There is a new scary truth about going to church. Attendance overall is declining nationwide. As recently as the 1980s, 70 percent of Americans claimed a church affiliation. Nowadays, it’s a dismal 33 percent.
Click here for an article about that.
New scary truth about NOT going to church!
With the trend of sleeping in, goofing off, working or going to the lake on Sunday comes a new trend. More loneliness. More depression. More anxiety. I’ve heard from friends and noticed in family that doesn’t attend church a growing tension, anxiety, and loneliness.
Studies show church involvement leads to feelings of involvement and acceptance. Lack of church attendance triggers feelings of isolation and lack of purpose. Click here for more.
My personal church experiences
I grew up going to church every Sunday with my family. My parents were active in leadership; in fact, when I was little, they worked at a denominational headquarters, writing material for youth church programs.
We moved to Missouri in 1976 and my parents started a church plant with 12 people and grew it to around 80 or so. They started in Springfield and relocated to our rural property in Oldfield. My grandpa, Glenn Cockroft, paid for a double wide trailer and my parents put in a Christian school and church in that structure. They had taught public school in the 1960s. The school, Light and Life Christian School, grew from my brother, 2 sisters and me, to 45 students K-12.
In 1980, we built a new building for the church and school on a piece of our rural property on Sawmill Hollow Road. It is now a private residence. My parents retired around the year 2000.
In the early 90s, I was out of college and got hired as a youth pastor at a church in Chillicothe, Missouri. I was a full-time newspaper reporter at the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, and part time youth pastor at the Chillicothe First Free Methodist Church. That church is a shell of what it used to be when I was there.
I was active in a Kansas City Free Methodist Church before coming back to the Ozarks in 1997. That’s when I joined James River Church. The reason for my choice was that it was the largest church in the area, and I was tired of little churches who needed me to do everything. I wanted to fit in when and where I wanted, not be pressured to fill the gaps from a struggling little group.
I was a table discussion leader in Sunday school, a camera operator on the media crew (I operated the handheld camera on the platform) and my wife was in the choir.
After a while, things went south. I was suspected of bad behavior and booted from the big church. Black listed. That hurt. I didn’t have a chance to explain myself.
So, going to another church, now divorced, alone, middle aged, was too uncomfortable for me and anyone else. My parents suggested a church in Springfield they were attending, Schweitzer. I have felt at home there now for 12 plus years.
Let me rephrase that. Schweitzer is my church home, but it’s like any family. Full of different ideas and viewpoints, but with a common purpose to share the truth of the Bible and show the love of Jesus.
Church, in general, is awkward. If you come to my church or any other, you’ll be greeted by people who are supposed to flash a smile and nod in your direction, but after that, you’re on your own. You’ll see a table with donut holes and other snacks, along with coffee. People will be pushing you out of the way to get to the French Vanilla and Carmel Warmel Whooptipy Doo Blend.
They will glance at you and then look away before you can say anything. Most will flat out buzz past you in a beeline for their friends. You’ll sense they have a familiarity, almost a common smell, of one another, But you are a newbie. An outsider. You must earn your right to sit among them. They are parked in their usual circles, chatting away, ignoring you.
That’s church. It isn’t perfect. But, once you get to know people, you feel more and more connected.
First service starts at 9. If you wait until then, you’re too late. No seats. This place is crowded. Mostly retired folks, but a few younger. Second service at 10:45 is more modern music and younger people.
But, if you’re early, you’re among the tried and true lifers, the longtime Christians with their culture of cliqueshness.
Some of my friends there sit in the same seats, hogging the isles before anyone can get in.
Squeezing past them is a chore. The “bad seats” are the middle pew areas. Nobody wants those. The “worst seats” are the front row, in three sections. Only the pastor and his middle daughter sit there, with the associate pastor.
Last week, I came in late with my wife. A young woman was also trying to find seating. It was during the “stand and greet your neighbor” time early in the service. During the commotion, I invited the woman to follow me and my wife and we ended up next to the pastor’s daughter on the front row, center. No other options.
I enjoyed a great view of the pastor during an amazing message. The truth from the Bible he presents is irrefutable. It’s worth the fuss.
Afterwards was communion. The folks doing the communion are so used to standing in the same place to present the bread and grape juice they nearly stood on top of our new friend as she sat on the normally empty end of the normally empty front row.
I’m thinking, “move over. Make allowances for us front rowers…”
We took our bread and juice, then literally had to back up to avoid the rows of people coming down the aisles to get theirs, and in so doing, nearly collided with the pastor and his daughter.
There are wonderful things about church. But human nature is true everywhere. It gets comfortable and is taken by surprise if you ruffle its feathers.
In summary…is it worth it to go to church?
In summary, the advantages of going to church are worth the reduction of anxiety and loneliness. Ironically, there is anxiety and loneliness associated with breaking through the human nature bubble to reduce anxiety and loneliness.
Johnny Rooster likes going to church for many reasons. He is a different kind of Christian.