Why Jesus, Why go to Church, Why go to YOUR church?

I am working as part of a team at our church to do our mission, vision, values. Simultaneously I'm working with a Methodist Church organization called Healthy Church Initiative. Together, these activities are helping shape some of our next steps at our church. They posed some great questions which I'm still working on the answers for. It's worth noting that these same questions can apply to business as well. It all gets down to very strongly understanding your purpose.

These great questions are posed in the following context:

CONTEXT: As you go into the world as disciples and run into people who don't go to church, you should be able to answer the basic questions they may ask.

The questions are:

Why Jesus?  Why should I need or know Jesus?

Why Church? Why should I go to church? What benefit does that bring or is it required?

Why go to your Church? There's plenty of churches around. What makes yours so great?


Here's what I've come up with. Read through them and comment below if you have better answers. I am truly interested in your answers - especially if you don't go to church and don't intend to go to church! As you read through my answers, understand that I'm just answering the question - I'm not dealing with all the details about presentation of the answers, the setting, and all the dynamics. It's just the answer to the question as I see it.

Why Jesus:

God Exists. He is holy and just. He requires a life of perfect obedience. He will judge the world (that's You and I). You and I will be held accountable to this standard. It's impossible for you and I to live this perfect life. Jesus lived this perfect life.  He was the Son of God - perfect in every way. Through His death on the cross for us - this perfect life was attributed to us - IF - we believe. Believe what? Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and His life was given so that you could live. When God looks at us after believing he sees Jesus and we won't die.

Why Church:

You need church for the edification of your faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. When you believe you are instantly renewed in your spirit; however, your mind needs renewing. This renewal is a process of exposure to the Word and a new way of living with others doing the same thing. You need help from your peers to "keep going" and you need positive examples and a group that accepts your failures along the way. You cannot achieve Christian growth sitting in a peaceful nature setting alone and pondering on the goodness of God with the Bible in hand. The instructions of Jesus were to go into the world. It is action oriented. God's got work for you to do. The home base is the church.

Why My (Your) Church:

Candidly, this one - I don't have an answer to yet but I will say that we have great music programs, are welcoming, and in general we're a lot of fun. That however, doesn't address the question within the CONTEXT I set above. Most churches have these things and I'll keep exploring.

BONUS:

While typing this blog I had a thought. The answers to the first question (Why Jesus?) were centered around NEED. A question I would add is why would anyone WANT Jesus? And, of course, the reason is so good I would actually change the question again - Why would anyone be EXCITED, OVERJOYED, and ASTOUNDED beyond belief about Jesus?

My answer to this one is that Jesus didn't just take away our sins and make us acceptable to God. He took it way up a notch. He gave us everything and made us royalty. We are sons and daughters of God. We are holy and righteous before God - even now. We are AS righteous and holy as Jesus himself. Not because of anything WE did but because of everything HE did. We were at the bottom and He was at the top. He switched it all around. This means that health, prosperity, a good marriage, a great job, a positive outlook, whatever is good, belongs to us. We are given the primary tools to make it all happen - the right to use his name (delegated authority), instructions to do things even greater than He did with His name, and Faith to call it all into reality. This is truly something to be excited about.


I'm interested in your viewpoints on these three questions... and the fourth bonus question as well if you're so inclined. I will be monitoring these answers and shaping my final opinions on these questions. Again, please help if you feel so inclined.