Reports and statistics have been telling us for a while that churches are emptying for various reasons. Some generations are fiercely loyal to an institution but they also age or die out. Other generations do not trust institutions and are repelled by organized church life. Some will say they are spiritual, with organized religion unnecessary. People are busy and Sunday has become Saturday, part two. We chase our work and children all week, follow them into weekend activities, and there’s still shopping and relaxation to fit in – no time for church. Churches have also strayed from the norms of Scripture. I’ve heard many say, “I didn’t leave the church; the church left me.”
The church is essential because God has consistently called his people to assemble throughout history, using terms like "assembly" and "congregation" in the Old Testament and "church" (meaning "called out ones") in the New Testament to describe this gathering. This assembly is fundamental for believers to meet with God, receive revelation, and respond in worship, a pattern evident from the Israelites at Sinai to the early Christian house churches. Historically, there has never been a "lone-ranger" believer, and even heaven is depicted as an eternal gathering of the resurrected in the presence of the Triune God.
Before the pandemic of 2020, some estimates showed church attendance in a 7% annual decline. During COVID, churches either closed or held virtual services for months. They were not considered essential and so could not gather. It has been five years since mandatory closures fell upon us and attendance statistics have not improved. Some churches closed permanently. Others have stayed connected virtually, making personal attendance optional and more uncommon. Happily, many churches who considered church and gathering as the people of God for worship to be an essential function of life are thriving.
Take a walk through the Scriptures and see why the church is essential. God uses two main words in the Bible to speak of his people. In the Old Testament, “assembly” and “congregation” are used . “Called out ones” is the meaning of the New Testament word “church”. Stretching back to the Israelites in the wilderness, God called them to assemble in his presence at Sinai that they might receive revelation and respond in worship. This pattern follows in the laws, psalms, prophets, and wisdom books. After Israel returned from exile to rebuild destroyed Jerusalem, they first established a temple foundation, a place to meet with God. When we land in the Gospels and Acts, followers of God gather in synagogues (a “together” word). When the apostles went out from Jerusalem to reach the world for Christ, they often went to the synagogues to preach Christ from the Old Testament. They were continuing Jesus’s work of building his church by preaching, baptizing, making disciples, and teaching Jesus’s commandments. All of this done in the context of called together assemblies of God’s congregation. There has never been such a things as a “lone-ranger” believer.
Take a walk through history and into eternity and see why the church is essential. God meets with Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all of the children of Israel in the Scriptures. He calls them by name. They receive his commandments. Altars are built. Sometimes there are meals or sacrifices or rites. God’s name is reverenced, feared, trusted, and called on by his people. Wandering Israel builds a tabernacle and God comes down to dwell in their camp. Pilgrims go to the Jerusalem temple, the place where God’s glory descended on earth. Jesus gathers crowds in the countryside. Christians gather in house churches. By the third century, church buildings become prominent. Much of history is dotted with the architecture of places of worship and Christians have built many of them for gathering to call on God’s name. Chiefly, heaven is the eternal place where the firstborn or resurrected dead gather or assemble in the presence of the Triune God (Hebrews 12) with his angels. I once heard a preacher say, “If you think church is boring, you’re really going to dislike heaven.” Gathered church assemblies are in a sense an outpost of heaven.
Take a walk through the warning passages of Scripture. In the Old Testament, you could be put out of the assembly for all sorts of reasons – uncleanness, sin, rebellion, etc. The same is true in the New Testament, but only after pleading, warning, encouraging, and exhaustion all options for reconciliation. We should not absent ourselves from church (Hebrews 10) or meeting together as God’s people. It is how God blesses, feeds, and helps us – skipping church is like passing up on meals or medical care. It is essential.
Take a walk to church and see for yourself that the church is essential. It is a place for those called by God from serving idols to serve the living God, to meet with one another for worship, instruction, and encouragement. Each Sunday, the gathered ones are blessed and scattered to share the grace of God with the world. Gathering as God’s people is essential. I hope you see it so!