Still, a whole lot of my personal friends have abandoned the faith over the years and I’ve watched hundreds leave the church and several even go from “Bible geek” to “raging atheist”.  A while ago, I ran across an article that talked about the importance of Christians being part of a church and it brought this topic to mind.  The writer listed several reason why people mightbe part of a church and several reasons why people might remove themselves from a church, and didn’t cast any judgment on their biblical validity…but this was his comprehensive list.

I’m not that old, but I remember a few decades ago when Canadian culture was far different.  I remember when most people described themselves as “Christian”, even though that meant “confused theist” at best.  I remember when almost all businesses were closed on Sunday because it was “the Lord’s day”.  I also remember when most people were at least affiliatedwith a church.  None of those things are true anymore but for the most part, that’s not because too much has actually changed.  The people who pretended to be Christians are no longer pretending, on multiple fronts.

Still, a whole lot of my personal friends have abandoned the faith over the years and I’ve watched hundreds leave the church and several even go from “Bible geek” to “raging atheist”.  A while ago, I ran across an article that talked about the importance of Christians being part of a church and it brought this topic to mind.  The writer listed several reason why people mightbe part of a church and several reasons why people might remove themselves from a church, and didn’t cast any judgment on their biblical validity…but this was his comprehensive list.

His list of reasons why people would attend church were the following:

1. Family.

2. Social network/friends.

3. Centering (slowing down and taking time to be with God)

4. Freedom from the “bondage in their lives” (?!?).

5. Satisfying hunger for God and experiencing worship.

6. Moral re-orientation/moral assurance.

7. Tradition.

His list of reasons why people would leave the church was the following.

1. Apostasy

2. Sloth

3. Fear of conflict/encountering enemies.

4. Judgmentalism/hypocrisy.

5. Pride in their maturity (people think they no longer learn anything in church)

6. Pain and fear of repetition of painful experiences.

7. Lack of desired care/entertainment.

8.  Frustration with politics.

9. Fear of the opinions/judgment of others.

We were not amused because the article was written by a graduate of an evangelical Bible College (my own alma matter, in fact) and it reflected the shallow “Christian” tradition from which I have emerged.  If those were the reasons why someone would go to church, or if even one of them was a reason why someone should be part of a church, I was slightly underwhelmed with conviction.  I found that the author didn’t include any of the reasons why I go to church and I found that strange and confusing.

So why do I go to church?  Here are fourteen reasons that I could think of:

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