Church...what's the deal?

The question that i've heard so many kids ask is this: Why do we have to go to church when we can just sit at home and watch a church service? Well, the typical answer is this: fellowship. And yes, i whole-heartedly agree with that answer. Hebrews 10:24 confirms it. ("24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.")

So the statement of the day is this: we go to church for fellowship because the spiritual food and worshiping God with songs of praise can be done within your own time, really. The crux of the whole church idea is for FELLOWSHIP.

So what's the deal with the church services nowadays? You go in, maybe get greeted by an usher, sit through the service and leave. Is that really God's idea for fellowship?

We're supposed to "encourage one another" when we meet up, but how often does that really happen. I live in suburbia and the sunday church experience for me is filled with small talk and people with facades. I hardly see or hear people talking about their spiritual struggles and praying for each other. How can encouragement occur if we as Christians refuse to get deep into the lives of our brothers and sisters?

God designed us to grow into the fullness of Christ together. If you read Ephesians 4:1 - 16, it says that we as a church have the goal to "become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." We're as a church are called to "grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ." How can this done when we wear a "mask" whenever we see our Christian siblings? Our Christian brothers and sisters should be the last people we want to hide things from. So how has the typical portrayal of church reached this point of mistrust?

Of course i'm only speaking from one perspective and i'm not condemning the churches of the world by what they are doing, for they are glorifying God. However, what i am definitely saying is this: we as Chritians have a responsibility to care for one another, and spur one another towards love and good deeds. If we don't want to have fellowship as God had planned it to be, going to church becomes a pointless country club gathering, with a couple of songs and a keynote speaker.

Brothers and sisters, we must...MUST...reach out to each other on a regular basis. Fellowship isn't just spending time together with another person. A wise man once defined fellowship as "fellows in the same ship, looking towards the same goal". Take a moment to examine how you've allowed God to work through you to simply be a brother or sister to another one of God's children. I know i've fallen short of this calling so many times, and that's why we have grace. Let us be united in faith.