Why I Attend Church
I was prompted to write this essay,
quip mind you, by the numbers of people I know at home in the states that do
not feel it necessary to attend church regularly. I was also asked by a student the other day
and thought I might as well come up with a detailed answer I have never been
forced to give a non-believer. If you are like me you are probably thinking,
but isn’t this a little legalistic? I
mean, what about those people who have to work on the weekends just to scrape
by? Well, I’m not talking directly to
those people, but rather the individuals who would rather worship God at home
or go do something else on a Sunday morning.
The aspects to this attitude at work among members of the body might
include: lack of spiritual commitment to Christ, lack in biblical knowledge,
and even personal guilt for things done during the week or Saturday night. Whatever the reason, perhaps the most common
reason is that people had gone to church while they were under their parent’s
roof, but their parent’s religion was not their religion. I will be the first to admit that there is no
one specific verse that declares all Christians “must” go to church and indeed
many point out that in the beginning the most common type of church was a “home
church” where people congregated. The
reasons below are my explanation for those who wish to know a little about why
church is important to my family and where my beliefs come from.
The best place to start any story is
at the beginning. The first church God
founded is found in Matthew 16:18 when he said to Peter, “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” (New International Version 1984). This is
the Catholic Church as it relates to all denominations. The original word in Greek, Katholikos, means
“throughout the whole.” This meant Christian churches everywhere, not the
Catholic Church as it is now. The next
question is important. The question for
every Christian (in regard to church) should be, “What was God’s intention when
he founded the first church?” I believe
the answer to be found in Ephesians 3:10, “His intent was that now, through the
church, the manifold wisdom of
God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,”
(NIV).
At this point again, if you are like me, you are thinking, “What is
the manifold wisdom of God?” Well, to tell you the truth, I have not yet
thought about this in prayerful meditation, but I believe the manifold wisdom
of God is Christ. I believe this because
Christ is “of God” and knowledge of the Holy Spirit should be spread by the
church as is the great commission in Matthew 28:19, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (NIV). For it is through fear of the Lord and the
repentance of sins that one gains access to the wisdom God reveals. If people choose not to go to church they will
not grow in understanding of this manifold wisdom of God. The word “manifold” has many synonyms like
various, diverse, assorted, etc. Pastors and other believers teach us various
aspects of this wisdom. None of us knows
everything, as an English teacher I’m humbled by this fact every time I read an
essay or journal from a student. You simply can’t get this wisdom at home…alone…on
a consistent basis. This leads me to my
next paragraph.
The next aspect of going to church
that is (probably my favorite reason) that of fellowship and protection
against the evils of this world. These
two things fall under the category of community. In Hebrews 10:25 it says, “Let
us not give up meeting together,
as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the
more as you see the Day approaching” (NIV). It is important to meet together as a Christian
body. If a person or couple stays home
and doesn’t interact with others how can they do as this verse commands? How can they encourage other Christians? From my own experiences with darkness I can
assuredly say that one of Satan’s most common tactics is that of depression,
leading to isolation, leading to death on a spiritual and sometimes physical
level. Satan doesn’t want us to feel
loved. In the Bible, Peter uses the
analogy of a lion saying in 1st Peter 5:8, “Be self-controlled and
alert. Your enemy the devil prowls
around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour” (NIV). If we are following the command of this
Hebrew's verse, we are like a flock of sheep.
We have relative safety in numbers.
The lion (Satan) will prowl for the weak sheep and the sheep that are on
edge of the flock. As Christians we are
fortunate in that we have a shepherd that will watch over us; however, if we are
not going to church that shepherd may not be as present in our lives as we
think. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Christ won’t be there in your
darkest hour should you call on him, but I think sometimes people open
themselves to attack by simply believing it is o.k. to not go to church. My prayer is that young people today will put
aside any excuse they have for not going like church being too far, too long,
too judgmental, etc and think about the reasons to go. Many examples in the book of Acts will bring
Christians encouraging examples of how a church can benefit its
members. This brings me to my final paragraph;
man my leg is warm from the laptop!
The last thing that needs to be
talked about should be what are the functions of a church? How should it be
functioning? We already talked about one
function… forgot already? Well, it is in the second paragraph near the
end. Before I begin, I must say that I
cannot list all possible functions of the church, but will give a few functions
that stand out to me as I write this essay.
First,
contrary to the belief of some Christians, man was not created simply to give
worship on Sunday. Jesus said in Mark
2:27, “Then he said to them, “The Sabbath
was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”
(NIV). God created the Sabbath for us, that we might
find rest in him and spend time learning about him and his creation. He created
the Sabbath because he loves us and one way “that love” is shown to us is
through the members of our church body!
If a person’s church does not show this love it is a dying church. We know that Christ’s body is the church from
verses like Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I
fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions,
for the sake of his body, which is the church”
(NIV). Second, the church can help us to use our
gifts correctly in the form of orderly worship. Orderly worship is important so
that Christ’s body may be one in thought and mind; however, without knowing one’s
gifts, this particular verse is hard to follow.
The verse regarding orderly worship I am thinking of is 1st
Corinthians 14:26 which says, “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a
word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these
must be done for the strengthening of the church” (NIV). In order for a church
to be strong, these must be taken into account and displayed among the body in
proper format. Rarely, however, is this
format followed. Third, the church can
act as a mediator (like Christ is our mediator) between individuals who are
having conflict such as the confronting of a member’s sin. This is seen in Matthew 18:15-17, “If your
brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of
you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not
listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established
by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them,
tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat
him as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (NIV). If a church body is
able to show love and commitment to its members it can be an effective tool in
combating sin and keeping a community united in peace.
My prayer as I conclude this essay
is simply that we as Christians can point people to the reasons for our beliefs
and that we would understand the need to be together rather than in isolation. In my family, I never want it to be an option to
not attend church.
