Is church and fellowship actually important for Christians? Is it wrong if I just attend virtually? Or if I just hop around? Why is showing up to a building so important?

On today’s podcast episode, we’re talking about just that!

Here are the top reasons people don’t go to church according to PEW Research:
1) “I practice my faith in other ways”
2) Net dislike for congregation/religious services
3) “I haven’t found a church/house of worship I like”

Allendale Baptist Church had an article that said this quote which I loved:

“One thing in common with these 3 reasons is that they all have to do with personal preference or feelings about the church.”

So, today we’re not talking about how you FEEL about church but what God says about it.

We will be talking about those common reasons people don’t go to church, the importance of church that’s greater than our feelings, what going to church doesn’t mean, and stats about both the decline in church attendance and the impact regular religious services have. Lastly, we’ll talk about what makes a solid church.

This episode is both for the Christian who loves the Lord but is debating the importance of church and for the Christian who attends regularly and wants to know why that’s important.

Stats about Christians and church:

– only 20% of Americans attend church at that rate, down from 32% in 2000
– 20% of Americans attend church every week (Gallup)
– 41% of Americans are in monthly church attendance or more (Gallup)
– 57% of Americans are seldom or never in religious service attendance (Gallup)
– Regular church attendance has steadily declined since the turn of the century (Gallup and Pew Research Center)
– 16% of Christians who attended church pre-pandemic have stopped attending entirely (Barna)
– The number of evangelicals that never attend church increased from 25% pre-COVID to 33% today (AEI Survey Center on American Life)
– 39% of Millennials report attending church on a weekly basis, according to Barna’s recent State of the Church report. This is a significant increase over years prior and places them at a much higher rate of attendance than Generation X and even the Boomer generation, which had previously been more faithfully in attendance than their younger counterparts. 39% of Millennials report attending church weekly, up from 21% in 2019 (Barna)

Why do many Christians stress the importance of church? What’s so important about showing up to a building? Here are some reasons:

We’re called to have a gathering of the Saints – that’s what really is emphasized in Scripture versus the building itself – so when we talk about going TO church, and we’ll dive in more later, we’re really talking about the gathering of the saints.

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)

The Gospel Coalition says this: “The Apostle here rebukes the independent spirit. He rebukes those who are too self-reliant to acknowledge their need of the Christian community as well as those who are too proud to humble themselves in service to it.”

Fellowship. Fellowship with fellow believers is SO important and Scripture gives us a few reasons why. And fellowship can only happen in groups.

Exhortation & encouragement – building one another up, helping each other not sin, being there for confession and helping people fight against the condemnation of the devil, accountability, being able to speak life and have life spoken into you.

The Christian life without fellowship is not only lonely and difficult, it’s something God doesn’t want for His people because He knows the power of having others filled with the Spirit around you and on the flip side He knows the power of loneliness – of fighting the world, sin, the devil, of going through hard things alone.

“exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:12-13)

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

“But encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25b)

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24)

There is another beautiful thing about the body of Christ – simply being there for each other.

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
“If one member suffers, all suffer together.” (1 Corinthians 12:16a)
“If one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (1 Corinthians 12:16b)

Another reason to attend church is a really big one, as if the other reasons weren’t motivating enough – Exercising your spiritual gifts / and actually participating as your part in the body of Christ.

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” (Romans 12:6a)

We can only use our gifts with other people or uncover our gifts as we interact with others.

“So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Romans 12:5)
“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” (1 Corinthians 12:21-22)

And of course a huge reason is this – Being taught. This is huge thing that happens in church and is vital to our faith.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)

So this is why gathering of the saints is so important. And this is why virtual and church hopping doesn’t work.

If we stick to virtual church or don’t have a HOME church or a church with believers we know and can fellowship with – then we may be able to receive teaching forsure but we lose the ability to use our gifts WELL, we lose the ability to form real relationships with the body of Christ and trust and build up and be vulnerable with to be encouraged and exhorted and encourage and exhort.

We’re called to gather and God is wise in His ways and I think if we’re honest, we see the consequences of having the OPPOSITE of everything these verses say if we ignore gathering with the saints.

We find it harder to fight sin.
We go through life more alone.
We feel lonelier.
We don’t dive into our spiritual gifts.
We don’t feel encouraged and helped and exhorted.

But here are 2 things going to church doesn’t mean:

1) It’s not about the building. It doesn’t have to be a mega church or a building. For centuries and even today, Christians met in homes, in hidden places, in small groups. The point is gathering among the saints and also being taught.

2) From what we learned, if the point is being taught but ALSO gathering and having all those things with the saints (real fellowship, being able to encourage and be encouiraged and exhort and be exhorted which means we really have to know people to know how to do that for them and vice versa, to be able to pour our gifts to serve the body, and being exhorted to fight sin, encouraged in forgiveness) – the importance of attending church also doesn’t just mean going in and out and making no connection on a Sunday morning, sitting in the back and sneaking out, not talking with anyone. And I think OFTEN TIMES if we’re honest, the people who lean toward doing this are the ones who really don’t see the difference between GOING to church and doing it virtually or just listening to a podcast.

In all of this I think this is so important to say – there is NO legalism here.

We saw not just how important church is but also reasons of why we should WANT THIS. 

