There is no doubt we live in a busy world - there are so many
things to do and so little time to do them in! For many families, worship is not a priority and sadly, they are the ones who suffer unaware
for a while. I always enjoy Trevin Wax’s blog and he posted something that both pastors and church members should remember when looking at our life and
examining our faithfulness to worship.
Are You a Part-Time Churchgoer? You
May Be Surprised
Geoff and Christine are
thirty-something churchgoers who love Jesus and love their three kids. They
consider themselves faithful members of New Life Community Church.
Their oldest is about to be in the
youth group, and their youngest is finally out of diapers. Christine has been
involved in the kids’ ministry through the years. Geoff is a deacon.
But they are part-timers when it
comes to church attendance, and they never set out to be.
They are not alone.
Recent statistics show
that an increasing number of evangelicals who are firm in their faith are
flabby in their practice of actually gathering with their brothers and sisters
in worship. It’s the part-time syndrome, and it can sneak up on any of us.
Let’s go back to Geoff and
Christine. There are 52 Sundays a year, and last year, they attended a worship
gathering on 28 of those Sundays. (That’s an average of about twice a month.)
What happened?
•
Vacation: To maximize his allotted days, Geoff took the
family to the mountains during the kids’ spring break, stretching over two
weekends (one of which happened to be Easter!). There was the summer beach
vacation, another stretch of a week and two weekends, and then a fall getaway.
Total = 5 Sundays.
•
Sports: Their oldest son is on a travel soccer team. Many
of the games are on weekends, and they believe it would be a better testimony
to be among unbelievers on Sunday mornings rather than let down the team. Total
= 9 Sundays.
•
Sickness: With their youngest child going to preschool, the
family seems more susceptible to illnesses than before, and sickness always
seems to hit on the weekends. Total = 3 Sundays.
•
Guest Preacher: When Pastor Jon is out of town, Geoff and Christine
usually take the weekend off. They never like the guest speaker as much as
Pastor Jon. Total = 3 Sundays.
•
Visiting In-Laws: Christine’s parents come twice a year to spend the
weekend with the family. To maximize their time, they usually spend the
weekends catching up and doing some shopping. Total = 2 Sundays.
•
Holiday: Thanksgiving weekend, and the week in between
Christmas and New Year’s, the family is traveling. Total = 2 Sundays.
Geoff and Christine may be a
fictional couple, but their situation is true for many of us. Recently, a
church leader told me their most faithful attendees are only in church 2-3
times a month. They basically expect churchgoers to be “hit or miss”
every week.
Danger #1 – Guilt You Into Going
Now, there are two wrong ways
church leaders might address this issue. The first is to go all Hebrews 10 on
everyone and emphasize the importance of the worship gathering, so as to whip
people into shape and guilt them into church attendance. Sorry, but this isn’t
a gospel-centered approach.
We should never take the command of
Hebrews 10 about neglecting the church and isolate it from the preceding verses
(about the privilege of coming before God in a community of faith that holds to
a confession of hope). That’s giving the imperative (“Go to church!”) without
the indicative (“You are welcomed into the throne room of grace with your
family in Christ.”).
This approach also stresses church
as a place we go, rather than church as the people with whom we
gather. It reinforces the idea that the church is a building and leads people
to think holiness happens by being present every week.
Lastly, this method could cause
people to have a checklist mentality, where we pat themselves on the back for
being in church 48 weeks a year, while neglecting other important matters –
like justice and love. Churchgoing isn’t necessarily a sign of spiritual
health. How many times do you think the Pharisees were absent from the temple?
Danger #2 – Avoid the Issue
The second danger is to be so
concerned with the first that we fail to address the imperative in Hebrews 10
at all. In doing so, we ignore the importance of the church as the family of
Christ, the people with whom we are to gather and hear the gospel.
Because of our strong distaste for
legalistic checklists, we might minimize the counterfeit gods that creep into
our lives and vie for our free time. In the desire to avoid legalism, we never
mention that a ball can become a Ba’al for some, or that leisure and comfort
can become idols that keep us from worshipping the true God with other
believers.
In an effort to not guilt people
into church attendance, we never make people aware of the fact that grace is
presented week after week. Guilt is the result of not going to church – not
because you feel bad for not living up to God’s expectations, but because
you’re not hearing the message of gospel grace pounded into you week after
week.
A renewed vision of worship
The best way to respond is not with
guilt or with a false grace, but with the reminder of the purpose of worship.
You aren’t there to fill up at the gas station (after all, you can get some
sort of spiritual sustenance by reading or listening to your preacher’s
podcasts apart from the body of Christ). This is a distorted view of the
purpose of gathering.
The author of Hebrews clues us in.
Being with your brothers and sisters is where you are able to stir one another
up to love and good deeds. It’s the place where the confession of hope is
celebrated and put before you and where you are urged to cling to it tightly.
It’s not the content you receive
every week that is so formative; it’s the act of being
together and making the Lord’s family your priority. It’s similar to a family
that gathers every evening for a meal. The value is not in the specifics of
your conversation, but the very act of demonstrating your love for each other.
We don’t go to
church because of guilt. We are the church because of grace.
That’s what Geoff and Christine,
along with you and I, need to remember.
