to check our hearts you know it could be
that you know we were really hurting at church and now we just every see we see
everything wrong in every church we go to because we were really hurt in a
church in the past and it's like now we've got our antenna up and we're just
hyper critical hyper focused just really vigilant looking for something wrong so
that we can go to the next place church hopping is not a good thing you know
I've been I've never been a church hopper but I have gone through a season
where I was trying to find a new church home and you know it's it's tough you
get used to one thing you want that thing again without all the crap that
caused you to move away from the church you you want the good parts of the
church you but you don't want the bad parts of the
church that you left and so you're looking for that and you're probably not
gonna find it you know if you were hurt in a church it
could be that there's certain things going on in the church you're visiting
that reminds you of that you know you need to be healed because there's no
perfect Church and many people said you know once once you walk in once I walk
in even if the church was perfect you know it's not perfect anymore there's no
perfect Church I believe listen I know there is even a big debate in the church
right now about you know do we even need the local church and we just meet in
homes you know I'm not gonna get into that but what I will say is I believe
it's important to fellowship with the community of believers I really do
I believe it's important and we should be plugged in to it to a local church or
at least a home fellowship group I'm not gonna get into that debate but we need
to be plugged in we need to be accountable to one another we need to be
praying for one another we need to be ministering to one another you know the
church is a place where we can explore our natural and spiritual gifts it gives
us a platform or an outlet through which to serve God and it's not the only place
we can serve God we serve God in the marketplace we serve God in our families
you know but but the church is very important and I would urge you to please
you know get involved in a church or a group something don't just be out there
on your own because then when all hell breaks loose against you who you gonna
call someone else who's not plugged into a church it's just important you know
God pours out revelation to the church you know Jacob's Ladder the angels
coming up and down I don't have time to get into that but I believe the church
is a place I mean I've received so much revelation sitting in church it's not
necessarily even with the preacher preaching sometimes you know the Holy
Spirit is talking to me about something completely different it's just very
important you know Hebrews 10 and 25 says this and let us consider one
another in order to stir up love and good works not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another and so
much more as you see the Day approaching listen in this hour that we're living in
right now we really need to lift one another up we need to be exhorting one
another we need to be stirring each other up we need to be
together we need to have each other's back we need to let go of so much of
this petty stuff that that we don't like about the church we need to stop
dreading going to church listen it's not always easy to find a church that
matches everything you believe you know or your personality or that's close
enough to where you can drive to it without you taking half your day to get
there and back I mean I get that there's some good churches you know that were
around me when I was looking but ultimately it was just too far I knew I
wasn't gonna be able to fellowship with these people you know when it was took
me an hour and a half to get there and I don't have to get back it's just too far
no you know sometimes God will call you to drive that far but it wasn't working
for me in my situation in my life so where do we go from here
well if going to church every week feels like a dreaded chore to you then you
know it may be time to look for another Church I mean if you're really if it's
not just you if you've checked your heart and it's not just you it's it's
really you know it's really an issue you just you just dread it you're not
getting anything there's no life in there for you you feel like you're
walking in a war zone maybe they're controlling and maybe you just can't
make any friends it is don't fit in if you've given it your best shot and the
Holy Spirit is released you go I mean you know I think I said in the article
you know it's it's like you know if you get to church and you wish you'd stay at
home and watch TV in then you're probably need to think about going to
another church it should be a place of refreshing and equipping and inspiring
and you know fellowship and love and peace and joy I mean church should be a
good experience it really should now if you're in the church hunting process now
don't judge the church on your first visit don't make a snap judgment well
and I didn't like the worship well maybe that maybe that's not the person that
always leads worship why I didn't like the message well maybe you came in in
the middle of a series and you're just not catching it I mean don't judge
unless there's a blatant sin or you know major compromising me unless you can see
it unless the Holy Spirit tells you don't judge it the first time go two or
three times and check it out you know give it a chance I mean yeah sometimes
but you know hey ya know this is not it these people are preaching and you know
this is not it that's fine but otherwise give it a chance don't make
snap judgments you know Jesus is all about his church let me leave you with
this Jesus is all about his church Jesus said in Matthew 16 and 18 he said I will
build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it
Jesus is building his church people Jesus is building his church and so we
want to be part of what God is part of right if Jesus is building his church
hey and we're co-laborers with Christ we should be building his church too
there's a place for you now the one last thing I want to say to you is you know
it's don't give up I know that it can be very discouraging from personal
experience I know that it can be very discouraging finding a church where you
fit in especially if you'd been part of another group for a very long time it
can be taught it can be hard you know but again the church should refresh you
it should equip you it should inspire you it should give you opportunities to
serve God with a pure heart it should pour out revelation over your life keep
looking for a church don't give up you take a break for a couple weeks if you
need to but seriously look for a good church if you need one if you're not in
one look for one Psalms 92 13 says those who are planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God we need to be planted in the house of
God so we can bloom so we can reach our full destiny we need each other I need
you you need me we need each other and so let me pray for you before we close
out this video father I thank you right now for your
Holy Spirit and I thank you for those who are listening and God give us a
heart for your church father help us to see your church the way that you see it
help us to to find a church if we're looking those are that are looking help
us to find a church God that you have called us to help us define a place
that's going to nurture our spirits help us to find a place where we can serve
you wholeheartedly help us to find a place where we can be planted in the
name of Jesus I break that discouragement I break that that hurt
off of you who are listening and you just you've been so hurt by the church
you just don't want to go back I break that right now and
release the healing balm of Gilead over your hearts and over your souls father I
thank you that you will be done in Jesus name Amen
we'll be sure to check out my website at Jennifer LeClaire.org and I'll be back
next week with another video bless you