BUT does this mean we’re wrong if we miss a Sunday? I don’t believe there’s condemnation in Christ. There’s no command to not miss a service, this isn’t about hitting a check mark.
We’ve definitely hit a few virtual couch christian Sundays over the years. And if I’m being honest, we’ve hit seasons where I’ve been more involved and less involved and I FEEL it and I’m excited were pouring more into this area.

But this isn’t about a check mark – it’s about obedience to something God really prioritizes for His people.

So no condemnation if you miss a Sunday, but you know – if you’re making it a habit, you’ll feel those affects.

OKAY so we dove into the spiritual and I think it’s so cool to see how we see stats that back up the benefits of God’s ways. Here are some Stats about people who do gather for a religious service:

– Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Researchers found that people who attended weekly religious services or practiced daily prayer or meditation in their youth reported greater life satisfaction and positivity in their 20s.

– They also found that they were less likely to have depressive symptoms, smoke, use illicit drugs, or have a sexually transmitted infection—than people raised with less regular spiritual habits.

-They also found that people who attended religious services at least weekly in childhood and adolescence were approximately 18% more likely to report higher happiness as young adults (ages 23–30) than those who never attended services.

– They were also 29% more likely to volunteer in their communities and again with a more specific stat 33% less likely to use illicit drugs.

– Longitudinal studies indicate that attending religious services at least weekly is associated with 25% to 35% reduced mortality over 10 to 15 years.

SO – let’s take a step back, why people don’t go to church according? Let’s revisit those PEW research top reasons:

1) “I practice my faith in other ways”
2) Net dislike for congregation/religious services
3) “I haven’t found a church/house of worship I like”

Again, these reasons are based on feeling. And while I want to touch on them, we have to remember that IF God commands us to attend church, which we saw He does, then our feelings don’t trump that.

1) “I practice my faith in other ways.” This is something if I’m honest I never fully understood. I understand that people want to express what they believe how they want to BUT if you’re aligning with a faith or religion – whatever that is, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, then unless you abide by their ways, you’re not really actually participating or part of that faith or religion. Religions claim to be truth and so I can’t make up my own ways around them – or I can but then I can’t really identify with that religion. SO if this is our reason, we saw that God actually has a certain way for Christians to practice Christianity that aren’t open to whatever you’d rather do.

2) “There’s a net dislike for congregation / religious services.” This I see more commonly. Churches can feel boring, or long winded, maybe depending on the church it can feel disingenuous or too showy or superficial or hypocritical. And I think that can tie into what we will talk about regarding finding an actual SOLID Bible believing church. I think it also begs the thought of, again, our preferences and our feelings don’t usurp God’s command for how He wants believers to live out their faith.

3) “I haven’t found a church/house of worship I like.” Church hunting can be HARD, if you’ve moved to a new place or you need to find a new one – it can be hard to find one that fits what you like. But i do think it’s important we’re not prioritizing our preferences on MINOR issues over actually obeying God in this area of gathering with the saints. That doesn’t mean we can’t take the time to find a church we like and is solid, BUT let’s remember to not be too picky. And I don’t mean with core issues. We’ll dive in next but there are attributes of an actual SOLID church. But if you’re spending a long time finding a church you vibe with while passing on solid churches because of minor distastes and you eventually tap out of church altogether because none is perfect – you then end up missing out on what God says is so important. Gathering of the saints is more important than a our vibe and hitting every single (tertiary issue) check mark.

SO we’ve alluded to this question, but what makes a solid church? How do we know if the church we want to go to or do go to is a “good” church?

Some essentials:

– Seeing on their site what they believe
– That their services are Bible based teachings, not taking verses out of context. There are different preferences – topical or expository – just make sure they’re not cherry picking topics or pulling verses out of context. I personally go to a church that teaches expository teachings, BUT i know SOLID churches who are more topical. 
– Should include: prayer, worship, Bible teaching, fellowship

Some other good things:

– They church has evident LOVE. True followers of Christ are known by their love

– GOOD leadership – we’ve talked about this in our 1 Timothy Bible Study which you can find in past episodes or in our shop for the digital study. God has some requirements for leaders in the church because He cares about the leaders and the congregation. So leaders should be HONORABLE.

– I think too if there’s dishonorable actions among the leaders, a healthy sign of a church is actually being open to an extent about that and implementing church discipline in that area. I’ve seen that done and really respect that, although it’s literally commanded in the Bible, but that can be hard to do and doing that is a good sign of a church who wants to honor God.

– Has ministries that encourage that fellowship – small groups, groups geared towards, well, groups like maybe young adults or those in mourning, those who struggle with addiction, things like that

– seeing ministry or evangelism come out of that church – people in the congregation who want to start other churches, who want to get involved and serve, who bring others to church, things like that too. Basically that the congregation is led to and in turn does actually live in the ways God calls them to.

A church won’t be perfect, the best churches won’t be perfect. Even the churches around RIGHT after the death of resurrection of Jesus that began by the apostles weren’t perfect and had letters written to them. The church – its congregation and leaders, including you and me, is made up of human sinners. So it’s important to have grace and again not expect perfection. But you can expect and should make sure your church is centered on the Bible, on the Gospel and has worship, prayer, teaching, fellowship & good leaders.