To church or not to church (that can’t be the question)

Church attendance is dropping in America, and it has been for some time now. This concerns me, and not just because I like to have people to talk to and pray with when I do the pastor thing, but also because I see so many other things trending up while attendance is trending down.

Anxiety.
Depression.
Anger.
Apathy.
Fear.
Social media snarkiness.

I’m not positive that last one is a real word because it has a red squiggly line under it in my word processor, but I’m using it because there seems to be an increase in the number of snarky posts on multiple social media platforms and snarky posts by snarky people equals snarkiness. And snarkiness stinks, especially when church people are the snarkiest.

Rant over, let’s get back on topic.

I guess if I could make 2 points today, they would be these:

First, church attendance doesn’t make us Christians, but it can make us stronger Christians. We need one another, and apparently the smart people who wrote the Bible knew this because they included a lot of verses about one anothering that can only happen when we’re, well, together.

Second, that list of things that I made earlier don’t disappear just because we attend worship services regularly, but worshipping regularly with other believers sure can change the way we see those things because being in a church service reminds me that God is bigger than that list and also that I’m not alone in that list.

Sure, it’s a lot less messy to love Jesus and leave people out of it. I get it. I really do. But so often I find that it’s only when I worship God surrounded by others who are worshipping God that I am reminded of His great love — a love that came for all of us.

A group of people regularly gathered together with that type of love in common may not change the trends, but they can change the world.

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