Agreed, it's mostly community as far as personal benefits. We had a friend group through it that fell apart recently and my wife wants to go back to church only for the community.
Outreach is mostly a guise in my opinion, a show that's put on to make the congregation think their money is being used wisely. I have a lot of disdain for organized religion though, having grown up in it and painfully "deconstructing" a couple years ago. I can't step foot in a church ever again (minus a wedding).
Yeah, for sure there's some scummy stuff churches can do with money. Again, that's not EVERY church, and the bigger it gets, the more likely the preacher has a supercar. Some have actual accountability, and actually spend the money helping congregation, but it can take some looking to find them, and unfortunately they're overshadowed by the Joel Olstein style mega churches.
Agreed, it's mostly community as far as personal benefits. We had a friend group through it that fell apart recently and my wife wants to go back to church only for the community.
Outreach is mostly a guise in my opinion, a show that's put on to make the congregation think their money is being used wisely. I have a lot of disdain for organized religion though, having grown up in it and painfully "deconstructing" a couple years ago. I can't step foot in a church ever again (minus a wedding).
Yeah, for sure there's some scummy stuff churches can do with money. Again, that's not EVERY church, and the bigger it gets, the more likely the preacher has a supercar. Some have actual accountability, and actually spend the money helping congregation, but it can take some looking to find them, and unfortunately they're overshadowed by the Joel Olstein style mega churches.