I just love being out in nature. Ahh. It’s everything I need. Peace. Quiet. Trees. Water. It’s like church! Just me and Jesus in his creation.

I’m just being facetious, of course, but a lot of people where I live in Colorado think this way. They may have a point. All week we put up with inconveniences. Then on our one free day we’re asked to gather with people we don’t know, in a place we don’t feel comfortable, at a time dictated by others, to hear something we’ve already heard from people we aren’t sure we trust … after which the whole crowd goes out to restaurants acting like nothing even happened. Maybe we really should just go for a hike.

But this “It’s just me and Jesus” mentality misses the whole point of the Christian life.

Church isn’t at the sidelines of a meaningful life. It’s the playing field. It’s where we find true spiritual power, blessing, purpose, and growth.

Listen, I’ve experienced my fair share of what is hard about church—musty buildings, boring sermons, forced smiles, bad coffee. But I’ve also experienced the other side: sincere prayer, comforting hugs, deep worship, and teaching that changes the way I see the world.

First Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Did you catch that? WE are the priests. We aren’t just trying to connect with God for ourselves; we’re supposed to be the ones helping OTHERS connect with God.

For people who get this, it is literally life changing. And I mean literally. One study showed that people who attended church were 18% less likely to die during the study period. And people who attended more than once a week were 30% less likely to die. See, you thought those people were killing you. They’re actually keeping you alive!

When it’s done well, church is a safe space. Not the kind of safe space people look for on college campuses so they don’t have to encounter anything that makes them uncomfortable. Instead, it’s a safe place to embrace struggle. To grow. To rise above the things that keep us down. To GROW.

And to those who think they should just skip church because they don’t relate to the generations gathered there, let me just say four words. You. Need. Old. People. Now that I think of it, let me say four more words. And. They. Need. You.

At the end of the day, the “me-ness” of “me and Jesus” is precisely what I need to be rescued from. I have to admit that I can’t save myself. I have to swallow my pride and see that the path to purpose is outside myself. In the story of life, the biggest dreams are given to characters whose stories are larger than they can tell by themselves. This larger story is the story of Christ’s church.