by Jarred McCrary<\/p>\n
Available data indicate a decline in church attendance nationwide – a trend that has accelerated significantly in recent years. One writer described the rate of attendance as dropping like a cannonball in a pie filling. In case you’re wondering, that’s not a good thing. People need church, and by “people” I mean all people. By “needing church,” I mean that people need the benefits of attending church regularly.<\/p>\n
Let me offer you a few reasons why:<\/p>\n
If we are to hunger for righteousness (Matthew 5:6), it’s imperative that we consume the right things, and the church is meant to be instrumental in providing us with that diet. In Ephesians 4, for instance (Ephesians 4:11-16), there are evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip saints for the work of service, to build up the body of Christ, and to help us achieve knowledge, maturity, and stability. Paul told Timothy, a young evangelist working among local churches, to be constantly nourished on the words of faith and of sound doctrine, and to prescribe and teach those things to others (I Timothy 4:6-11). Church should not be the extent of our spiritual diet, but it’s certainly meant to play a vital role in it.<\/p>\n
By God’s design, there are built-in safeguards in the church. Shepherds are there to watch over our souls (Hebrews 13:17). That’s not the only defense, though. In Galatians 6:1-2, Paul writes, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ<\/em>.” Good people sometimes lose their spiritual bearings, and they need “spiritual” people pulling them back in the right direction. Being in the church should mean that no one falls through the cracks. No one veers off the path unnoticed. No one has to carry a burden alone. Accountability means there’s always someone to challenge your thinking and behavior. You need a church.<\/p>\n Faith is challenging, and it’s difficult for various reasons. Sometimes, the daily grind and stresses of life pile up, and things get overwhelming. If we’re not careful, that can challenge our faithfulness. Sometimes faith is hard because the fight to not conform to the world gets tough. Sin gets hard to resist. Satan just doesn’t take breaks. In a world with that kind of pressure, we need the church. We need a shot in the arm. We need the regular reprieve from the world. We need the time to unplug from the noise and re-center our minds on the eternal. Church has a way of stirring us. Maybe it’s in the songs we sing, or in the message, or in the conversations we have. It may even come just by way of seeing other people – other people in the same stage of life, fighting the same battles. Or maybe it’s people who are aging, or dealing with health issues or major setbacks, yet they still come to church. Seeing the faith of others has a way of bolstering our own faith. The writer of Hebrews seems to point to that:<\/p>\n “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near<\/em>” (Hebrews 10:23-25).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You need a church.<\/p>\n You need it for the diet, for the accountability, and for the stirring.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Jarred McCrary Available data indicate a decline in church attendance nationwide – a trend that has accelerated significantly in recent years. One writer described the rate of attendance as dropping like a cannonball in a pie filling. In case you’re wondering, that’s not a good thing. People need church, and by “people” I mean…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[356,448],"class_list":["post-89577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-attendance","tag-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18923,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christians-without-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":89577,"position":0},"title":"Christians Without Churches?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry Over the past few years, a trend has increased among people, especially Americans: the idea that people can be good Christians without being part of a church. Many people will recognize that Jesus is the Messiah and Lord, but yet want nothing to do with any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/East-Orange-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18352,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-poor-attendance-actually-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":89577,"position":1},"title":"Is poor attendance actually a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother, I was edified by what I read in this article:\u00a0Telling Members They are Sinning in Deliberately Missing Church. Bob does a good job listing some of the excuses some brethren use to justify missing church assemblies. He shows that those who rely on these excuses reveal carnality and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18106,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-return-to-a-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":89577,"position":2},"title":"What do I need to do to return to a congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, I have not been attending church services regularly for about two years. I'm a baptized believer and had been attending a church of Christ. My reasons for not going were due to a lot of different things, but these don't excuse my absence. I've recently started going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45788,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-go-to-a-biblical-church-but-my-parents-wont-let-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":89577,"position":3},"title":"I want to go to a biblical church, but my parents won’t let me","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I wanted to ask how will I be able to go to a biblical church? My parents have always gone to a Catholic church, which doesn't follow the biblical teachings (infant baptism, the worship of Mary and saints, saying that good works are the way to be saved,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sin-of-small-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":89577,"position":4},"title":"The Sin of Small Churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Thomas It is not uncommon for people to measure a church's success solely by the numbers it has in attendance. One of the first things I am asked when people learn I am a preacher is how big the church is where I attend. They will then use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/attendance\/","url_meta":{"origin":89577,"position":5},"title":"Attendance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall \"Attendance\" is a biblical topic (Hebrews 10:25), but how we approach attendance is not always biblical! I have visited congregations where Sunday morning attendance was almost matched on Sunday nights. Usually, these are smaller groups. However, I have also seen larger groups that were very impressive.\u00a0On the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}You need a church for the stirring.<\/h2>\n