What do you love about your Church?

This post is lovingly dedicated to my home church.......A large, somewhat awkward looking building, that upon fist glance holds the hearts of some of the most precious believers I know- Looking deeper, It's not the building that holds the hearts but it is God in us offering us a place to gather together to learn more about Him-

Often I will tell my husband Matt 'Hey Babe, will you tell me 3 things you love about me and I will tell you 3 things I love about you?'  Hearing Matt speak out what he appreciates about me is HUGE- It is so affirming and is a great reminder of Matt's love for me when I get discouraged.  But even more important is the reminder for me to look at what I love about Matt.  I can think of the negative in a quick hurry but sometimes fail to stop and think about what I love about him...........Where am I going with this?  Often I think the negative gets focused on when it comes to Church- We are quick to speak about what we don't like.......What our pastor said that irritated us.......Why we don't think Church is important......How the church did not meet our expectations in some way or another.

Recently, one of our precious church ladies had the courage to stand up in front of a group of ladies and describe what church has meant to her (she has served in one capacity or another at our church for 40+ years).....  She didn't say as much but I bet if you asked, she would say over the years there has been plenty of opportunities to become negative and bitter towards her church family- Plenty of reasons to abandon ship and find a new church home........She and her family choose to stay loyal.....keep the course.......keep serving the church.......keep attending Sunday after Sunday..........Among other things, her and her family remembered to look at the positive-

That being said, what do you love about your church/church family- It can be a 1 word answer or a 100 words....Please do not hold back from answering!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will copy and past your answers (For Privacy, I will not use your name) and post them on a blog post soon- If we are friends on facebook you can send me a message via my personal inbox if we are not you can make a comment under this post (I will not post your comment publicly but will copy and past it)-

I will start us off with 10 of my own- (they are in no certain order)

What I love about my church:

1. We have a Sunday School teacher that uses a felt board......how homey is that!
2. That the Word of God is taught in a doctrinally sound way 
3. My pastor who calls us his family and his wife who unselfishly serves
4. Youth Group/Awana/ and all the other kid orientated programs-
5. When someones cell phone goes off during service- It always cracks me up
6. The teens gathered together in a clump of giggles just outside of the sanctuary
7. When there are audio difficulties and the singers are smiling and carrying on as if nothing unusual is happening- I know if I was up there I would have to stop and acknowledge the problem and crack a joke about it :) :)
8. God is found in our hearts yes, but I believe He is so honored when we gather together as believers and worship Him in a Church Setting 
9. The bonds of friendship that are made as we gather together between the walls of our church and fellowship together- whether it be at a Bible Study, chili cook-off, soup dinner, etc..
10. The nursery/child care workers that graciously offer their time each Sun. so that mothers with young babies/children can sit in service while their children are taken care of!!!