If you’ve attended a church for a long time, then you know the drill: Bible studies written by a famous Christian author, Vacation Bible School, accountability groups, choir practice, praise band practice, tech rehearsals, the multifold of committee meetings about committees, singles groups, youth groups, married groups, small groups, men’s group, women’s group, the nursery, greeters, new member classes, Confirmation, Sunday School….the list goes on. 
No where in Scripture has it ordained any of these things. This is all a product of us trying the best we know how to make sense of this thing we call church. Are these things bad? No. Are they everything a Christian should be doing? Some say yes.
I say no.
We in the American Church have distanced itself from the early church featured in the book of Acts. Jesus himself said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me….Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me (Matt 25:35-36;40).” We’ve exchanged taking care of the poor, helping those in our congregation/community, and meeting together for the purpose of getting to know one another for taking care of ourselves, making sure our needs were met, and coming together inauthentically for fear of being known (and thus rejected by the status quo).
While there is nothing innately wrong with ministries in the church as we know them, what are you going to do with the information? What is the ultimate goal? At what point do you take what you learned and apply it? At what point do you take what you have and give it to others? At what point do we stop feeding ourselves and feed someone else – perhaps a stranger, perhaps a homeless person, perhaps someone sitting next to us? Life is messy and things don’t always go the way they should; Jesus warned us by saying, “In the world you will have tribulation (John 16:33).” We need to be open to the needs of others as well as diligently studying the Bible; they are not mutually exclusive. The needs of a fellow soul, regardless where they are in life, should trump a church function. For if we do not, we have neglected our call to be the body of Christ for the benefit of the world.
It is time to get off the pier and put down the book about the ocean; it is time to run into the shore break and swim in the blue salty water. Just like when you are wet when you are in the ocean, when you are in the thick of the work of Jesus, you can’t but help but be enriched on the inside. Stepping outside of the walls we build to help someone else in love. That is what it is all about.
May you follow Jesus so close that you are covered in his dust.
“So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10)