Everywhere you look, the statistics for Church attendance seem grim. Across North America, fewer and fewer people are heading to God's House every weekend. Part of this can be attributed to the natural movement of our society, the unfortunate trends that have been in place for the past few decades.
However, there is another demographic that is inflating that number: Christians how no longer believe attending church every week is a necessary part of Christian life.
There are a number of reasons people give as to why they don't feel like they need to regularly, or ever, attend church but still feel secure in their walk with God. Some of them are practical, work schedules (another unfortunate modern trend), scarce time available, and so on. Others are more elaborate. They tend to focus on criticisms of the church. These complaints run the gamut from concerns that the message or topics of the weekly sermons just don't connect with them, or that there is too much "hypocrisy” among the congregation, or pettiness.
In some circles, it's even worn as a badge of honour. A way to seem sophisticated and cerebral about faith and modern Christendom. "Oh no, I don't go to church regularly anymore. I just think there is too much baggage with organized religion, so I follow my own path.”
It's true. The most important thing is your personal walk with God, that will never change. But writing off the importance and value of the church is a grave mistake that will, inevitably, damage your relationship with God.
Much of the problem lies in perception and overblown expectations. If going to church seems like such a tiring chore that you just can't bear for another hour and change out of your week, the problem might not be with your church. If as a Christian, you can't put yourself aside for one small chunk of time out of one day of the week, then maybe you need to take a look at your personal walk with Christ again. Is it really that the church is so bad that it is an obstacle to your walk with God, or do you just feel like sleeping in a bit on the weekend.
Please know this isn't coming from a judgmental place. We might not admit it, but every church going Christian occasionally grapples with the allure of warm blankets on a cold morning, fights against the ache in their bones and the desire for a lazy morning on the couch. But, we also find the strength to do what we know we should be doing in our hearts (most of the time, anyway).
It may be true (in fact it may be likely) that your church doesn't live up to your ideal vision of it. Congregations can be hypocritical, they can be judgmental, they can be petty. Of course they can be, as well-meaning as any congregation is, its always going to a collection of flawed, imperfect people. They're never going to live up to our expectations completely.
Avoiding them, abandoning the church, because they are flawed is its own kind of failing, just as hypocritical as anything else. We need to come together to overcome our individual failures. If your church isn't living up to your ideal vision of what a church should be, that isn't a reason to avoid it, it's a reason to attend, to do your part to make it better. To make it what you believe it can be.
It's true, a person can be a Christian without going to church. The two ideas are not mutually exclusive and what is most important is your personal, internal relationship with God.
That said, it's a lot easier to grow that relationship with God when you have the stable foundation and mooring of a church. Just like a person can trek up the side of a mountain, build a cabin out of fallen timber and thatching, find their meals through foraging, and live out their life, you can be a Christian without going to church, it's just very, very difficult.
Going to Church is an important part of your spiritual nourishment. Even if the sermons aren't always electrifying and the parishioners sometimes less than perfect, there is still value in sharing in the truth of the Lord with your fellow Christian brothers and sisters. When more than one of us is gathered, the Spirit of the Lord moves with us. This is something you can't get on your own no matter how many devotionals you read or biblical podcasts you subscribe to.
Our ability to gather isn't just good for our individual growth, it's an important part of spreading God's love throughout our communities. The simple fact is we can't accomplish as much on our own as we can in a group. You can be devoted, charitable, and bold in your outreach, but it will never equal up to what can be accomplished when you organize with your fellow Christians, when you band together to share the load. Walking away from the church is, in part, walking away from our responsibility to do good works as Christians.
It's not always perfect, but Church is, and always will be, important.
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