09/30/2026
You Can Worship God Anywhere—But the Woods, the Beach, the Lake, the Gym, the Deer Stand, and the Fishing Boat Are Not Your Church
I used to say things like this too.
“I don’t need to go to church. The woods are my church.”
Maybe for you it’s hunting.
Maybe it’s fishing.
Maybe it’s hiking.
Maybe it’s sitting on the beach, being on the lake, watching the sunrise, working out at the gym, or just being alone somewhere peaceful.
And I understand what people mean.
Those can absolutely be places where you find peace, pray, meditate, worship God, and stand in awe of what He created.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” — Psalm 19:1 NIV
But the woods aren’t your church.
The beach isn’t your church.
The lake isn’t your church.
The gym isn’t your church.
Your deer stand isn’t your church.
Your fishing boat isn’t your church.
Because biblically, church isn’t a place you go to feel close to God. The church is the people of Christ.
Jesus said:
“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” — Matthew 16:18 NIV
Jesus is building a people.
And when we belong to Christ, Scripture repeatedly calls those people to gather together.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” — Acts 2:42 NIV
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together…” — Hebrews 10:24–25 NIV
Paul takes it even further:
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” — 1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV
That’s what I missed when I used to say things like, “I can find God in the woods.”
Sure you can.
But finding peace in God’s creation and gathering with God’s people are not the same thing.
You can pray alone.
You can worship alone.
You can read your Bible alone.
You can sit in a deer stand and thank God for everything He created.
You can watch the sun come up over the water and praise the Creator.
But you cannot fellowship alone.
You cannot encourage other believers alone.
You cannot bear one another’s burdens alone.
You cannot spur one another toward love and good deeds alone.
You cannot be the whole body of Christ by yourself.
And maybe there’s something deeper going on here too.
Sometimes when we say, “I don’t need church. I can worship God my own way,” what we’re really saying is:
I still want to be in control.
I want Jesus—but on my terms.
I want faith—but I want to decide what obedience looks like.
I want to call myself a Christian. Maybe I even want to tell other people about Christ and encourage them to follow Him.
But I still want the final say over which parts of following Him I’m actually going to follow.
I understand that too.
Because I lived that way.
But at some point, following Jesus requires surrender.
We don’t get to reshape Christianity around what is most comfortable or convenient for us.
If I say Jesus Christ is Lord, then the question eventually has to stop being:
“How do I want to do this?”
And become:
“What does He say?”
And Scripture is pretty clear that the Christian life was never intended to be lived completely alone.
That doesn’t mean church attendance saves you.
It doesn’t mean sitting in a pew makes somebody a Christian.
And it certainly doesn’t mean everyone inside a church building is living surrendered to Christ.
But surrender to Christ means I stop insisting on being the one who gets to define what following Christ looks like.
And here’s something worth thinking about:
Maybe the issue isn’t that you can’t find God in the woods.
Maybe the issue is that the woods don’t ask anything of you.
The woods don’t challenge you.
The beach doesn’t hold you accountable.
The lake doesn’t ask you to forgive somebody who hurt you.
The gym doesn’t ask you to bear somebody else’s burden.
The deer stand doesn’t ask you to serve when you don’t feel like serving.
The fishing boat doesn’t require you to sit beside imperfect people, love imperfect people, forgive imperfect people, and allow imperfect people to love, encourage, correct, and strengthen you.
The church does.
And maybe that’s part of why God gave us one another.
Jesus didn’t save us merely to have an isolated relationship with Him.
He brought us into a people—a body, a family, His church.
So yes, go into the woods.
Go hunting.
Go fishing.
Go to the gym.
Sit beside the lake.
Walk along the beach.
Watch the sunrise.
Pray.
Worship.
Thank God for His creation.
Stand in awe of the God who made all of it.
But don’t confuse experiencing God’s creation—or doing something you love—with participating in God’s church.
You can worship God anywhere.
But that doesn’t make anywhere your church.
Creation can point you toward the Creator.
But if we are in Christ, we are part of His people.
And following Christ isn’t about doing Christianity my way.
It’s about surrendering my way to His.
And His people are meant to gather.
