Faithfulness&church

“You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing….” Hebrews 10:25a NCV

We are encouraged as believers by the Bible to be involved in a local church. Watching online services should not replace regular attendance in local meetings.

I believe first of all, we should prayerfully choose a church and be committed to her progress and if we do change church, it is faithfulness not to run down our previous congregation knowing that since churches are made up of imperfect people, our new church will also have her issues! If we change church continuously, it could be a sign that we do not want to be held accountable or are having problems with forgiveness.

 We should be faithful in praying for our pastors as they serve as a covering and be concerned also about their welfare.

 Faithfulness also means being financially committed to the church. Paying our tithes at a different church from where we worship regularly is best illustrated by Joyce Meyer’s statement of “eating in McDonalds and paying at KFC”! (two different eateries).Sometimes this is done due to ignorance or just an egoistical need for acknowledgement by someone. There is no justification for wanting to pay the tithe where we think it will be felt. It is also not wrong to support other ministries with gifts.

It also means being faithful to serve in an activity group. It is not faithfulness to attend meetings only when we are doing a function or be absent or late without the courtesy of informing the leaders. Many activity group leaders know the frustration of working with volunteers who cannot be counted on. It would also help if we do not over commit to things, having to say no at times in order to be effective. And if you are a leader of a group, lead by all means as your followers will not be more passionate than what they see you do and sometimes after prayerful consideration, it may be part of faithfulness to resign rather than just holding a title. What if you are not in a group? Find one, create one. It could be picking up the litter on the days you eventually get to church. The benefits of everyone being involved is so that the few committed people are not overwhelmed.

Let us be faithful as we serve in our churches being committed to her values and vision.

Grace Tom-Lawyer