The Value of Attending Church

As I drive to my Christian church on a Sunday morning, I see the sun shiny day unfolding all around me. Golfers are lining up to play, runners and walkers crowd paths, pickleball courts are busy, and parking lots of a variety of activities begin to fill. I ask myself, why aren’t these people going to church? A quick check of my iPhone confirms that it is indeed Sunday! So, am I missing something? Or are they?

To begin to examine this dilemma, allow me to refer to my role as a volunteer Chaplain at my local hospital. My principal role in that capacity is to provide spiritual care to patients and their families. Among other things, this entails a casual conversation about the patient’s current religious faith. Initially, though no longer, I was confounded that so many do not attend church. However, almost all of these patients were raised in a church and still identify with God as creator, but with a detectable reluctance to acknowledge Jesus as their savior.

Consistent with my small Chaplain’s sample, it is no secret that overall church attendance is far lower now than in the past. Statistics abound that evidence the decline in church membership and attendance in recent years. Though “membership” is a different statistic than “attendance”, all statistical sources evidence a clear correlation between the two. We can also set aside declines attributable to the 2020-2022 COVID pandemic. Though the pandemic exacerbated the decline, the trend began well before then.

According to Christianity Today, church membership held at 70% or higher from 1937 to 1976. Per a recent Gallup poll, those numbers have changed considerably as Christian church membership declined from 69% in the period of 1998-2000 to 52% for the period 2016-2018 for all U.S. adults. Leading to a greater future concern was the even more precipitous decline of 22% for younger adults aged 18-29 years old, and the figure of 40% of all millennials who do not consider themselves to be religious.

These statistical declines are concerning on many different levels. There would be an obvious impact on our Christian churches financially and in their power to influence lives for Christ. So, where are the strengths of the church?

If you will envision your Christian belief system in the form of a three-faced pyramid, let’s consider it’s three faces. Two faces would most certainly be scripture and prayer, the two principal components required to learn from and commiserate with Jesus. Jesus of course is the apex of the pyramid with His love at the heart of it all as manifested in the holy spirit within us. What of the third face? I would place attendance with your chosen church community in that face. Let me explain why your church occupies such an esteemed role in the Christian belief system, starting with why some people do not go to church.

Why Do People Not Go to Church?

David Gundersen, in his book titled What If I Don’t Feel Like Going to Church, lists 12 reasons, or categories of reasons, why Christians choose not to go to church. So, with his question asked, let’s review his comprehensive list: Physical; Relational; Spiritual; Logistical; Preferential; Cultural; Recreational; Doctrinal; Missional; Intellectual; Transitional; Personal.

As a follow-up in the book’s chapter, “Diagnosis of the Heart,” he suggests, “. . . if you can discern the reason behind your reluctance, the path forward becomes clearer” (16). The next step then, is to go to God in prayer for wisdom, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given,” James 1:5. God answers in many ways, but two possibilities include through Christian leaders and discerning friends who are willing to help. Gunderson’s orderly process recommends that you identify the problem(s); pray for wisdom and discernment from God to explore the issues; then open yourself to answers that may present themselves through your own discovery and/or with others God may place in your path.

Many adults overcome Gundersen’s list of reasons as they age. At a point in life, it becomes clearer that resources sufficient to consistently protect both the body and soul of a person and their loved ones, cannot be accumulated in this world. We also learn, the hard way usually, that life’s challenges can be better survived if we defer in trust, to a higher power being in charge. One way to think of it is that an “unseen power” is needed to counter the “unseen forces” that come against us. These realities teach each of us humility, a Christian quality that serves us well.

Others might ask why church attendance is required to live a consistently peaceful and joyful life. This is not to suggest that church or any other institution or resource will give you a perfect life on earth; no such thing exists in this fallen world. But scripture, prayer and church will provide goodly portions of His peace and joy and importantly, a resource to tap when you meet life’s inevitable problems.

What is the Value of Attending Church?

Church attendance for many is a roller coaster ride as we move along our life path. In the beginning, we go to church because as children, our parents told us to get in the car! As an adolescent, there were arguments, but the parents usually won. Many fall away completely as they become young, independent adults, and that trend continues per the statistics reviewed earlier. When these young adults become parents, they seem to recognize that they need help from something greater than themselves to do the job properly. Finally, grandparents come to tranquilly accept that life’s challenges are unavoidable and therefore, the path to peace and joy in this life requires supernatural assistance.

As a saved Christian1, there are many reasons to attend church, altogether too numerous to review in this article. I will focus on a few that I think are the most critical to answer the question, and to persuade you to find a church that fits your spiritual needs.

