In a culture that minimizes commitment and maximizes self-indulgence, I have learned the precious gift of church attendance or, more specifically, the church gathered. I do not see church attendance as a burden or legalistic commitment. I view it as joy—a place where I can give and serve, a place where I can focus more on others rather than myself.
I could name many, but here are ten reasons I attend church.
- I attend church to serve others. There is so much greater joy in serving than seeking to be served. I have many opportunities to serve when the church is gathered. Those opportunities are my gifts from God.
- I attend church to encourage others. We live in a world of incredible digital communication. But there is still something irreplaceable about gathering together. When I encounter someone in person at church, I have an opportunity to encourage him or her in person as well.
- I attend church to encourage my pastor. I doubt many of us know how much our pastors serve us and love us seven days a week. The least I can do for my pastor is to be there in person when we gather as a church. I know it encourages my pastor, and I want our pastors to have that gift of encouragement every week.
- I attend church to state my priorities. If I am able to go to work, to go to school, to go on vacation, or to watch or be involved in a sport, I can attend church. I desire to have a “no excuse” clause in my life for attending church.
- I attend church to participate in worship. There is something special and Spirit-filled about worshipping together with other Christians. It is both an opportunity and gift I do not take lightly.
- I attend church even if it doesn’t meet all my needs. If I say, “I am not getting fed spiritually,” it likely means I am not hungry spiritually. If my church does some things a bit differently than my preferences, I realize I am there, not as a consumer, but as a giver and one who has been called to put others’ needs before my own. No church is perfect. No worship style is perfect. No pastor is perfect. And neither am I.
- I attend church with frequency, not on occasion. It is my prayer to be in my church every Sunday. When I am out of town, I can find another church to attend. I pray I will never say, “I need a break from church.” I certainly don’t want God to take a break from me.
- I attend church to set an example for my family. Couples have healthier marriages when they attend church. Children grow up with countless benefits because their parents took them to church. I need to show the importance and priority of church attendance to those I love.
- I attend church because the Bible tells me to do so. Two-thirds of the New Testament is about churches, specifically gathered churches. The words of the writer of Hebrews in 10:24-25 are powerful: “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and more as you see the day approaching.”
- I attend church because I love my church. I love my church. I love my pastor. I love the members of my church. I love the community my church serves. If I love someone, I will be there for them. I truly love my church.
It is becoming increasingly common to see church attendance as just another activity, an option among many, a place to get consumer preferences met, or an occasional gathering to hide in anonymity.
It has become increasingly popular for some to argue that church attendance is not a high priority because the building is not a church, the people are. But those people are supposed to gather. Indeed, they are commanded to gather.
I love to attend church. I attend church for these reasons and many more.
I thank God for my church.
Posted on March 18, 2019
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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40 Comments
Thank you Thom,
I put together a little weekly, or there about, newsletter to encourage the group leaders in our growth group ministry. This week, I included a link to this great article. The purpose of growth groups is to enable more Christ-like living and I chose to remind folks of Luke 4:16 where we are told “He went up into the synagogue as was His custom ” If we hope to be Christ-like, we must take note that even being God did not exempt Him from regular attendance. Thanks again for your great work.
Nice list! I intend to share it . I especially like the humility in #6.
Personally, I would add one item to the top if the list. I attend church to receive the grace of God in and with a community of believers. Everything else flows from there.
Thanks, Mark.
Dear Thom,
With every respect I ask; what if the only churches around you are more prophecy, speaking in tongues, loud music and sings no one sings, it’s ok to get up and walk around all the time grabbing coffee and cake and letting your kids run rampant?
I love my church but I so long for the respect and reverence that used to be.
Lmj
Great Article! I also get encouraged in my walk in this crazy, demon filled world. Thank you Dr. Rainer for this, and many more inspired articles.
Thank you as well, Robert.
Encouraging word and much appreciated. Plan on sending this link out on a church-wide email also posting this on our FB and Twitter pages.
Yesterday I spoke from Jude and I challenged our church family and guest as to the importance of church. Also, the care that must be taken to protect the church from those that might come in to do it harm. The need for it personally and corporately. I told them that I was excited to worship with them. That it encouraged and blessed me to do so.
We all need the corporate experience of worship and the church in our life each week.
Absolutely. Thank you, Elbert.
