Why Attend Church?
Why attend church? There are many reasons why there is no commitment to church like there used to be, and you may have some of your own. However, there are some biblical reasons to reconsider if you are not attending church or only attending as a spectator. A significant reason is that if you are a follower of Jesus, you want to love what He loves. And Jesus loves the church.
God’s design is that you live your life in a family, in His church, and in the world. So, may the Spirit of God give you an understanding of the church’s necessity, relevance, and importance as we look at God’s Word. First, as a matter of interest, the word church is Ekklesia, defined as “an assembly” or “called out ones.” And those who followed Jesus were first called Christians at Antioch. (Acts 11:20-21, 26)
After Peter declared that He was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, Jesus affirmed the importance of the church.
On this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:18
Jesus continues to build His church with each person who believes in Him as Savior and Lord and has the Spirit of God as evidence.
Attend Church Because God Established It
All true believers make up the universal church, but the local church is where they worship, fellowship, and hear the Word of God taught. Also, the church is where God ministers to others through the spiritual gifts He gives to believers.
Significantly, the earliest believers assembled in the name of Jesus for teaching, fellowship, prayer, and worship. Therefore, most of the New Testament was written to churches, emphasizing the local church’s God-ordained importance. So how about you? Are you devoted to meeting together with your brothers and sisters in Christ?
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42, 46-47
Attend Church to be Encouraged in Your Faith
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25
God knows that we need each other, and even more so as anti-Christian forces grow more powerful. And the truth is that we are stronger for Christ together than by ourselves. Also, because we are prone to sin and unbelief, it is essential to remain in fellowship with other believers to encourage and be encouraged. Unfortunately, neither can happen if you do not attend church regularly.
The Lesson: You will never reach maturity in Christ living to please yourself. For this reason, God provided the church where believers learn to please God by loving one another.
A Reflection: The church is of supreme importance to Jesus. So then, can you say that He is pleased when it is not essential to you? Therefore, ask God to rekindle your desire to attend and participate in a local church.
Attend Church Because It Is the Body of Christ
The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-24
Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Yet, He willingly died on the cross for the sins of all humanity and rose from the dead. Because Jesus wanted believers to remember His death and resurrection, He gave the church the sacraments of baptism and communion. So then, as the body of Christ, the church testifies of Jesus’ death and resurrection to the world.
God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. Ephesians 1:22
The head of the church is Jesus Christ, and the church is to function as His visible body in the world. And this is yet another reason that church attendance is important
No one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. Ephesians 5:29-30
Jesus sees the church in all her weaknesses and failures, yet He loves her as His own body and seeks her good. With this in mind, is it possible to neglect Christ’s body, the church, and claim to love what Jesus loves?
Attend Church and Use Your Spiritual Gifts
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10
Jesus gives every believer at least one spiritual gift to build up His church. So, one of the reasons the church body does not function properly is because individual members neglect to use their spiritual gift(s). Instead, they choose to be spectators.
God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. 1 Corinthians 12:18
When a church functions correctly, it is because individual members use their spiritual gifts to be the hands and feet of Jesus. However, when enough believers ignore God’s call to serve Him in the body of Christ, they contribute to the decline of the church.
Lesson: Jesus is the head of the church, and the church is His visible body. And because the Holy Spirit gives every believer at least one spiritual gift to build up other believers, He does expect you to use it.
Reflection: Ask Jesus how He wants to use the spiritual gift(s) He has given you to minister to others in the church body.
The Church is the Bride of Christ
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:2-3
Jesus loves the church because He sacrificed Himself for her. So, do you think He expects any less from you and me? But, when you are too busy for spiritual things, your love for Christ cools, and your life in this world takes priority. As a result, when enough members decide that church is optional, the body of Christ suffers, and this grieves the Spirit of God.
For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Revelation 19:7
Jesus is the Lamb of God, and His bride is the church. For this reason, believers make themselves ready to live with Jesus in heaven by doing God’s will by faith on earth. Therefore, ask God to help you love the church as Christ loves the church.
Lesson: One day, Jesus Christ will send His angels to gather His elect, the church, to live in union with Him forever.
Reflection: Are you prepared to live in heaven with those in the body of Christ? If not, what steps will you take now to be ready?
Attend Church Because It Is the Family of God
We are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22
Is your attitude toward the church preventing God’s will for you to be in community with other believers? If so, confess it as sin to God, and ask Him to lead you back to church. And it is essential to do this. Because when you join together under the lordship of Jesus Christ, the church has the power to overcome darkness and advance God’s kingdom.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:9-10
So, to do good to the family of believers, it is essential to have regular fellowship to know people well enough to meet their needs.
Serve one another in love. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 5:13, 6:2
God’s command shows that Christians have special responsibilities toward other believers in the church family. Therefore, if you are not learning to love God by serving your brothers and sisters in Christ, you will be ineffective anywhere else. Are you fulfilling the law of Christ, the law of love, in a local church?
