15 Poor Assumptions as You Go to Church this Weekend

We often go to church with unstated assumptions such as “The service will be about 65 minutes long.” My point of this post is to challenge you NOT to take the following assumptions to church: 

1. That nobody will miss you if you don’t go. Somebody will, even if you don’t know that. It might even be your pastor you think doesn’t know whether you’re there in the midst of the crowd.
2. That no unchurched person you know will go with you. If you assume that, you’ll never invite anybody – and you’ll miss the person who’s just waiting for an invitation.
3. That you will always have this opportunity to gather with other believers. Among believers around the world are those who can gather only in secret. We in North America aren’t there yet, but I doubt living out Christianity is going to be easier in the future.
4. That the church is your church. You may be the longest-tenured member of your church, but the church is still not yours. It’s God’s church.
5. That Sunday’s the only day you have to complain to your pastor and staff. If you have a genuine issue, you have the rest of the week to connect with them. Free them up to lead today. 
6. That nothing’s going to happen in your services. If you or your pastor preaches the Word of God, something’s going to happen.
7. That everybody in the church is a believer. That’s often not the case. In fact, you should want it to not be the case if your church wants to reach non-believers.
8. That you have nothing to learn from God’s Word. If you’re going expecting to learn nothing (or genuinely think you already know it all), you’ll fulfill your own prophecy.
9. That everybody’s a hypocrite in the church. Sure, churches have hypocrites. Even those churches, though, usually have a remnant of true believers. 
10. That everybody knows your name. That might be the case, but even members of small churches don’t always know everybody. Tell people your name when you greet them.
11. That preaching’s easy for your pastor. It’s not. We often sweat when we pray over sermons and their delivery. We have to work at it.
12. That your participation in singing doesn’t really matter. It does matter. Even if you can’t sing–or even if you don’t like the music–your singing God’s praises is a testimony and encouragement to others.
13. That your giving is not important. It is. In my church, my giving supports not only our staff, but also ministry work in the local area, throughout North America, and around the world.
14. That your life has no effect on your church. If you’re a believer in a local body of Christ, your life is not separated from your congregation’s life. You do not live in isolation. 
15. That God won’t call you uniquely this weekend to do His work. You might be right with this assumption, but God might also challenge you to follow His will in another direction. He might be calling you into missionary or ministry service. Listen.

Spend some time with the Lord today, and see if you’re making any of these bad assumptions in your life.