People Going to Church for Shallow Reasons

[Jason76]

Well, they have no real desire to seek God. They just seem to like the singing and/or maybe they just want to fit in the community. Anyhow, they have terrible personality problems, no doubt - cause they aren't really seeking God - or at least, not enough time has passed to see results.

 

[Lamb]

Well, they have no real desire to seek God. They just seem to like the singing and/or maybe they just want to fit in the community. Anyhow, they have terrible personality problems, no doubt - cause they aren't really seeking God - or at least, not enough time has passed to see results.

I have no problem with people going to church for the wrong reason and my reason for that is because God's Word is alive and active and the hearing of it can bring faith to them if they don't have it and even strengthen them if their faith is weak.

 

[psalms 91]

I agree, the reason they are there isnt important what is is that they are there

 

[NewCreation435]

it isn't our job to judge someone else's reason for going

 

[Josiah]

Well, they have no real desire to seek God. They just seem to like the singing and/or maybe they just want to fit in the community. Anyhow, they have terrible personality problems, no doubt - cause they aren't really seeking God - or at least, not enough time has passed to see results.

For the MANY centuries when being a church person was popular and socially rewarded, this was very common. And there wasn't anything else to do. TODAY, in this post-Christian world, I don't think this is much of a problem. Well, maybe in small town, rural Texas but not in most of the world.


I've read that for converts, the # 1 reason they FIRST attend church is social... they long for community, for relationships, for friendships... and in this very isolating and technical world, that's not easy to find. Relatives likely live far way.... folks rarely even know their neighbors much less are friends with them.... people at work change often .... we build nice big walls between houses... But we are a very social species. And for SOME (SADLY, not most anymore), the church is seen as a welcoming/embracing community. I've read the #1 reason why the first-time visitor comes is in hopes of finding community.... and the # 1 reason they return is NOT good music or inspirational worship or fancy pastor but because they felt embraced and welcomed.


IMO, this is a great opportunity! Including for small churches (as over 90% of US churches are) since it SHOULD be easier for a small church to be genuinely welcoming and a community (SHOULD be, often is not). Now, the mission is not to STOP there, to simply be a social club.... As we preach and teach, we have an opportunity to not only welcome them into the community of our parish but the Communion of Saints, the one holy catholic church, the community of believers. That may take some time.




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[Forgiven1]

I have no issue with this either. They are in worship and they are hearing the Word of God. We don't truly know what is in the hearts of others and how weak or strong their faith in. Rejoice that they are there.

 

[tango]

Well, they have no real desire to seek God. They just seem to like the singing and/or maybe they just want to fit in the community. Anyhow, they have terrible personality problems, no doubt - cause they aren't really seeking God - or at least, not enough time has passed to see results.

Are you for real?

If someone uses a church as a glorified social club how does that indicate "terrible personality problems" any more than the guy who goes to a cooking class because he hopes to meet women, with learning to cook a secondary objective?

A friend of mine was instrumental in founding a church that was a spinoff from the church he regularly attended. The church had acquired a large warehouse-like building and used it for a lot of community type activities during the week. The local bridge club met there, the kids shot basketball hoops one evening, residents could book the hall for their own private functions and so on. On Sunday mornings they held church meetings there. It made it a lot easier to get people to attend the church on a Sunday because the entire setting was more familiar to them - some people find the thought of going into the kind of big old building usually called "church" to be intimidating because they don't know if people will judge them, if they are appropriately dressed, where they should sit, what order the service takes because they don't want to suddenly stand up when they should kneel, and so on. This made everything much more familiar and took away a lot of barriers. If a teenager you shoot hoops with on a Wednesday evening asks if you want to come on Sunday morning and you know it's in the same room in the same building and you don't have to dress up or anything it feels more approachable. Maybe that person is going to church just because it's something to do on a Sunday. Maybe one day they will become a Christian, but going along just to see what it's all about isn't indicative of a personality problem, terrible or otherwise.

 

[tango]

For the MANY centuries when being a church person was popular and socially rewarded, this was very common. And there wasn't anything else to do. TODAY, in this post-Christian world, I don't think this is much of a problem. Well, maybe in small town, rural Texas but not in most of the world.

I've read that for converts, the # 1 reason they FIRST attend church is social... they long for community, for relationships, for friendships... and in this very isolating and technical world, that's not easy to find. Relatives likely live far way.... folks rarely even know their neighbors much less are friends with them.... people at work change often .... we build nice big walls between houses... But we are a very social species. And for SOME (SADLY, not most anymore), the church is seen as a welcoming/embracing community. I've read the #1 reason why the first-time visitor comes is in hopes of finding community.... and the # 1 reason they return is NOT good music or inspirational worship or fancy pastor but because they felt embraced and welcomed.

IMO, this is a great opportunity! Including for small churches (as over 90% of US churches are) since it SHOULD be easier for a small church to be genuinely welcoming and a community (SHOULD be, often is not). Now, the mission is not to STOP there, to simply be a social club.... As we preach and teach, we have an opportunity to not only welcome them into the community of our parish but the Communion of Saints, the one holy catholic church, the community of believers. That may take some time.

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Our pastor recently preached on this exact topic, and commented much the same as you have said here. If a person can walk into a church, sit throughout the service and not have anybody speak to them, and then leave afterwards having not been greeted at all (and the bit in the service where the leader says "you may greet those around you" doesn't count) the chances are they won't be back. When I was first looking for a church I looked at what was available locally, made a shortlist of which ones were of potential interest, and then went to see what they were like. The first church I visited was selected for a very non-spiritual reason. It was the closest one to my house. When I walked in I was welcomed, and asked a few questions about what brought me to them (whether was I visiting the area, new to the area, looking for a new church etc) that were friendly but not intrusive. A week later I went back and was welcomed back. Bonus marks for remembering I was new last week. I never even checked out the other churches - I attended that church for several years until I moved out of the area.

This is just one reason why I find megachurches and churches that are largely internet-based to be distasteful, simply because it is so much easier for someone to slip through all the cracks and go unnoticed. A friend of mine left a megachurch because he got sick of being a cog in the works when the church needed something but abandoned if he needed anything at all. People who are physically unable to get to a church may benefit from having something available online but encouraging people to just tune in rather than physically attending simply breaks the connections between the congregation.

Jesus said the world would know us because we love one another. How do we show that love, if we never even meet other members of our own congregation because we all just clicked a couple of buttons and tuned in online? How often is love not shown in a huge megachurch where people can just become invisible and stop attending without anyone even noticing?