By Kara K Root
There are many reasons not to go to church.
Life is busy.
Church is awkward.
Choosing one feels overwhelming.
Will they ask for money?
What if I don’t know what to do there?
What if I don’t agree with their beliefs?
The longer you stay away the harder it is to go back. Why deal with the questions and awkwardness all over again?
What is church even for?
Aren’t there enough charities in the world? Enough social opportunities and obligations? Do we really need another source of guilt?
When time is so scarce, is it really worth it?
If God is everywhere, why not just have a personal relationship with God and leave it at that?
We can get our sermons by podcast, our worship music on the radio, and our inspiration from art or nature. Done. Easy peasy.
I should tell you, before you read further, that I’m a pastor. But I feel no pressure to convince you to go to church. I am not recruiting for my team, or trying to sell you on religion, or manage your eternal destiny. But I do happen to think church is valuable, and well worth the time, discomfort and hassle.
Here’s why.
I so easily accept the world’s lies:
It’s all up to me.
I must be perfect.
Life’s a competition.
I’m being judged.
Everything is urgent.
God is real, but I mostly worship productivity and efficiency.
I am self-centered and often overbearing.
Worry, anxiety and busyness are ways I practice fear; I excel at being afraid.
Instead, I need people to practice trust with. I need to be reminded on the regular that humans were not made to do life alone and apart, and every single one of us is going to die.
While the rest of the world dodges weakness and flees from suffering, Church says God came in weakness to share human suffering, and Jesus is right here with us when we are with and for each other.
We all belong to God and we all belong to each other, but I forget. I need help watching for what God is up to. I need to hear other people’s stories of being found, freed and forgiven, so I can receive my own. By caring for and burying each other, we remember death is not the end, and that is practicing trust too.
Church isn’t where we go, it’s who we are.
I asked my congregation to finish the sentence, “Church is…”
Here is what they said:
- Church is prayer – practicing listening to God together.
- It is smiles and connection – seeing and being seen.
- Church is where I go to be real.
- Church is the people whose imaginations are shaped by God’s view of the world.
- Our lives are led by God’s future of hope, justice, peace and healing.
- We celebrate and grieve with each other.
- It is where we learn and grow as people.
- Church is the people that help me remember the truth.
- It is what connects us to the story of God’s faithfulness in the past and helps us see God’s faithfulness right now.
- Church helps us notice God and feel God with us.
- Church is singing, and communion, and baptism, and worship, and laughter, and tears, and hugs, and helping each other.
- It is giving what I can and seeing it multiply.
- It is being connected to something bigger than myself and held by something greater than myself.
- It is participating with God in caring for the world.
- Church is the place to ask questions and doubt.
- It is a place to play with questions and ideas about God.
- It is the protection around me, accountability and support.
- Church is the people who live forgiveness together.
- It helps me see where I am wrong, and invites me to think more deeply, and live more intentionally.
- Church is love.
What is Church to you? What could it be?
Why not find out.
I don’t go to church to be good; Church helps me see and share the goodness in the world.
God is real, and always up to something. Life is short, deep and full of joy.
I want to be here for it.
Being church together with others is the best way I know how.
About Kara Root: Rev. Kara K. Root is the author of “The Deepest Belonging,” (2021), “Receiving This Life,” (2023), and co-author of “A Pilgrimage Into Letting Go” (2025).
Pastor of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, MN, a Christian community that shapes its life around worship, hospitality and Sabbath rest, she is a trained Spiritual Director and Certified Educator in the PCUSA. Being mom to two intriguing young adults (and a sweet dog), and wife and proofreader to a wily theologian, spices up her vocational calling and keeps her fully immersed in life.
She has written for Sparkhouse, Working Preacher, Christian Century, Christianity Today, Faith and Leadership, Patheos and more. Kara leads retreats and workshops on sabbath rest, prayer practices, and church leadership and transformation. Kara and her husband, Andy, lead workshops and speak together through Root Creative, inc.
