Why bother with church?

‘I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”’ (Psalm 122:1). Church? I love it! I wouldn’t miss it for the world. It’s my number 1 priority, the best part of my week… If I’m honest, I don’t always feel quite that enthusiastic about church! And it’s clear, post-Covid, that increasing numbers of people don’t feel that way about church at all. Despite pockets of growth, and a few people who dispute this perceived statistical trend, it really does look as though Covid has turned a trajectory of church decline into a nose-dive, particularly among families and young people.

Why is church dwindling with increasing rapidity in the West? Theories abound. Some people got out of the habit of attending church during the pandemic, and (to their surprise) they really don’t miss it. Either they have found viable, alternative ways of sustaining their faith, or they have found that, actually, their faith doesn’t matter all that much anymore. Some struggle now to find the time for regular Sunday attendance in their busy lives; others found no joy in the prospect of getting sucked back in to juggling a seemingly endless succession of rotas – and their reluctance to get back in the treadmill then puts unwelcome pressure on those who find that church makes more and more demands on their time and energies because there are fewer people available to share the responsibility. Quite a few people still attend church regularly, but regular attendance in their book these days is maybe once a month. That can be hard for those who are still ‘twicers’ at heart, and who feel discouraged and maybe even demoralised when they see churches not as full and vibrant as they used to be.

Some people have stopped coming altogether because they have not been made welcome or feel that they have been made unwelcome (churches tend to be very good at this, and Brighton Road is no exception). Others, rightly or wrongly, feel that they would not be welcome because of what they think, how they live or who they are. Some people find that their beliefs have changed, and that can be difficult if they are beginning to doubt and question what others consider to be non-negotiable aspects of the Christian faith. Others again fail to see a relevant connection between what happens in church on a Sunday and what happens in their lives or in the world the rest of the time. Others have turned their back on church because they have been personally hurt and damaged by unkindness or abuse within the church; others have become disillusioned because so many high-profile church leaders just seem to have feet of clay. There really is not much to celebrate and plenty to grieve over, particularly if you love God and you share his love for his people.

And there is no shortage of suggestions as to how to fix the issue, but they don’t command universal assent: my ideal kind of church, the perfect church I conjure up in my mind, doesn’t actually exist anywhere, and if it did, it would not necessarily be your kind of church at all. A few things in particular drew me to church when I first started going as a teenager. One was that the sermons were biblical and they made sense to me – and I was a bit surprised by that. Another was that I found in church a group of people who accepted me for who I was. It also provided a much-needed spiritual reset, equipping me with the resources I needed to face a demanding week. And I encountered God there. I’d been to church other times and been bored stiff by it,

so what was different about this particular church? Maybe the people there worshipped God from their hearts. That had nothing to do with the style of worship, and everything to do with being in the company of people whose faith really mattered to them, and that encouraged and enabled me to take it seriously.

So, I still love church, and that is not just because as your minister I am seriously invested in Brighton Road! Nor do I love church because it is perfect – it isn’t and never will be until the day when Christ presents the church to himself as his perfect bride – without spot or wrinkle or any such blemish. I guess I love the church because God has placed a love for Brighton Road in my heart, and that is important, because in God’s book, loving him goes hand in hand with loving his people.

So, why bother with church? Well, even though we can sometimes be half-hearted, recalcitrant and grumpy, Christ is 100% committed to us and he has faithfully promised to join us as we worship Sunday by Sunday and to share his steadfast love, his grace and his life-changing power with us. It is in Christ and through fellowship with his people that we find redemption. Church matters. And so, by the grace of God, I often get back from church thinking, ‘It was good to be in the house of the Lord today.’ Flawed as we are, Jesus still thinks church is worth it, and maybe so should we.

Tim Carter