Church Should Feel Like Home

The other day, I drove past a local church, and their sign made me hit the brakes: “Church Should Feel Like Home.”

At first, I found myself nodding and thinking, “Yes, absolutely.”
Then my very LDS reflex kicked in, and I thought, “Okay, but—home should feel like church.”

That’s when it hit me: both are right.

When the church feels like home

Home is where you can show up a little messy and still belong. So when church feels like home, it looks like:

• You get noticed with a real “hi, good to see you,” not a “we’re sizing you up for a calling” look.
• You feel welcome, even when your week has been rough or you’re running on empty.
• You learn to love people you didn’t handpick, the way family works at a backyard BBQ.
• That kind of belonging is exactly what the Lord wants to build in us as His covenant people.

When home feels like church

But that sign also got me thinking about how the Lord invites us to make discipleship part of our everyday life, right at home.

President Russell M. Nelson taught that we needed to flip the old pattern:

“As Latter-day Saints, we have become accustomed to thinking of ‘church’ as something that happens in our meetinghouses, supported by what happens at home. We need an adjustment to this pattern. It is time for a home-centered Church, supported by what takes place inside our branch, ward, and stake buildings.”
(“Opening Remarks,” Oct 2018)

For me, “home feeling like church” doesn’t mean my living room has to feel like a chapel. It means my home gets a little more Christ-centered:

• more quick repentance, less grudge-holding
• more prayer that sounds real
• more service that’s not announced, tracked, or posted
• King Benjamin’s line from Mosiah is basically the “home gospel” in one sentence:

“When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.”
(Mosiah 2:17)

I love how practical Mosiah gets about what real belief should look like in our lives:

“Believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them… and now, if you believe all these things, see that ye do them.”
(Mosiah 4:10)

The two-way connection

Elder David A. Bednar described the big picture like this:

“God has revealed a pattern of spiritual progress for individuals and families through ordinances, teaching, programs, and activities that are home-centered and Church-supported. Church organizations and programs exist to bless individuals and families and are not ends in themselves.”
(“Gather Together in One All Things in Christ,” Oct 2018)

So yes, church really should feel like home.
And home should feel like church.

Not perfect. Not Pinterest. Just steady efforts to keep Jesus Christ at the center, to keep showing up, repenting, and trying again.

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