Church attendance in America is steadily declining. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, only thirty-six percent of professing Christians attend a local church at least once a week. Only forty-six percent attend at least once a month. This means that over half of those who claim to be Christian in this country never attend church or only attend a few times a year—probably on Christmas, Easter, and other special occasions.[1]
There are many reasons why someone may have stopped attending church over the past few years. Perhaps after the COVID-19 pandemic, they didn’t see a need to return to an in-person gathering when they can just watch the services online. Maybe they’ve fallen prey to the deconstruction movement and are rethinking what they believe about God and the Bible. Or it’s possible that the rise of sexual abuse allegations against pastors and other church leaders have convinced them that the church is a broken system that can’t be repaired.
However, the truth is that Christians need the Church. God created human beings for community, and we’re not meant to do life alone (Genesis 2:18). Christians are commanded to gather with a local body of believers because we need the help and encouragement they can provide as we continue in our faith journey (Hebrews 10:24-25). The Church is our community, and as our community, we have a role to play in it. As the Church, we are to welcome one another, grow one another, and serve one another.
Welcome One Another
I’m no stranger to visiting new churches. After attending the same church for nearly my entire life, I moved three years ago and had to find a new church community to join. The city I now live in is filled with churches, so I spent many months visiting different congregations and deciding which one would be the best fit for me. There were many things I considered while searching for a new church, and one of those considerations was how welcoming the people were.
The Church is to be marked by love. Christ has loved us with an unconditional, sacrificial, everlasting love, and we’re to love fellow believers with that same kind of love (John 13:34). This means that we’re to show hospitality to others, welcoming them into our community, even if they’re different from us (Galatians 6:2). This means that we’re to be kind to those who aren’t necessarily kind back and forgive them when they sin against us (Ephesians 4:32). And when someone walks into church with some burden weighing down on them, we, as the Church, must walk with them and bear their burdens as much as we can-
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2, ESV
Grow One Another
Throughout my church search, I saw many things that were red flags, warning me to not join that community. One of these was an erroneous view of love. Like I said earlier, the Church is to be marked by love, but many churches across America have an incorrect definition of what love is. They view love as total acceptance and affirmation, so when they teach that “God is love” or “God loves you,” they go on to explain that God totally accepts you and affirms you for who you are. God is love and God does love us, and because of that, He calls us to repent of our sinful ways.
Repentance may not seem like a beautiful thing, but it is beautiful to see a body of believers who trust each other enough to be transparent about the sins they struggle with and be vulnerable enough to ask for prayer (James 5:16). This is what the church is for – to gather like-minded, Christ-centered people to help each other, encourage each other, and build each other up in their Christian walk (1 Thessalonians 5:11). When we hear of others’ sins, we’re not to judge them or become puffed up with pride that we don’t sin in that way. Instead, we’re to humbly acknowledge that we’re just as sinful as they are, do what we can to help them avoid continued sin, and live in harmony with them (Romans 12:16, 14:13). As we continue to gather together week after week, we are able to teach and correct each other with the Word of God and grow in our faith-
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16
Serve One Another
One thing that I believe every churchgoer struggles with at one point or another is getting too comfortable. I know I’ve struggled with this! It’s easy to walk in on a Sunday morning, sit on the pew, sing some songs and listen to a message, and leave without thinking about the Church again until the next Sunday. But we’re made for more. We’re not meant to, as a previous pastor of mine put it, “sit, soak, and sour.” We’re meant to serve.
Prior to Christ’s death and resurrection, the people of God had to follow every jot and tittle of the Law and make sacrifices for when they failed to do so. When Christ came to save us, He redeemed us from all our sins and freed us from our slavery to the Law (Romans 8:2). But this new freedom does not mean we can just do whatever we want. We are free so we can serve our brothers and sisters in Christ (Galatians 5:13). Therefore, we ought to exhort one another to serve the Lord and those around us with the gifts, skills, and talents we’ve been blessed with (Hebrews 3:13). And our local church is not the only place we can serve. We can and should also show the love of Christ and do good works in our homes, schools, communities, workplaces, and abroad-
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,” Hebrews 10:24
Come
The Church is certainly not perfect. It’s composed of flawed, broken, sinful human beings who can harm us and betray us. Perhaps you’ve attended unwelcoming churches who don’t seem to love anyone who looks or acts a little differently than they do. Perhaps you’ve been a part of congregations that never push you to grow in your faith. Perhaps you’ve joined communities that don’t allow you to serve. Perhaps your faith questions have been dismissed and unanswered by teachers and leaders. Perhaps you’ve been involved in some church scandal. However the local church has hurt you, do not give up on the Church at large. We are the Church, the people of God, and we need the Christian community of the local church. As author Megan Hill writes,
“God never intended that his people be isolated individuals.”[2]
It is up to us to help our local churches become more Christ-honoring. We must welcome one another into the body of believers, demonstrating what it means to love like Christ. We must grow one another, keeping each other accountable and teaching what is true. And we must serve one another with the freedom and the gifts that God has given us. It is only when we do this that the Church can be what it was meant to be, how God created it to be. If you’ve been gone from the local church, give it another chance and join your fellow brothers and sisters for worship and fellowship.
“Come. This is where you belong.”[3]
[1] Gregory A. Smith, “About Three-in-Ten U.S. Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated,” last modified December 14, 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/.
[2] Megan Hill, A Place to Belong: Learning to Love the Local Church (Wheaton: Crossway, 2020, 104.
[3] Ibid., 140.
