Most of us probably know “good people” that don’t attend church anywhere. Often these are the individuals that we have the most difficult time reaching out to. You know the type. You share your faith with them and they agree with everything you say. You encourage spiritual devotion in their lives and they respond with that they read their Bibles and pray on a pretty regular basis. You tell them your testimony and they reply that they too have been saved and even baptized. They seem to be on the same page as you no matter what aspect of Christianity you discuss – except for when you try and get them to come to church with you.
At that point it becomes clear that they are not on the same page as you. In fact, once this issue surfaces, even though it seemed up to that point that your opinions concerning faith were so much alike, it makes you wonder if you really have anything in common with them at all.
How is it that two people can agree that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, and yet at the same time maintain such different views of His church? While you may hold that church is an enriching, welcoming, friendly and even necessary part of the Christian life, they see it more as a nonessential, something that is far too wrapped up in the politics of “who’s who” in the religious community. They see it as invasive, legalistic, full of hypocrites and largely irrelevant to their lives. With this mindset it’s no wonder they don’t come.
So what are we to do with these people? How are we to respond? My advice would be to better understand and more directly apply the command of Scripture. In the passage of Scripture that most specifically addresses the issue of church attendance, the author of Hebrews says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:24-25 – ESV)
In these incredibly important verses we are not only given a command to meet together regularly as a body of believers, but we are also given a reason why we’re to do so – namely, to “…stir up one another to love and good works.” In other words, we are to faithfully attend church because God has given it to us as a means of grace whereby we as believers are given the strength that is necessary to live the Christian life.
It’s as simple as this, being an active member within a Bible-believing church provides you with the opportunity you need to truly live the Christian life. Not faithfully attending a Bible-believing church, however, robs you of this precious opportunity, and instead, because you’re out there trying to make it on your own (which is, in many ways, directly contrary to the biblical portrait of the Christian life), makes it virtually impossible to experience victorious Christianity.
