I don’t want to go to church

My second night in the city of Mai Sot, were asked to go to a church gathering in a small village not far outside of the city. I begrudgingly said I would go, even though it was my second day, and I was still tired from my travel day from Chiang Mai the day before, and the long bike ride out to and back from the border with Burma (a.k.a. The Republic Of the Union of Myanmar).

We pulled up to the church, and all I saw was a rickety looking building. It was a large bamboo hut, about 20 feet wide and 40 feet long. It was raised a foot and a half or so off the ground on bamboo stilts, had bamboo mat floors. Now, I see it as the coolest church buildings I’ve ever been in. And it wasn’t just the super comfy and bouncy raised bamboo flooring. It was the people, too. Almost everyone in that village made up the church, and everyone was a refugee from Burma. The love and care for one another is amazing. There are no secrets, no jealousy, no one is higher than another. They willingly share all that they have. They have such a heart for the LORD and trust him in all things. For example, they were going to the immigration office the next day to get work permits, so that all of the adults would be able to work legally and be allowed to stay in the country. They needed two more employer recommendations and about 3000 baht, and asked us to pray. We learned the next day that they got all of their requested permits!

God has given me a heart for something this month. Small, close-knit churches. We have been having worship sessions every day this month since I’ve been here, at one o’clock every afternoon. It’s just racers and the staff of Outpour, maybe 25 people or so. I have gotten so much out of them. It is basically a house church. These experiences, among others like small worship sessions with my teams and squad, have produced in me a love of the house church. Close friends, meeting together, worshipping, reading scripture, praying for one another, pouring into and encouraging each other. It’s almost like going back to the roots of Christianity, back to the first century, where the churches were started in homes. And also in closed countries where Christianity is illegal.

Why aren’t there more churches like this?

There are a ton of mega churches across the U.S., and they lack that tightness and closeness that close community brings. Even at times (not all the time, but on rare occasions) my church, which is by no means a big church, seems to lack that community feeling that I get meeting with friends. Church isn’t about the building. Thats a lowercase “c” church. It’s not about the music. Thats a lowercase “c” church. It’s about the people making up the church. That is the capital “C” church. That’s what you should look for in a church.

For me, I love home churches. And I would love to be a part of a home church in the future. But If that’s not your thing, that’s ok. But try to build that sense of community with the people around you.

I don’t want to go to church. I want to go to Church.