Let’s begin by acknowledging that with an omnipresent, loving God, He is always on call, ready to be with you wherever you are, whenever you ask him. Given that truism, why is organized church necessary at all? The answer lies in the bible where in simple terms, we are told that we need to attend church so we can worship God with other believers and be taught His word for our spiritual growth. First century believers initially had no physical churches but thrived on communal fellowship with other believers and the teaching of His word. Examples of these nascent, church-like worship gatherings appear throughout the New Testament.

In that scriptural example, we learn then that scripture is at the epicenter of Christian worship. While reading it alone is a good thing, doing it in fellowship with other believers is essential to understand it more fully and learn how to better apply it in a cultural world rife with sin. In a communal format, we learn more about love which empowers us with kindness, forgiveness, humility, patience, generosity, and truth, and of equal importance, how to take those learnings with us out into the world.

Scriptural readings inevitably lead us to prayer, a conversation if you will, of thanks and petition with Jesus as the resurrected Christ. As scripture energizes the spirit within us, prayer engages a responding Jesus as our holy ally. As with reading scripture, to pray alone is a good thing, a necessary thing even, but to pray in unison is a powerful catharsis for our personal challenges as well as putting others in need before the Lord for His care and healing. I will add that I have learned over time to personalize some of the prayer language of others that has enriched my personal prayer life. This would not have happened without the opportunity to worship with others.

We have all heard the siren call of a single, talented singing voice. When that voice is joined by other earthly singing voices, the experience of the many voices sharing lyrics in a crescendo of melodic harmony elevates the experience for the singers and audience alike. And if as a sinning soloist, we miss a note, the voices of our Christian brothers and sisters will cover us and provide a path to return where we belong. Similarly, my instinct tells me that if my personal prayers to Jesus yield a tear and a smile, His hearing from a multitude of believing voices brings him to a crying cascade of love and laughing.

It is reasonable these days to discuss the physical versus the virtual church experience. Virtual church grew exponentially due to COVID restrictions and the continued growth of technological platforms available to everyone. Virtual church hangover is likely to stay for the long term. Before going further, let me repeat that God respects and desires honest worship of any kind, including virtually.

However, by physically attending church services, the Christian publicly establishes a responsibility to live a certain way while the virtual attendee remains accountable only to themself. As a physical attendee, the church in effect, becomes the Apostle Paul of your life. If you don’t worship or live according to Jesus’s word, you can expect a letter from Paul like those he wrote in his Epistles to the Corinthians, Romans, Galatians, and others. I hope you get the idea from the analogy.

Therefore, I would maintain that virtual worship is minimally effective as spiritual nutriment, notwithstanding a physical need to do so. Paul reaffirms this idea in his letter to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 10:12. He is not talking about virtual worship specifically but worshiping in a vacuum with themselves as the highest standard as the Corinthian church leaders were doing, “. . . When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”

Find A Church Home

So, I have spoken to the importance of learning scripture, offering prayer, and establishing personal responsibility to grow as a “public” Christian, all within a church setting. There is more of course, much more to be gained by joining a church. Here is a short version of an otherwise long list:

• To sustain hope for yourself and share that hope with others
• To participate in communion. Communion has its origins in the last supper with Jesus in recognition that he would give his life to save others from sin
• To gain access to Christian ministries to serve others as Jesus did
• To fulfill Jesus’ instruction to spread the gospel through the body of the Christian church
• To establish Christian friendships for support, guidance, and accountability

We all occasionally miss church services. Many of us have on occasion walked away from our faith. From time to time, we all fail in our walk in different ways. Nonetheless, none of that makes us lesser Christians. It makes us “seeking” Christians. We are seeking ways in which we can fulfill God’s calling on our lives, lives which we received without earning them. We seek God’s love and forgiveness, and we seek the ultimate destination of eternal life. Strengthening our relationship with Jesus by attending church to learn scripture and to live in prayer, in combination with the support of your church community, is the best way to get there.

The next time you are driving to church on Sunday morning, don’t think badly of your self-indulgent neighbors entertaining themselves. Instead, pray for them. Then, enjoy the peaceful ride to church where you will join others in publicly declaring that Jesus is your savior, and you love him. Therein lies the widest gateway to eternal life.

Footnote: ¹ If you are not yet a saved Christian and wish to be, please click here.

Work Citied:

Gundersen, David. What If I Don’t Feel Like Going to Church?, Crossway, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=6231666.

Epilogue

Some retire from church,
Time for their just rewards,
Time to collect all was earned,
Have no time for the Lord.

Not worship but play important,
A careless ignorance on display,
Courts, carts, and courses full,
A selfish sabbath day.

There’s danger in ignoring the Lord,
The lack of love conveyed,
But He leans toward forgiveness,
Through his blood all sin is paid.

Am I jealous of their freedom,
To have their fun as they please?
No, I am going where I belong,
It’s Sunday church for me.