Attend Church and Learn How to Love Others
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7
Imperfect believers in Jesus make up the church, so each one contributes to the church’s imperfections. So, when you destructively complain about the church, you truly judge yourself. Therefore, before condemning the church, humbly ask God to search for sin in your own heart first. Then speak the truth in love and accept one another.
Lesson: Believers are to love God and do good to everyone, but especially to those in the family of God.
Reflection: Have you been hurt or disappointed by people in the church? First, ask Jesus, the head of the church, to enable you to forgive others as Jesus forgave you. Then, ask Jesus to heal and restore you so that His desires will be your desires.
Attend Church to Minister to Others
As you come to Him, the living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him, you, also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5
Believers are ministers in the church of the living God by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in them. Because Christ is the foundation and cornerstone of the church, each believer is a living stone who sacrificially serves God. And by faith, they minister to others through Jesus Christ with full access to His throne of grace.
Lesson: Every believer who follows Jesus Christ is a priest who serves God and others in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Reflection: You have a part in the priesthood of the believer with direct access to God through Jesus Christ, the great High Priest. And when you have Jesus, you have everything you need to serve Him and minister to others in the church.
Reasons to Attend Church
Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church
Christ is the head of the body, the church, of which He is the Savior. Ephesians 5:23
The Church is Christ’s Body
In Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:5
The Church is the Household of God
You will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:15
The Church is God’s Family
Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Hebrews 13:1
The Church is God’s Flock
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His blood. Acts 20:28
The Church is the Bride of Christ
The wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Revelation 19:7
Attend Church Because Jesus Loves the Church
If the church is so important to Jesus, shouldn’t it be important to you? The church is the single most important institution on earth through which God advances His Kingdom. So then, Christian organizations should never replace the church for your service and tithe money. When the church is united, it is a powerful witness of the love of God to one another and the world. So, no wonder Satan and His minions attack it so fiercely.
If you have stopped attending church or attend church only as a spectator, I hope that the Spirit of God has shown you that neither choice is God’s will for you. Therefore, prayerfully ask God to lead you to a church committed to teaching and applying the Bible, the Word of God. And then serve your brothers and sisters in Christ by using the spiritual gifts God gave you.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
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Bible study for “Why Attend Church?”
Week 1: Matthew 6:18-21, 24; 16:13-19, 24-27; 18:15-20; 28:16-20; Luke 11:27-28; John 13:34; 17:20-26; Acts 2:36-47; 4:31-37; 6:1-7; 8:1-4; 9:31; 11:19-26; 12:1-1-17; 13:1-3; 14:21-28; 15:22-35; 18:22-23; 20:17-21, 28-32; Romans 1:7-12; 12:1-18; 14:10-13; 15:5-7; 16:1-16
Week 2: 1 Corinthians 1:1-10; 3:1-3, 9, 14-17; 6:19-20; 10:16-17, 31-33; 11:17-34; 12:12-31; 14:1-5, 12, 23-28, 33; 15:9, 58; 16:1-2, 19-20; 2 Corinthians 1:1-2; 9:6-15; 11:2-3; 13:11-14; Galatians 1:1-5; 5:13-16; 6:1-2, 9-10; Ephesians 1:1-2, 15-16, 18, 22-23; 2:8-10, 17-22; 3:10-12, 14-21; 4:1-16, 22-25, 29-32; 5:15-33; 6:7-8, 17-18
Week 3: Philippians 1:1-6; 2:1-5, 12-13; Colossians 1:1-4, 15-20, 24-25; 2:18-19; 3:12-17; 4:14-17; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3; 2:13-15; 5:12-28; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5; 1 Timothy 3:1-15; 5:1-8, 16-22; 6:17-19; Titus 1:5-9; Philemon 1-3; Hebrews 3:12-15; 10:23-25; 12:14-15, 22-29; 13:1, 7-8, 15-17, 20-25
Week 4: James 5:13-20; 1 Peter 1:1-2; 2:4-6, 9-10, 16-17; 4:7-11; 5:1-9, 14; 2 Peter 1:1-3; 1 John 1:3; 2:3-6, 9-17, 28-29; 4:7-13; 2 John 1-6, 9; 3 John 4-14; Jude 1-4, 17-21, 24-25; Revelation 1:4-6, 9-20; 2:1-29; 3:1-22; 5:10; 19:6-9; 22:16-17, 20-21
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Am blessed with this writing i find the information more appealing to all Christians to do the will of God and his son Jesus Christ our Lord.
So insightful.
God bless your Ministry.
To God be the glory ,Amen
Thank you, Gordon. I am glad the Word of God blessed you.
Thank you for your very well thought through discussion about “why attend church regularly,” Suzanne! I personally resonate with all your points and am in agreement. Thank you, again, for presenting your thoughts on this to us!
Thank you, Janice. I pray that God enables me to present His Word clearly so there will be a response of the heart.