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 [The following is excerpted from the book, Gather: Getting to the Heart of Going to Church, Copyright © 2021 by M. Hopson Boutot. Click here to download the entire book for free.]   

 For the past few weeks on the blog, we’ve taken a slow drive through nine different benefits of faithful church attendance. But the truth is, showing up isn’t enough. It’s possible to faithfully attend worship gatherings without seeing any of these good fruits. It’s possible to be at church every time the doors are open and yet be weak in hope, poor in love and good works, empty of encouragement to persevere, failing to utilize your spiritual gifts, discouraging to your leaders and fellow members, and disobedient to the covenant. But the fact this is possible, takes nothing away from the value and importance of church attendance.

You wouldn’t swear off diet and exercise because in some cases you can do both without losing any weight. Well, at least you shouldn’t. These are the normal means by which we pursue physical fitness, and when faithful diet and exercise doesn’t yield the expected results, we ought to dig deeper to figure out what else is going on.

In the same way, faithfully attending church is one of God’s normal means by which we pursue growth in godliness. If faithful church attendance doesn’t yield these expected results in your life, you ought to dig deeper to figure out what else is going on. Perhaps there’s an unconfessed sin in your heart. Perhaps you’re harboring bitterness against a fellow church member that’s coloring your ability to encourage and be encouraged by them. Perhaps your local church isn’t faithfully preaching God’s Word, which is the primary means by which God sanctifies His people (John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Whatever the reason, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Showing up matters. As one preacher put it, “It is possible for you to be faithful to the church and unfaithful to God, but you cannot be faithful to God and unfaithful to the church.”[1] So let’s fight to feel rightly about gathering with God’s people

 

[1] Sam Cathey, The Danger Of Forsaking Church, accessed March 7, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8DRZBA9wm4.