How much church is enough?
Okay, we assume “It Depends.” But, beyond that, for most Christians today in the western culture, what is a realistic perspective? Every church has its party line about attendance and the relationship of the official schedule and what good Christians are expected to do regarding that schedule.
We are not talking about baseball teams, Women’s Bible studies, or special concerts or fundraisers. We are not talking about showers, weddings, or funerals or Good Friday, but the regular weekly routine.
This is certainly a matter of opinion. But, for the average Christian Joe or Sally, how much church is just right, in your opinion.
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The last two churches I’ve been involved in had too much going on to follow the “every time the doors are open” paradigm I grew up with.
So what I try to do is ponder:
- How involved/present should I be in order to use my gifts well for the body/congregation?
- How involved/present should I be in order to nurture and maintain healthy relationships in congregation?
- How involved/present should I be in order to learn and grow from my time in the word?
- How involved/present should I be in order to participate in, and be influenced by, worshiping together (including prayer)?
The answers are often not easy to arrive at with high confidence, but I think it’s a pretty good process.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I believe that family worship is an important part of family life. Sometimes churches can have so much going on that it disturbs the family’s ability to consistently worship God in the home. There is a tendency to “outsource” all spiritual care to the church and men thus do not take proper spiritual leadership over their families.
I have consistently attended in four services a week churches and one service a week churches. My preference is Sunday morning and a small group/home Bible study on Sunday night with a mid-week Bible study at max. Probably just Sunday morning and Wednesday night with lots of proactive fellowship otherwise. Hospitality has allowed us to get to know people much more deeply and to help one another grow in the Lord.
I would suggest a lower bound of "just about weekly", say the Sunday morning service if at all possible, and the upper bound, and the distribution of events one attends, really depends on what one's gifts are, what one's role is, and how one's church helps one use those gifts. My overall feeling is that too often, churches insist that members participate in every program without really thinking through whether that program really addresses spiritual growth, is useful to the gifts of the congregation, and the like. Sometimes a lot more good can be done with a much more flexible pattern.
Or pretty much what Josh says.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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