Let me start off by stating the obvious: Different people have different patterns when it comes to how often they attend church services.
- There are some people who never attend any sort of church service ever.
- There are some people who only go to church on Christmas and Easter.
- There are some people who attend their church about once or twice per month.
- There are some people who attend weekly and only miss if they are sick or on vacation.
- There are even a few people who go to church when they are sick, and only miss a Sunday service when they are in the hospital or lost in Saskatchewan.
This article is an attempt to explain why you should to move into category #4 or #5 (preferably #4... no need to get other people sick, or to be vacationing in countries you’re so unfamiliar with) if you happen to be someone in one of the other categories. And I guess I’m talking mostly to category #3 people, since the first two groups of people probably don’t read church newsletters.
If I had to put it into one sentence I think I would say this: I believe that attending your church weekly could contribute to you 1) loving God, 2) loving each other, and 3) loving people who don’t know God yet, better than attending twice per month, once per month, or even less. Here’s why:
LOVING GOD: I believe that you are more likely to honor God throughout the week when you hear the word of God preached at church earlier during that week. And I believe that hearing God’s word taught four times a month is about twice as good as hearing it two times per month. Also, I believe that taking time out of your week to focus on God - worshipping Him alongside many other believers - points your life in a better direction than it would be if you simply worked at your job, took care of your family, and then started all over again with the next week.
LOVING EACH OTHER: It is very important that we know and care about other people who belong to the same church that we do. And it is really hard to know and care about people that you see once every 14 or 28 days. To be honest, it’s hard enough to know and care about people that you see once or twice a week. It’s more like impossible to genuinely care for someone that I see only see every few weeks. We all think “love one another” is a good command. But it hasn’t dawned on many of us, that we are putting ourselves in a position where we basically cannot obey it. At least, not with the people we call “our church.”
LOVING PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW GOD YET: This is a big one. You see, our Sunday morning church service is designed to be a community that you can invite a non-church or non-Christian person to. But the “community” becomes less effective if the people who are there are very different from week to week. I mean, we all think it’s good to partner together to reach people with the gospel, but we forget how much harder that is to do when half the team doesn’t show up.
Ok, well, that’s it. Now it’s up to you to decide how often you are going to set aside time to be a part of your church. “I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.” (1 Cor.10:15)
And please know that whatever you decide, I love being your pastor.
