It’s Sunday morning and you are rushing out of the house trying to get to church on time. On the way there you get stuck in traffic, your kids are bickering in the back of the car, and your level of anxiety is on the rise. When you finally arrive, the only parking spot left is the furthest one from the entrance.

While situations like these can be rather stressful, we are called to die to our flesh daily and demonstrate the love of Christ everywhere we go. This truth also applies as we are attending our local church.

Recently, Pastor Rusty George had a heart-to-heart with his congregation about how we ought to attend a church service. He offers helpful and practical advice from that message.

“When you get out of your car, instead of arguing with your spouse or yelling at your kids to get over to their Sunday school class, find some people to greet.”

Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we forget to look other people in the eye. Instead of living in isolation, Rusty encourages us to build relationships and remind others that we care about them.

“When you pick up your kids from their class, thank their teachers for all that they did. Ask them what they have coming up this week.”

“When you sit it your usual seat, because we all sit in our usual seats, find the people around you who are normally there. If they weren’t there last week ask them ask. ‘how are you doing? I missed you last week!’”

Rusty points out that many of us have a tendency to take a selfish approach even to the way we worship, read the Bible, and listen to sermons.

“During the worship service don’t evaluate it based on the songs you like, or if you don’t like that song or that singer, think about the words and how they might edify Christ and others.”

“During the message if it’s something you’ve heard before, great, then pray for someone who hasn’t. If it’s something you’ve never heard before, great, think about how God might want to use it in your life. Think about who you can share that with when you leave there.”

“As you’re leaving the church, be the first one to let somebody else to get in front of you and drive out and then encourage people along the way.”

When we attend church with ourselves in mind, rather than considering other people, we are missing out on opportunities to reach others with the love of Christ. We need to pay close attention to how we are going about our day so we can be a blessing to those around us and honor God with our lives.


Rusty George is the Lead Pastor at Real Life Church in Southern California; a multi-site church with campuses in Canyon Country, Valencia and a large online community. He is author of several books including

Discovering the power of community with Rusty George