Content

Why do you go to church? 

Many folks will tell you that they love the preaching at their church. Or the music. That they go to fill up their soul with Jesus by having this space where they ingest deeply from His Word and His love. Or maybe they go to "learn" how to be a "better Christian," to grow in their faith by receiving the instruction of more seasoned saints or the wisdom of the structured format of church teaching. 

Here's the thing, though: that's not really it. 

We live in a content-driven world. We are constantly bombarded by content. We hold little content devices in the palms of our hands. (Okay, full confession: I'm writing this on a desktop computer right now, like I always do. So...most of us hold little content devices in the palms of our hands.) If you are just looking for the content of church, there are a million other ways to get it than actually going to a physical building on Sunday morning. 

In fact, we have learned this quite well because of the pandemic. Churches all over the world shut their doors for a period and many transitioned their services to online. It's now common for someone to simply stay home on Sunday morning and "stream" a preacher and a worship team from anywhere in the world - across town, across the country, across the globe. No matter where you are, if you've got your little content device, you have access to "church."

But do you really?  

I am not trying to downplay how wonderful it is that the church is stretching out of her buildings to embrace a new demographic of persons. I think virtual church is wonderful for those who find themselves shut in for a season, usually by sickness. It lets us stay connected to our congregation while protecting ourselves or others by not being physically present with them (passing germs around, compromising immune systems, etc.). 

But it's not church. 

Content alone is not church. 

In our heart of hearts, we know this. Someone who is connected to a church only for its content quickly realizes all of the other places in the world that that content is available. The content they do engage with quickly becomes boring. It's always fun to pick up a new book but if you tell yourself you're always going to read for at least an hour, it can quickly become tiresome to try to pick up the book at all. In the same way, it can be fun to go to church for a sermon and some music, but it's really easy to fall into a rut when that hour seems to start stretching longer and longer and...it's because you're bored. It's because the content isn't really the thing, even though that's what you think you came for. 

There's content all around us. There's Gospel-centered content all around us. In terms of content, the church doesn't really have anything special to offer. And, actually, that's not what the first church came together around anyway. If you told anyone in the book of Acts that you came just to be preached to and to sing a little, they would look at you like you were crazy. 

No, there's more to the church than content. And we'd do well to pay attention to what that is.