Why I Don't Want To Just 'Do Church'

I grew up in a church that left me with a bad taste in my mouth for church. It was something you did because you had to do it.

I never heard the Gospel clearly presented, never saw a person come to Christ, never saw a life changed because of it. It was just plain boring.

Much of what we do here at Blue Ridge is in reaction to that.

I plain don’t have time or interest in just doing church — singing songs that make no sense to me, doing things that make no sense to me. I want to be a part of a place where God is moving in powerful ways.

Some of you may be thinking, “He just bad-mouthed my whole ritualistic way of doing church.”

I did.

If that’s for you, that’s for you. But it was dead, lifeless and meaningless for me. As I came to Christ, I started reading the Bible, and I read the book of Acts. I learned about the early church.

I went to the pastor of the church I grew up in, and I said to him, “I’m reading about the church, and I love this. It’s exciting. But I look at what we’re doing and it’s the opposite of that.” Which is very flattering to him I’m sure. But that was the way it was.

He said to me, “Woody, you can’t expect the church to be what it was back then.”

As close to prophetic as I ever got, I said, “If I can’t be a part of a church like the one I read about in Acts, I don’t see the point.”

That was when I was young and foolish. I’m old and even more foolish now. Because I have absolutely no need nor interest in going through the motions and doing religious stuff.

I want to be in a place where God is invited to work, and He is, in fact, working. I want to be on the edge — where God is moving. That’s what God wants for His church. I can’t think of anywhere better than the book of Acts to begin this journey.

Senior Pastor Woody Torrence shared this story as part of our new Acts message series.