Why We Go to Church

Why We Go to Church
By Rhonda Stoppe

Maybe you don’t have issues with anyone at church; you’re just really busy on weekends doing other things––good things. Attending your kid’s soccer games, going on family getaways, and fixing stuff around the house are all “good things” but if they regularly take you away from church attendance, you would do well to realize you’re choosing the captivity of activity over what God says is more important. 

Going to church is not about getting your attendance gold star, nor is it about gaining God’s favor for the week because you assembled together with His people. Church is not a place to go, rather it is a living body where God wants you to become a part––for your good and His glory. Let’s look at why we should go to church––even when you don’t feel like it.

To Hear the Preaching of the Word

If the word of God is quick, powerful, and sharper than a sword (Hebrews 4:12), then hearing the preaching of Scripture is vital to your spiritual well-being. Watching preachers on TV is often how people justify giving up on church attendance.* They may be listening to good preaching (if they’re discerning), but without living in close fellowship with real people, one can never really experience the help and hope Christ offers His bride through faithful involvement in a local church. 

These days people are more accustomed to getting their information through entertainment, so sadly more and more preachers are replacing preaching with drama, skits, videos, etc.  While our culture craves entertainment, God never instructed His ministers to entertain the troops. Rather He commanded them to preach Truth with urgency. It is through the preaching of sound doctrine that the Word of God:

• Penetrates hearts and transforms lives
• Calls sinners to repentance 
• Encourages the downtrodden 
• Inspires the Lord’s servants to love and serve Christ
• Lights the way God would have you go

When facing certain death, the Apostle Paul revealed the importance of preaching with this final instruction to Timothy: “Preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2).