I shared your thoughts with our “Moms in Recovery Helping Moms” Ministry. They said they may be self centered, but they attend church regularly to know they are not alone. Each of them is a single mom in recovery!
I love how the Body of Christ functions in that way, Stan.
My main two reason to attend church are not even on your top ten.
1. meet around the Lords table to remember what He has done for us. I Corinthians 11:23-30 23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
Corinthians was probably written before any of the Gospels.
Luke added these words Lk. 22:14-20 14When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
17After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
This is every first day of the week. Acts 20:7 7On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.
This is the main reason we come together on Sunday
My second reason for being in Church is to see people being immersed in to the body of Christ to have His blood applied to their soul. Colossians 2:6-13 6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces a of this world rather than on Christ.
9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh b was put off when you were circumcised by c Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you d alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Romans 6 explains this to new Christians. Rom 6:1-14 1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, a that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
These are the things I look for, salvation by the Blood and fellowship through the Blood.
Joe,
Appreciate your sacramental perspective. We Baptists tend to impoverish ourselves when we get squeamish about the Table and the Baptismal pool. There are ways to embrace the richness of historical church practice without embracing “real presence” or “baptismal regeneration.” The most profound and simplest way to keep our worship services Christ-centered is to observe the Table each week.
Not meaning to hijack the conversation here, so probably best to ignore my post. 🙂 But I do appreciate Joe’s perspective.
The breaking of bread in Acts 2:42, 2:46 and 20:7 is a reference to eating a meal. There is no command for the church to meet on the first day of the week. Under grace every day is alike (Romans 14:5-6).
People don’t come to church to be “immersed in to the body of Christ to have His blood applied to their soul” When a person believes the gospel they are justified by Jesus’ blood (Romans 3:25 and 5:9, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14 and 20.) and baptized into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). These things happen the moment a person believes the gospel whether they are at church, at home or riding down the road in their car and is a one time ocurrence never need to be repeated again.
The breaking of bread in Acts 2:42, 2:46 and 20:7 is a reference to eating a meal. There is no command for the church to meet on the first day of the week. Under grace every day is alike (Romans 14:5-6).
People don’t come to church to be “immersed in to the body of Christ to have His blood applied to their soul” When a person believes the gospel they are justified by Jesus’ blood (Romans 3:25 and 5:9, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14 and 20.) and baptized into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). These things happen the moment a person believes the gospel whether they are at church, at home, or riding down the road in their car; a onetime occurrence never needing to be repeated.
Amen! Great article! The multiple “one another” commands cannot be truly fulfilled apart from gathering with the Body (the local Church). Galatians 6:10, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.“ Obviously, the local Body we use our spiritual gifts for growth and edification is to be a priority. The early Church desired to gather daily, so why now is it too difficult to gather just once a week? Maybe the parable of the soils speaks to this as the weeds are choking many out.
Well said, Mahlon.
I attend Church because my LORD died and gave HIS life for HIS Church…I am therefore. compelled by gratitude for the salvation of my soul and the joy of knowing that HE washes my sins away…I worship with my Church because JESUS died for my Church…
Well said, William.
I didn’t see in your list of reasons that one reason to attend church is to gain a better perspective and interpretation of the Bible. I can gain this through hearing the words of my pastor and sharing the thoughts of fellow believers in my Sunday School class.
While it is implied in the fifth point, it is good to make it explicit.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
And amen.
Attending/Participating with a Christian congregation that is consciously/strategically on-mission with God in its community is very exciting to the let’s-don’t-waste-time-or-other-precious-resources types like me. The measure of our success day-by-day is “Are any non-Christian/un-discipled people remaining in this town/zip code?”–if so, our mission work is not yet done, and ways to reach/disciple those dear folk for the Lord is to be determined and executed until that job is completed. Local churches who are not quite there still can be attended/participated in by types like me, but we will want to see them move forward in that biblical direction for the sake of the neighborhood. Attending, listening to, and serving together, our congregations can exhibit the common purpose, clear roles, accepted leadership, effective processes, solid relationships, and excellent communication that winning teams always do (cf. Triaxia Partners-Atlanta for more such info).
I agree 100% with your reasons.
Reasons, among many, that I attend church is because Jesus “loved the church and gave Himself for it”. (Ephesians 5:25-30). If He loved the church this much how can I, as a member of this body, not love and support it. Also the writer of Hebrews challenges us: “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
For sure.