This may seem odd or needless, but I want to invite you to church this Sunday.

I believe it’s needful because the practice of attending an in-person worship service is dramatically in decline. After the COVID pandemic, national percentages of church attendance have plunged.

And don’t confuse what I’m talking about as membership. Nationally, church membership is declining to be sure, but it is attendance in person that remains a critical need.

Add one more complication. The average practicing Christian (someone who ticks lots of boxes about beliefs, personal faith in Jesus, trust in the Bible, etc.) is now attending an in-person worship service on average only twice a month.

Why does it matter? God’s command, your needs, and your neighbor’s benefit.

God’s command — “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” Hebrews 10:24-25.

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy… the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God” Exodus 20:8, 10.

Church is not our meeting, ultimately. It’s HIS meeting. HE is the focal point of the call. And therefore, to neglect this meeting is to neglect Him.

Your needs — To gather at worship is to be fed, loved, encouraged, challenged surely, but in all things and at all times, to be pointed back to the saving love and power of Jesus. NO ONE and no thing can possibly be of as much benefit to any living soul as Jesus is. So to miss that is to miss a meal, to miss out on being built up and invested in.

Your neighbor’s benefit — If the two greatest commandments are to love God and love my neighbor, then when I attend and participate in corporate worship, the least important person in view is me. My neighbor is high in significance, right behind my God and Savior. So if God’s Word is right that you have gifts and that He gave them to you for the benefit of His people, then for you to not engage is to deprive your neighbor of your offering. Your absence equals their loss!

Have you ever considered any of these questions?

It’s OK if you haven’t. All of us are learning, repenting together and believing Jesus together for forgiveness and transformation. But let’s acknowledge that being at church has plunged as a priority in our culture and in our own congregation.

So with all humility and gratitude, I want to ask. Would you please join us at worship in person this Sunday? It will be a profound privilege to worship our Lord together.