Articles
WHY NOBODY WANTS TO GO TO CHURCH ANYMORE
Part two of two, by Wes McAdams, Facebook posting, June 13, 2014
As a quick review, Wes McAdams is responding to a survey explaining why nobody
wants to go to church anymore. His first argument (posted in last week’s bulletin) is that the
“church” has become so diluted and twisted that people don’t even know what it is anymore.
When Christians don’t understand they are the church, and when they see the church as an
institution which they can either choose to support or not, they lose the entire concept of
Christianity.
Secondly, the problem is that people see “church” as a weekly event to attend.
Church is not something Christians attend when they get a chance. The church is who Christians
are … every day of the week. Someone might say, “Wes, it’s just semantics. You now what I
mean when I say I’m going to church.” Sure, I know what you mean and I also know that a few
generations of saying, “Going to church,” has contributed to the current dilemma.
If you asked me, “What is family?” and I said, “Oh, that’s something I attend when I
come home from work,” you would look at me like I lost my mind. My family is not an event I
attend. My family is something I’m a part of—even when I’m somewhere else. If I started
saying, “I’m going to ‘family’ now,” when I went home, it might very well change the way I see
and interact with my family.
When people see the church as either an institution to support or an event to attend, it’s
no wonder they see it as being irrelevant. If we want to see Christians stop checking out, we must
start teaching people that we are the church!
From a personal point of view: I am in agreement with Mr. McAdams and the reasons
given for the lack of desire to be with the church whenever it meets. But as I say that, I also need
to let you know that we seem to be an exception. About 85% of the saints meeting at Gabbert St.
each week have committed themselves to attending Sunday Bible class, Sunday evenings and
again on Wednesday evenings. You are to be commended for your attendance. The desire to be
together (daily) was one of the identifying characteristics of the church in its beginning (Acts
2:41-47). May we continue to devote ourselves to meeting together with the saints each and
every opportunity we have! ~ P. Mowrer
