Why should someone go to church? In Corinthians 12, Paul explains that there are many parts to the one body. They all need each other, and cannot function effectively if they go their own ways and do their own things. But what if the body is functioning poorly? The argument for staying a part of it seems to be diminished. At least that’s how a lot of people who leave church see it, according to recent Lifeway research, as reported by Thom Rainer and Sam Rainer.
The main reasons given by church leavers for leaving church were: they are too busy to go to church; they are disenchanted with the current state of their church (usually because they consider the pastor to be judgmental, insincere or a poor preacher); and they consider the people in the church to be unloving. Only about 16% said that they had left the church because they had stopped believing in organised religion altogether.
If only churches were more faithful to their purpose, fewer people would be leaving, and more people would be joining. The good news of Jesus is an invitation into an exciting transformed life in a worldwide community of believers, where everyone has an active part in God’s mission. The role of the church is to help people find their roles in that mission, not to make them sit in seats and passively participate in weekly ceremonies.