Church, and Cheeseburgers

‘Going to church doesn’t make you Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.’

Keith Green

This is exactly what a neighbour of ours told me one evening as I stopped to chat near the end of my run. The conversation had meandered from weather to work, and my neighbour told me that many years ago, he had worked in a church.

I inquired if he still attended a church and his answer was no.

Emboldened as I was from actually finishing a short jog (usually I am walking by that point), I pushed further. ‘Why is it that you stopped attending church?’

This is where he hit me with Keith’s burger zinger (not to be confused with a zinger burger). ‘Going to church doesn’t make you Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger’.

I don’t remember what we talked about next. We still conversed, and it was lovely to get to know him more, but something about his response didn’t sit quite right.

It wasn’t until later, as is usually the case with me, that I began to see what the problem was. The quote is quippy and memorable, and the comparison amusing, yet like most pithy comments, it has flaws.

Going to church doesn’t result in you being a Christian, but being a Christian should result in you going to church.

There is much written on the topic of church, and the Bible is very clear. Hebrews 10:25 instructs Christians to not give up meeting together, in order that they may hold onto the hope they have in Christ. They do so to encourage each other towards love and good deeds. Ephesians 1:22 shows Jesus to be the head of the church, which is the body of God. The following chapters in Ephesians work to show how central the church is to God’s salvation plan. The price God paid for the church was nothing less than his blood.

Christians should value church because God values church.

You go to McDonald’s because you value food (or perhaps because you don’t), not because you are food.

Never have I realised the value of church more than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically it is the absence of church that has shown the beauty and necessity of church more than most anything else.

I have missed articulate and faithful preaching that has convicted my mind and softened my heart.

I have missed watching our children get excited for church, and singing along to the songs.

I have missed seeing others take genuine joy in watching our children sing, and caring for them in many ways.

I have missed talking to interesting people of all demographics.

I have missed our small growth group meeting together. The fun, care, and conversations have been a continual source of encouragement.

I have even missed the mediocre coffee.

I have missed church. A group of people thankful to God for His saving love, who want to show God’s love to each other and those around them. A people who see the brokenness of the world and who long to see it restored. Servants who seek to live not for themselves but for others. I pray that my neighbour will see church not as an optional extra, to be visited upon his convenience. I pray that God will use the time we are not meeting together, to give us a renewed desire for meeting together. In the gospels, Jesus is often talked of as a shepherd, and his people, as sheep. I believe this to be a much better metaphor for church than cheeseburgers. I for one am glad to be a part of a faithful flock with a common love and purpose. I am gladder still to have the good shepherd looking after his flock.