rebelling against low expectations

Christian, You Need the Church

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I remember the times when I have been hurt by the church.

Those were not good feelings. It destroyed my self-confidence, and it made me fearful and angry. As time went on, I became more and more withdrawn and reserved. To be honest, I began asking God what the church was for.

As an introvert, I tend to be more independent, and I like to spend a good amount of time by myself. When I realized I was getting more introverted as I got older, I began to wonder if I really did need help from others, especially those in the church.

I thought I could do life by myself. I was wrong.

Through this time, God taught me some lessons on why I need fellow Christians in my life. Here are a couple of the things He taught me on why we need the church.

We Were Not Created to be Alone

Ever since the beginning, God has made sure that human beings were never alone. When He created Adam, God made sure to create Eve, so that he wouldn’t have to be alone. And ever since then God has made sure that there have been people around us, so that we wouldn’t have to do life on our own, by ourselves.

With people around us, especially other Christians, it is better for our lives and the way we live it. When we are alone, we’re more likely to sin, get lonely, and get discouraged. When we work together and are around others, it can have the opposite effect.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says this: “It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, but if there’s no one to help, tough!”

God created His church so that we wouldn’t have to do the journey by ourselves.

Church is All for His Glory

The second thing God taught me about the church is that He is using it for His glory. Whenever I have been hurt by or angry at the church, God showed me that I was only thinking of myself, I was only being selfish. He taught me that the church was not about me, but that it was about Him, no matter what happened.

In our culture today, we tend to hear this quite a bit: “The sermon really spoke to me” or “I didn’t really enjoy the worship.” I think there is a lot of church-goers who are guilty of saying something like this, me included.

The truth is, the church is not about us. It’s not about what we thought of the sermon or if we liked the worship songs. Church is not about seeing our friends or that boy that goes to your youth group. Don’t get me wrong, the sermon, the worship songs, and friends are all great, but they are not the center point of why we go to church.

God is.

So as the Body of Christ, let’s stop thinking of ourselves, our likes, dislikes, and preferences, and let’s make God the focus of our worship within the church. Let’s love and lead like Jesus did for us, for His glory.

No One is Perfect

The last thing God taught me about the church is that no one is perfect. The church is made up of a group of human beings, people just like you and me. And just like you and me, every one of them messes up sometimes. No one is perfect. They are human too.

In the past, I have been so caught up on how people in the church act and what they do wrong. God showed me that everyone that is a part of the church — pastors, leaders, greeters, kids — all have their faults. Our job, as Christians, is not to judge others, but to love them.

As I have gotten older, I have began to realize that I would not be where I am right now if I didn’t have the support from my church.

I would not be writing, going on mission trips, and leading like I do now if the people from my church didn’t believe in me.

That is why it is so important to get involved, so that we can grow into who God wants us to be.


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About the author

Kelsey Kaleb

Kelsey is twenty-five year old, Atlanta-native missionary, serving in East Africa with her husband. She loves everything about missions and Africa, and has never lost her love and passion for writing.

12 comments

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  • Great article and such a needed reminder, thank you Kelsey. I have defiantly been guilty of thinking the church is all about me at one time or another. Thank you for writing this!

  • YUUUSS! I’m literally so glad to see this on here.

    The church is the context God gives us to grow in, and I couldn’t handle life without that community. I need them, and they need me, and we all point each other back to the Word and to the gospel. Isn’t it great?

  • This is such a needed article rn. I’m very encouraged to see how much other people who have commented value and are striving to uphold the church. Thanks for writing, Kelsey!

  • Thank you for this article, Kelsey! I’m an introvert too, so I’ve been guilty of this same thing. Like you said, the church isn’t perfect, but then it’s not about us either.

  • 🙂 I was wondering what the article would be about from the title, I really liked it! Another thought I had while reading it, is that one benefit of being in the church, in the body of Christ, is the accountability. 🙂

  • Wow, this is so good. I am more of an introvert too and God has been teaching me that I need community and people in my life, so this reaffirmed that. Thank you! 🙂

  • I remember listening to the Focus on the Family audio drama of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters , were the older demon tells the younger one about the effectiveness of isolating Christians from a single, Bible-teaching church. If the enemy is so intent on keeping us out of church, then I am inclined to believe it’s a huge threat to him, and is also a reviver God uses to breath life back into us.

    I met my best friend through the church, and I can’t imagine more support and joy in a friendship. The fact that God uses individual people like you and me to encourage and strengthen each other through the church just blows my mind. Praise God for giving us yet another indescribable gift: other believers.

By Kelsey Kaleb
rebelling against low expectations

The Rebelution is a teenage rebellion against low expectations—a worldwide campaign to reject apathy, embrace responsibility, and do hard things. Learn More →