When You're Not Being Fed At Church

Have you ever gone to church & felt like you were not being fed? Or, have you ever talked with someone who left a church & the primary reason was because he or she was not being fed? Let me share some loving, pastoral wisdom...

Church is not the place you go primarily to be fed; it is the place you go to feed. 

We often place so much responsibility on church leadership to feed us spiritually when we also share in that responsibility. Writing to the Corinthian church about worship Paul instructs, “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church,” (1 Cor. 14:26).

What? Paul, you actually expect that every Christian that comes into a church should have a song, word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation? Yep. The worship experience for Paul is not something that you come to be a part of, enjoy, & simply receive from; it is something that EVERY believer contributes too, not just the pastor & leaders. For Paul, ‘ordinary’ believers can & should receive powerful revelation just like the pastor. In fact, for Paul this has to happen in order for the church to be strengthened!

As Christians we can’t allow our consumer culture to infiltrate our worship experience. 

Going to church is not just about having an enjoyable experience; it is about allowing what God has deposited in you throughout the week to come out. Rather than going to church to simply receive we should be going to give. Rather than going just to be fed we should be going to help feed. We are not just going to church to consume something, we are going to contribute something.

Let’s Do This Together

Have you ever felt tempted to leave a church or get frustrated because you felt like you weren’t being fed? What do you need to do during the week in order to come ready to contribute to the worship experience at church, to help feed?