It’s not WHERE you worship, it’s THAT you worship. That is when you can help make a difference in the world.

I am the youngest of four children that my parents had. Each one of us has attended a different domination of Christian faith as we each started our own families. My point with that statement is that my mom and dad NEVER said that we must go to one particular church or attend only a certain denomination. They recognized that what we all needed, instead, was to have a Christian faith instead of focusing on where we worshipped. The location was secondary to the purpose of going to church.

So, what is the purpose of going to church? And, what should be the main purposes of going to church? The answer to that is simple….to learn about God, to give Him the glory and to grow in your faith! In doing all these things, you can begin to make a difference with others. Let me explain what I mean.

Too many of us look at all the other ways that people worship and judge them based on where they go. What we need to see, instead, is that the whole purpose of going to church is to learn about God. When we start looking at the whole and not just the pieces, then we can begin to see our own faith in a whole new light. When we also look at the pieces that others hold, then a true and more complete picture may emerge. When we open our hearts and minds to others, this is where we can start to make a difference in our world. We can make it better.

Remember that our God, is a just God. Our God, is a loving God. Our God…… is our amazingly, awesome God! He guides us, molds us and believes in us. All that He asks from us, is that we ask Him to come along with us on our journey of faith. And He loves us so much, that He sent His Son to take our sins from us and nailed Him to the cross. He took our sins in sacrifice so that we can be with Him when our time on earth is done. We are washed clean by His grace with the shedding of His blood.

So, our mom and dad had the perfect approach when it came to our faith. They trusted all of us to seek God first in our worship of Him, then find a denomination that we wanted to attend. Personally, I think that that is good parenting, right there!

So, what did I learn from this? My denomination helps me to see God more fully, but it doesn’t define the whole of the relationship that I have with Him. I am even more filled with the beautiful wonder of his grace and love when I open myself up to others who have done the same. Matthew 18:20, states that “Where two or three have gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” (ASV). It doesn’t mean, only if you belong to this denomination of faith or attend this particular church. Again, let’s restate… if you gather in His name…… that’s pretty strong stuff and so simplistic really!!

What can you gain from this? Get rid of the idea that the denomination that you go to is the only one that counts in getting to know God. We all have pieces of the puzzle. Now we just need to learn to open ourselves to others thoughts and ideas in order to help us to see where those pieces will fit so that we may, hopefully, begin to see the whole picture. I’m betting that it will be the prettiest picture that you’ve ever seen!