Saturday February 7, 2015

Read Hebrews 10:19-25

Church attendance was once very high in Australia. It was the done thing on Sonday was to go to church. Today the stats are alarmingly different. In a recent survey on why people don’t attend church 47% said church is irrelevant. 26% couldn’t accept how the Bible was taught. 24% said the style was outdated. 22% had issues with clergy and ministries, 19% said they didn’t believe the Bible and 18% said they were too busy to attend the church.

Quoted from http://www.mccrindle.com.au/the-mccrindle-blog/church_attendance_in_australia_infographic

A more interesting survey would be to ask Christians what things or factors stop them from attending church or what are acceptable reasons for not attending church.  We might have reasons like sport, family, illness, vacations, being too busy and so on. On odd occasions we may have answers like I couldn't be bothered or I was too tired.

There is no doubt that Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, should attend church. It should be the desire of each and every Christian to worship corporately (Ephesians 5:19-20), to fellowship with and encourage other Christians (1 Thessalonians 5:11), and to be taught God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Attending church should be a joy, not a dreaded and dreary assignment. Just as God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), so He is pleased with a genuinely cheerful church attendee (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/missing-church.html#ixzz3Jx9IEPD9

Today’s passage was written to a church that had endured persecution and to ward off further possible attack, some were ditching church. The encouragement to them is not to stop meeting together. The exhortation is to continue meeting at any cost. It’s also to encourage one another.

If I am at church on Sonday even though I am persecuted or if I’ve had a hard week or if I’ve had pressure from family members or the sports team to take a Sonday off or if the boss has pressured me to work Sondays regardless of my church commitment, my being there is a great encouragement to others. By my good deeds, others will be spurred on to greater heights of love and good deeds. If I am not there, I simply can’t be an encouragement to others.

We need to be aware that church attendance is not a matter of legalism. By encouraging church attendance no one is advocating legalism – no more so than advocating faithfulness in marriage can be called legalism. Those who use the legalism charge against the church attendance encouragers are probably feeling guilty and want to be somewhere else rather than at church.

But at church on Sonday the two great commandments can be simultaneously fulfilled and that’s a great thing to be a part of. Why would you want to be anywhere else?

Prayer:

Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Ask the Lord to be blessing the work of CMTC (ChristLife Ministry Training Centre) and the students who’ll be visiting and serving in other local congregations once a month. Ask God’s Spirit to lead, to guide and to bless this labour of love.

· Pray that this year would see your church grow through many conversions .

 Discussion & Reflection

1. At church one Sonday you realise that a fellow believer hasn’t been for a while. In conversation you ask if everything’s alright as you haven’t seen them for a while. They reply, ‘Oh I am not legalistic about church attendance.’ How do you respond?

2. Ought we to consider how our church attendance or lack thereof affects others? Please explain and quote a bit of Scripture too.