Why Church Attendance Matters

 

Hebrews 10.25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (NIV). I don’t know about you, but when I read that verse, I only think one thing: I NEED TO GO TO CHURCH. When a verse is that literal and that direct, it’s hard to weasel your way out of it, and I’m here to tell you that you need to go to church too. 

It was ingrained in me from day one by my parents that we were a church-going family. We hardly ever missed a service, and we were always very actively involved in whatever the church had going on, so as I grew up and moved out it never occurred to me not to go to church, so this is almost a foreign concept for me. However, as that verse in Hebrews says, it is the habit of some people to not regularly attend church. And to be fair, there are a thousand different reasons why this could be true. Maybe they didn’t grow up going to church, or they have really busy lives, but one thing that is clear in Scripture is that attending church matters. It isn’t something to just do when you feel like it or when it’s convenient. Church attendance is not only commanded, it is vital to your spiritual health and the spiritual health of the church.

The Bible describes the church as the body of Christ. When members of that body aren’t attending church, the body isn’t whole. When you aren’t at church, you could be depriving someone else of spiritual growth. Isn’t that crazy to think about? Every believer has something to contribute to the body of Christ, and your involvement matters. Therefore, your attendance matters. We tend to approach church with a consumer mindset, trying to think about what we gain out of the service, but the reality is actually the opposite. We should think about church in terms of what we can contribute, and how we can benefit the other members of the church, building the body and advancing God’s Kingdom as we work together. 

Not only are you depriving yourself and the church spiritually when you don’t attend church, but you are also missing out on the greatest community that will ever exist. Next time you are at church I challenge you to look around and take stock of the people in the sanctuary with you. What else (or who else) but Jesus would bring this specific group of people together? The answer is nothing. Nothing and no one but Jesus could bring the church together, and that makes it a supernatural community that is truly something special to be a part of. When you aren’t there, you are missing out on being a part of the most incredible gathering of people to ever exist. 

So, in summary. . . DON’T MISS CHURCH! Make it a priority in your life. Between the benefit for yourself and others spiritually, and the incredible experience of the church community, there really isn’t a reason to miss church anyway, but if those aren’t reasons enough, just remember Hebrews 10.25, and don’t neglect meeting together. Church attendance matters, and you should be there.