One of the fall outs from de-conversion stories being popularized by Christian thought-leaders like Rob Bell, Jen Hatmaker and Deidra Riggs is a growing trend to minimize the need for the church within a person’s individual journey of faith. It’s a sad fact that many professing Christians are not connected to a local church. They prefer to live their Christian life on their own. Maybe they’ll attend a local church once or twice a month, but certainly not regularly or self-sacrificially. To quote Dr. Kent Hughes, “Today, in the 21st century, we have a phenomenon unthinkable in any other century: churchless Christians.”

I have encountered many Christians who tell me, “I don’t need the church. It’s just me and Jesus.” I’m not against the concept of a spiritual journey, per say, but when our exploration of faith becomes overwrought with American individualism coupled with a strong disgust for traditional orthodoxy, things can go askew.

For those wanting to leave the church to find Christ, my response is this: “But isn’t the church the body of Christ? Isn’t the church where Christ is most seen?” I pose this question, not to condemn people or to embarrass them. I truly want Christians to experience the great heights and depths of love and security and power that come from a union with Christ. I want them to experience the deep joy of Christ, and I’m absolutely convinced that this experience cannot be achieved without a personal connection to the local church.

Have a High View of Church

Even the language that churched Christians use can be incriminating. They say, “I go to such and such church,” or “I attend this church.” Rarely do I ever hear people say, “I belong to” or “I’m a member of this church.” Do you see the slight distinction?

The problem, I believe, is that we have a deficient view of the local church. Many professing Christians feel burnt out by our religion’s fundamental past, or they hate anything to do with churches affiliated with certain parties or establishments. Certainly, there are major issues to be addressed here, and I will admit that I have my own critiques of current trends within evangelical Christianity. However, my response has not been to leave the church, but to help reform it.

I stay connected to the local church, not just for its health, but for my own spiritual health as well. Dr. Kent Hughes has also said, “Men [and women], on the most elementary level, you do not have to go to church to be a Christian. You do not have to go home to be married either. But in both cases if you do not, you will have a very poor relationship.” Being part of a local church is foundational to your spiritual health. If you want to grow in godliness and faith, you have to be in Christian community. You have to love the church, understand the beauty of it, why God created it and the role you need to play within its four walls.

Arrive on Time

How many times have we arrived somewhere and the first thing out of our mouth is, “Sorry, I’m late?” (I’m waving both of my hands in the air at my desk right now). I’m a Latino and my culture is very flexible with the concept of time, so this is something I have work on personally. But all of us have been late to church at some point or another. Some of us are late every week.

There may be some legitimate extraneous circumstances for why we are late on occasion. However, in my experience as a pastor, the vast majority excuses that people have given me for why they were late is simply because they didn’t start their morning routine early enough. They slept in, probably because they stayed up too late the night before, or some people intentionally come late because they want to skip the singing (an issue that I will address below).

Regardless of the reasons we are late, we need to challenge ourselves to see punctuality to church as a spiritual practice. As Jed Roseberry argues, “God can use the margins of our life to open up meaningful encounters that allow us to connect with others without an agenda. Time is an offering to God that he may use to make us instruments of his love to others. Being on time is a spiritual discipline that actually changes your life.”

Sing

The spiritual practice in attending and being involved in church also means that you sing during the time of congregational worship. This might sound trite to you. But, consider this: the Holy Spirit does a profound work in us when we sing. As our lungs and words combine in musical expression, the Spirit is at work speaking truth to us, in us and through us. Truly, we are reminded afresh of the gospel when we sing.

In Colossians 3:16, we see that singing to God teaches us the following: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” As we sing, the Spirit reminds us that Jesus is enough. He tells us that Christ is more precious than this world. Furthermore, when we sing, the Spirit fills us up with more of Himself.

Look at Ephesians 5:18-19: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” This means that, as we sing, the Spirit assures us that God is with us. The Spirit moves our heart to yearn for more of Jesus. The Spirit changes us. Put plainly: if you’re late, you miss out on this work of the Spirit.

Of course, there is much more that could be said about church participation and involvement, including prayer, the sacraments, the preaching of God’s word and more. But let’s start here and do these three things well.

Commit to a local church. Attend regularly. Be on time. And sing!

This is the church family time, and this is what we do. Amen?

If you want to grow in faith, you have to love the church, understand the beauty of it, why God created it and the role you need to play within its four walls. Click To Tweet