CHURCH-ATTENDANCE
Nonattendance,
in the early years of our church, was considered one of the most sinister of
sins, because it usually veiled all the other sins. When someone began to be in
sin, you would expect them to stop attending.
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway,
2000, p. 171.
If a member
shows prolonged negligence in gathering with God’s people, how can he say he
loves them? And if he doesn’t love them, how can he say he loves God (cf. 1
John 4:20-21)?
Mark Dever and Paul
Alexander
Beginning
the Word, taken from The Deliberate Church, © 2005, Crossway Books, a division
of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, p. 47, www.crosswaybooks.org.
The fruits of
the Holy Spirit are, it seems to me, largely fruits of
sustained interaction with God. Just as a child picks up traits more or less
simply by dwelling in the presence of her parent, so the Christian develops
tenderheartedness, compassion, humility, forgiveness, joy, and hope through
“the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” – that is, by dwelling in the presence of
God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son. And this means, to a very large
extent, living in a community of serious believers.
The Reformed Journal, Feb. 1987, Christianity
Today, v. 32, n. 10.
An avoidable
absence from church is an infallible evidence of spiritual decay.
Frances Ridley Havergal
Being
disconnected from the local church, for whatever reason, is a dangerous way to live. Not only do these “ lone
rangers” miss out on the blessings of functioning within the context of the
body of Christ, but like lone sheep away from the safety of the flock and the
watchful care of the shepherd, they are vulnerable to predators of every sort.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Holiness, The Heart God Purifies, Moody
Publishers, p. 137.
No Excuse
Sunday: Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, “Sunday is my only
day to sleep in.” We have steel helmets for those who say, “The roof would cave
in if I ever came to church.” Blankets will be furnished for those who think
the church is too cold, and fans for those who say it is too hot. We have
hearing aids for those who say, “The preacher speaks too softly,” and cotton
balls for those who say, “He preaches too loudly.” Score cards will be
available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present. Some relatives
will be in attendance for those who like to go visiting on Sundays. There will
be TV dinners for those who can’t go to church and cook dinner also. One section
will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to worship God in nature.
Finally, the sanctuary will be decorated with Christmas poinsettias and Easter
lilies for those who have never seen the church without them.
Author Unknown
From a Church Bulletin.
Going to
church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you
an automobile.
Billy Sunday
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.
Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man, Crossway Books,
1991, p. 165.
Another
reason for the de-churching of many Christians is the historic individualism of
evangelical Christianity and the grass-roots American impulse against
authority. The natural inclination is to think that one needs only an
individual relationship with Christ and needs no other authority. Such thinking
produces Christian Lone Rangers who demonstrate their authenticity by riding
not to church, but out to the badlands, reference Bible in hand, to do battle
single-handedly with the outlaw world.
Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man, Crossway Books,
1991, p. 160.
Church
attendance is infected with a malaise of conditional loyalty which has produced
an army of ecclesiastical hitchhikers. The hitchhiker's thumb says, "You
buy the car, pay for repairs and upkeep and insurance, fill the car with gas –
and I'll ride with you. But if you have an accident, you are on your own! And
I'll probably sue." So it is with
the credo of so many of today's church attenders:
"You go to the meetings and serve on the boards and committees, you
grapple with the issues and do the work of the church and pay the bills – and
I'll come along for the ride. But if things do not suit me, I'll complain and
probably bail out--my thumb is always out for a better ride."
Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man. Christianity
Today, v. 36, n. 6.
The problem
with conservative churches is not that they lack members. The problem is that
many of those members are not converted. Millions of members of evangelical
churches are absent from worship services each Sunday and are equally absent
from Christian living during the rest of the week. Biblical illiteracy and
unethical conduct by Christians seem to be on the rise. Many people who attend
are indifferent to the truths of Christianity, and others are divisive, even
mean-spirited.
Paul House
Who Will Be Saved? Edited
by: House, Paul and Thornbury, Gregory. Crossway, 2000, p. 164.
The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion.
John Wesley
When you were
born, your mother brought you to church.
When you were
married, your wife brought you to church.
When you die,
your friends will bring you to church.
Why not try
coming to church on your own sometime?
James Denney
Hodder
and Stoughton, Studies in Theology: The Church and the Kingdom of God, 1895, p.
173.
Objection: I
can profit as much by staying at home and reading the Scripture or some good
book; it is the word of God which they preach, and it is that which I read at
home. The books that are written by
learned men are better than the sermons that are preached by our ministers.
Answer: What
foolish pretences are these against the plain command of God and our own
necessary duty! When God hath appointed
you your duty, will He allow you to forsake it upon your own reason, as if you
were wiser than God, and knew what will profit you better than He?
Richard Baxter
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
2000, p. 57
To gather with God's people in united
adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.
Martin Luther
They who would grow in grace, must love
the habitation of God’s house. It is those that are planted in the courts of
the Lord who shall flourish, and not those that are occasionally there.
John Angell James
Though true
Christianity uniquely involves a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, it is
also a corporate experience. Christians cannot grow spiritually as they ought
to in isolation from one another.
Gene Getz
Encouraging One Another,
Victor Books, 1985, p. 10
It takes 90
gallons of water to baptize a Christian and only 9 drops of rain to keep him at
home!
Author Unknown
An empty tomb
proves Christianity; an empty church denies it.
Author Unknown
There are
those, particularly in our day, who are so disenchanted with the visible church
that they steadfastly refuse to join any local church. Such a posture is misguided
and involves overt disobedience to the commands of Christ. Though it is
possible for a believer to be confused about this for a season, someone who
persists in such a posture is, in all probability, not a believer. It is the
duty of every Christian to join a visible church.
R.C. Sproul
The Purpose of God, An
Exposition of Ephesians, Christian Focus Publications, 1994, p. 89