Over the years, I have encountered a number of “questioning faces” when I tell people what I do. I am a pastor, and so I work at a church. It used to be, 75 years ago, that most people knew what a Pastor was and what he did. Most people had been in a church service and, in fact, would attend one regularly. These days, this is not the reality. When I tell most people that I am a pastor they want to know what that means, and even more, what goes on in that building? So I thought it might be helpful to try and answer that question in this week’s column – what goes on in a church building?
One of the first things that comes to mind is that a church is a place for people to go and have fun. In fact many churches will rent out their facilities to the general public. For instance, it is becoming increasingly common to find churches with a gymnasium in it. Some churches will rent the gym out for people to play basketball, volleyball or even floor hockey. If you are planning a family reunion, a Christmas party, a wedding, whatever your event, you can be sure to find a well-equipped, and in some cases, commercial-grade kitchen. Churches will also have what they call a “sanctuary” which is an auditorium, even somewhat like a movie theater in some churches with lots of seating, sophisticated sound systems and more and more frequently a giant screen at the front. Depending on the church, some are great settings for movies or concerts.
So clearly the church is a place where lots of fun activities can take place. It follows then that in addition to having a good time, you can meet some really nice people. I have met some of the most fascinating people through my experience hanging out at the church. I have met doctors, nurses, farmers, tradesmen, teachers, police officers, small business owners and many others. I became acquainted with an engineer once who was employed by Lockheed Martin and was working on one of the Mars Missions. I even got to know another guy who was a professional ballet dancer. I am not much for ballet, but this guy was an incredible athlete. My point is that the church is a great place to meet people from pretty much every walk of life.
To help people understand what goes on in a church, I will sometimes describe myself as a teacher. Many of the people who come to church on a Sunday want to learn more about God and His role in their life. We also get people who are asking questions about the reality of God like, “does He exist?” or “who is Jesus”? My job, then, is to explain the Bible, touch on world history and talk about how it relates to the culture and the world. My challenge is to not just tell the old stories, but to help people understand how what they are learning will help them in life Monday to Friday.
This all happens in the church.
Increasingly, one of the functions of the church is to be a hospital of sorts. Pastors more and more are being trained to handle the basic counselling needs that many of us face. And lets face it, most if not all of us have experienced many trials. Some of the issues that I find myself helping people with include marital trouble, family fights, rebellious children, depression and anxiety, alcohol and drug addictions just to name a few. Pastors are not counsellors, but a pastor is a great place to start and the advantage is that they are already being paid, so usually the counselling will be done for free. A good pastor upon diagnosing a situation will be able to tell you if he can help or will be able to refer you to a licensed professional that can.
The role of the church that most of us are familiar with is the Sunday morning service. The church building is a place where people can come to worship. There are literally millions of people around the world that believe in a God, and they want a special place where they can go and worship. We serve a God who has given us so much, and so we want to turn around and thank Him for that.
So, now its is time for you to reflect. Have you ever considered visiting a church? My guess is that any of the local churches would be more than willing to have you come in for a visit.