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Pastor's Page

Posted on July 21, 2004 ...

Do you have any habits you incorporate into your life to keep you healthy? Some people take vitamins. Some are on an exercise regiment. Still other folks may follow a strict diet. I am a firm advocate of the habit of faithful church attendance. People neglect church attendance for all kinds of reasons. “It’s my only day off.” “My team has a game that day.” “All they talk about is money.” “They make me feel guilty.” Perhaps you have thought of or heard one of these rationales. Here are some compelling reasons to incorporate faithful church attendance into your life.

IT IS A BIBLICAL REQUIREMENT. Hebrews 10:25 says, Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.

IT FOLLOWS JESUS’ EXAMPLE. If anyone could be justified in not going to religious services, it would be Jesus. Yet we see in Jesus’ life a clear pattern of going to the place of public worship: He went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom. Luke 4:16

IT PROVIDES SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT. The work of the early church is summarized in Acts 2:42: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Notice that these are all community activities.

IT IS GOD’S DESIGN. 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 show the importance of each Christian using his or her spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ, that is, the church. How can this occur if you are not going to where the body is gathered?

IT CONTRIBUTES TO OVERALL HEALTH. An article in the November 10, 2003 issue of Newsweek magazine quoted the results of a study performed by Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. This study found that people who regularly attend church services have a 25 percent reduction in mortality than people who are not churchgoers. In other words, church attendees live longer than non-attendees.

We can always conjure up excuses for lax church attendance. But these pale in comparison to the very good reasons to be faithful to God’s church. Remember, whenever God tells us to do something, it is for our own good.