This week's "thought" comes to you from
Jerry Conklin and is found in Voice
Magazine, An Independent Church Journal.It expresses many of my own sentiments in regard to the purpose of the gathering of the saints, or what we might call "attending church" (and what that spiritual habit is meant to accomplish in the lives of God's people). Not all will agree with everything he says, nor with what I say in summary, but it does offer a needed word of caution. Enjoy.
Why Go To Church?
"I received a mailing
the other day, an advertisement for invitation cards to be used to invite
people "back to God and church." The mailing asked this
question in large, bold type: "Why Aren't People Going To Church?" It
drew attention to an alarming statistic" "Right now, fewer than 20%
of people in the United States regularly attend church." That's a
startling number, especially considering the fact that about 80% of Americans
identify themselves to be "Christian."
Why go to church?
It's a good question. Many go out of a sense of obligation. Parents, friends,
or relatives exercise some degree of influence and a person is led to dutifully
attend. That was my situation when as an adolescent my mom took me and my
siblings to the Catholic Church. I had no desire to be there -- I would
have rather been fishing with my dad -- but I went because she made me.
Some go to church because
they believe that going might somehow contribute to their favor with God and
entry into heaven. They have been led to mistakenly believe that salvation is
by being a good person and doing good works. "Good people go to heaven,"
they assume, and going to church is part of what makes a person a "good
person." Religious cults operate according to this way of thinking,
though many professing Christians think this way about church attendance as
well. However, going to church doesn't make a person a Christian any more than
going into a garage would make them a car.
In our day many churches
have responded to this trend of decreasing church attendance by attempting to
make church exciting, cool, and fun. They cite the need to be culturally
relevant. They cater music to the lost and endeavor to make church both
comfortable and non-demanding. Christ-less and cross-less "self-help"
messages are substituted for the teaching of sound doctrine (II Timothy 4:3).
The person and work of Christ are de-emphasized in an attempt to gain a hearing
with those who have little interest in such matters (I Corinthians 1:23).
Because so little attention is given to sound doctrine, or edification, these
churches remain anemic and self-serving. Sinners are content to attend week
after week without any conviction of sin.
The classic text on the
matter of fellow-shipping together is in Hebrews 10:25, which reminds us not to
be "forsaking the assembling together of ourselves." A part of
the answer to the question, "Why go to church?" is answered by the
context of the verse. The "assembling together" is for those who have
made a "confession of hope" (Hebrews 10:23). Of what confession is
the verse speaking? The confession of hope which accompanies one's faith
in Christ as Lord and Savior. The text is addressed to those who have already
trusted in Christ for salvation.
It has long been said that
the church gathers for edification and scatters for evangelism. This
statement represents a biblical perspective on the ministry of the local
church. The gathering of believers on Sundays (or any other occasion) is primarily for the purpose of the
edification (the building up) of the church. Though the church is commissioned
to share the Gospel, the primary purpose of the assembling together is not
evangelistic. That's not to say that it can't or won't happen. It is a good
thing when an unsaved person finds his way into the assembly of believers and
is saved as a result. But evangelism happens not as a result of the cultural
relevance of the church to the lost, but the God-relevance of the saved.
First Corinthians 14:24-25 speaks of the convicting influence on the unsaved of
God's presence in the midst of His people.
The church gathers for
edification (Heb. 10:24-25), and scatters for evangelism (Matt. 28:19-20). The
believers who make up a local church constitute a team of missionaries and
ambassadors for Christ, sent out to reach that particular community with the
Gospel. Every believer in Christ lives amidst a unique group of family members,
friends, neighbors, co-workers and/or classmates. To the extent that the
believer is growing, and walking with Christ, and deepening his understanding
of the Gospel (and his ability to share it) he is sovereignly and strategically
enabled and equipped to reach people that a church, pastor, or leaders could
never reach."
Obviously it is not wrong
to gear a worship service towards evangelistic proclamation and outreach.
Surely every church does it on occasion -- or
should! But to gear every service, every week, toward appealing
to the felt needs, musical tastes, and likes or dislikes of unbelievers, really evidences a much
deeper problem. It evidences a group of disciples that has stopped doing what
each one should be doing throughout the week -- seeking to reach the lost.
One of the reasons many
worship services have been habitually made the primary evangelistic outreach of
the week is because the people in that church have stopped reaching out
individually in their daily interactions. They have taken the responsibility
that Christ laid squarely on their shoulders to reach out to others one-on-one,
and have let the "church" do it for them. And in doing so they have
not only twisted the purpose of worship gatherings, they have lost out on the
blessing Paul speaks of In Philemon 1:6.
The answer to getting
people back to church is not
to make the worship service appealing to unbelievers, but to use
it (as was intended) to edify and mobilize all the believers in the church to
do what they should have been doing (should be doing) every week at every
opportunity they get: 1.) Speaking
the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
2.) Proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins to all people (Luke
24:47). 3.) Preaching the
kingdom and testifying to the Gospel of God's grace (Acts 20:24-25). 4.) Giving an answer to anyone who
asks a reason for the hope that is in us with meekness and respect (I Peter
3:15). 5.) Making disciples of all nations (Matthew
28:19-20).
The answer to the problem
of a diminishing church attendance is not to make our gatherings into what they
were never intended to be (gatherings so devoid of true heartfelt worship and
substantial truth that few are truly saved and the saints find it hard to be
challenged and grow), but gatherings that accomplish what God intended them to
be (time to thank praise and adore Him, and be edified, equipped and encouraged
from the Word in our faith as believers).
One man's take of the
purpose of the gathering of believers -- Pastor Jeff
