Is Church a waste of time?

I found an article of Jon's in our house. It sounded interesting so I started paging through and came across a section about the 80-20 rule. The author states that 20% of a task's effort accounts for 80% of it's value. Thus 80% of the task only yields 20% of the value of that task. In college this man finished two four year degrees in just three semesters by being very careful with his time. The example he used in this section was a math class that he attended only twice. He found he learned better (and faster) from the text book, not the lectures. So, he came to class at the beginning of class to hand in his homework, and at the end of class to find out the next assignment. He also went for the mid-term and the final. He finished with the highest grade in the class.

We get much out of our Sunday school class and enjoy that time. I love my Wednesday night group and feel very encouraged and energized by it. But the actual church service. Well, it's something I just do. At times I do get some great life application stuff or really get into worship, but long ago mastered the art of day dreaming my way through sermons and singing along while barely considering the words I am singing. I do realize that I would get more out of the services if I focused and applied myself more. Satan loves it when I don't pay attention in service. But maybe these ponderings will spark a new era of serving in a way I never have before.

This may partly come down to how you define "church". Who says church is sitting in a service where you sing, read scripture and hear a guy speak? I know plenty of churches that don't do it that way. So, maybe my question is more about the church service in particular.

So, would it benefit me more to do something else during the service? I'm already going to "church" during Sunday school and on Wednesdays and even learning through the sermons I occassionally listen to online from ours or other churches. And I often worship better with the music in my car or at home than in service. Now, I absolutely do not mean giving up on attending all together, just cutting out the % that is not accomplishing growing me in my faith or worshiping God with my whole heart. Because I do believe church attendance is an indespensable catalyst for growth of a Christian relationship.

Anyway, those are the beginnings of my pondering this topic. Truely just a rough draft. Hmm...