Many people approach church as consumers. They ask whether they like the music, the preaching, the people, the atmosphere. When dissatisfaction sets in, they move on. This mindset is understandable—but it is profoundly unchristian.

The Church is not a club you join; it is a Body into which you are baptized. Membership is not based on preference but on covenant. In baptism, we are claimed by Christ, incorporated into His Church, and given obligations as well as privileges.

To belong to the Church is to submit to her discipline, to pray with her people, to bear one another’s burdens, and to persevere even when it is inconvenient. The Church forms us precisely because she does not revolve around us.

Anglican Catholic worship reinforces this truth. We do not tailor the liturgy to individual taste. We submit ourselves—together—to the worship of God as the Church has received it. In doing so, we are shaped into something greater than ourselves.

The Church is family, hospital, school, and embassy of the Kingdom. She demands commitment because she offers transformation.