50 Ways to Love Your Church

photo: flickr/Andrew Malone

1. Show up for worship. 
2. Sing. Heartily. 
3. Say “Amen.” (I’m looking at you, fellow-Presbyterians.)
4. Pray for church members. 
5. Pray with church members. 
6. Let them pray for you. 
7. Weep. 
8. Rejoice. 
9. Learn people’s names. 
10. Introduce yourself so they can learn yours. 
11. Use your gifts.
12. Say “hi” to the children. 
13. Teach Sunday school. 
14. Volunteer for the nursery. 
15. Send a thank you note. 
16. Love Christ. 
17. Lead a Bible study. 
18. Put your tithe in the offering plate. 
19. Bring your children for baptism. 
20. Take and eat of the Lord’s Table. 
21. Forgive. 
22. Speak well of your elders.
23. Do what your pastor preaches. 
24. Invite another family over for lunch. (Sandwiches and chips are just fine.)
25. Sit in a different pew. 
26. Sit in a different pew closer to the front. 
27. Introduce people to each other. 
28. Don’t complain about the attendance. Or the music. Or the coffee. 
29. Attend the mid-week meeting(s). 
30. Stay for fellowship lunch/pot luck/dinner on the grounds. 
31. Bring a dish. 
32. Offer to clean up after the fellowship lunch/pot luck/dinner on the grounds. 
33. Talk to the people on the margins. 
34. Make a note of phone numbers. 
35. Make a note of food allergies. 
36. Invite someone to church. 
37. Say “hi” to a teenager. 
38. Offer to hold a baby. 
39. Pick up discarded bulletins/communion cups/wadded Kleenex. 
40. Organize a community outreach. 
41. Listen. 
42. Use your connections to help someone find a job. 
43. Use your connections to help someone find a spouse. 
44. Watch out for children in the parking lot. 
45. Visit a widow. 
46. Pray with the sick. 
47. Give to the needy. (Leave your name off the card.)
48. Smile. 
49. Be the first person through the church door. 
50. Be the last person out. 

Note: Some of these are practical out-workings of wisdom, many of these are directly commanded in Scripture, and any of these—by the help of the Spirit—will be an encouragement to your church, the precious bride whom Christ dearly loves (Eph. 5:25).