Why Aren’t Christians Going to Church?

What’s the real reason?

In my previous blog, we discussed how the Church according to scripture was designed and intended for the building up of the body of Christ. In other words, we concluded that the Bible is clear that the gathering of believers has been intended for just that, believers. With that being said, if we know who should be attending church, the next important question that needs to be addressed makes itself quite clear. ‘Why aren’t Christians going to church?’ If the gathering of believers is made for believers, then why aren’t more and more professing believers attending? According to the Pew Research Center, the number one reason with over 40% of the vote that Christians give for not going to church is because they practice their faith in other ways. 

Is the Bible clear on this?

Right off the bat, this reason should frustrate Bible-believing Christians because we know from the book of Hebrews that the reason we go to church is to grow as the body of Christ, not just practice our faith. Hebrews 10:23-25 clearly states, “23 Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” So many believers like to cut this passage off at verse 24 and say, “I’m good! I love people and do good deeds outside of the church therefore, I don’t really need to attend.” However, we must read this passage in its entirety and see what the author of Hebrews is actually getting at here. Yes, we should love others and do good deeds outside of the church, but just as verse 25 states, we can’t forsake meeting together just because we do these things. We must continue to meet with believers to encourage each other through the Word of God, just as they did at the beginning of the church in Acts chapter 2.

Perhaps no one explains this better than Warren Wiersbe in his Bible exposition commentary. Dr. Wiersbe notes, “Fellowship with God must never become selfish. We must also fellowship with other Christians in the local assembly. It is interesting to note that the emphasis here is not on what a believer gets from the assembly, but rather on what he can contribute to the assembly. Faithfulness in church attendance encourages others and provokes them to love and good works.” The idea of going to church can become very selfish and boring when we simply look at it as a way of just practicing faith. The gathering of believers, while although is meant for our growth as Christians, is not just limited to this one concept. Acts 2:42 again says, “42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Just like in Hebrews chapter 10, we like to cherry-pick this passage and pick things that we can accomplish outside of the church and use them as reasons to not attend. Yet, right in the middle here we see the word ‘fellowship’. When we look at the original meaning of this word back in its basic Greek translation, we find that the word ‘fellowship’ means to contribute and participate. 

The buck stops here…

This is where a vast majority of the non-churchgoers arguments are put to rest. Indeed, we can love people, do good, learn about the bible, pray, and even encourage each other outside of the church, but when we follow the instruction of Hebrews chapter 10 and Acts chapter 2, we will find ourselves meeting together with others who contribute and participate in the body of Christ. For whatever reason, (that we may dive into deeper in a later blog post) God has ordained the church assembly to be a place where we don’t just practice our faith, but where we can gather with others who contribute and participate as a body of believers. This is why we cannot just find a group of people who we love, and who we know love us and think it is an equal substitute for the gathering of believers. It is just like our fallen, human nature to want to find any other option besides what God has instructed, especially when it comes to the relationships that we build and the way we spend our time. Yet, despite how much we may not want to be a part of something that we view as non-essential, the fact that God’s Word holds this gathering in such high regard should be enough for us to place it as a priority in our lives as well. We must find a group of Christ followers who are dedicated to the teaching of God’s Word, who we are willing to break bread and pray with, and who are contributors to the same body that we are. Until we find that group, no supplement for the gathering of believers will suffice. 

The Goal

So, while it is an overall win that we practice our faith outside of the church gathering, we can’t just pretend that this is an adequate fill-in for what God has intended the Church to be. By no means am I saying that the church is perfect, that your reason for not attending is not valid, or even that you should just forget about the hurt that the Church may have caused you. As a matter of fact, we’re addressing this very idea in next week’s blog post. This is just a humble plea to my brothers and sisters in Christ who may have never gone to a church or who have walked away from the Church, to come home and be contributors and participants to the gathering that God has designed you for. When this is accomplished, maybe one day believers can stop sharing why they don’t go to church, and they’ll start asking why they didn’t start going sooner. 

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Sources

[1] “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.Com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., www.biblegateway.com/. Accessed 2023. 

[2] Pew Research Center 2018, Pew Research Center, accessed 3 June 2020 <https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/08/01/why-americans-go-to-religious-services/>

[3] Wiersbe, Warren. The Bible Exposition Commentary New Testament Volume II Ephesians – Revelation. Colorado Springs, David Cook, 2008