Do I have to go to church EVERY Sunday?!?!

Today I want to tackle a topic that I hear so much about.  However, I first want to show both sides of the argument before giving the convictions that God has laid upon the hearts of our family.

Do we really have to go to church EVERY Sunday?  This is a very hot topic.  My intentions are not to step upon anyone's toes.  You need to pray about all of your family decisions, not trust what I or anyone else tell you to do.  You alone will be responsible for the decisions you make.  Whatever you decide, be certain that it is a decision you can defend standing before God.  As always, when in doubt about a subject, it is always better to err on the side of caution, rather than to be against God's will for your life.


Here are often some arguments I hear AGAINST going to church every Sunday.  I'm not saying this is an exhaustive list.  This is simply what I often hear.  If you have anymore reasons, or you have some that you often hear, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

1)  "There is nothing in the Bible that states when or how often a person of today's time must attend church."

This is a true statement.  It is often believed that you must attend church everytime the doors are open...especially twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday night.  However, this argument is found nowhere in the Bible.  We simply need to attend church as often as we are convicted to (in many cases, three times a week may not be enough)!

2)  "It's okay to miss a Sunday 'once in a while'."

Once again, the Bible does not state how often you and I must attend church.  So certainly, there is nothing said about missing some Sundays. 

3)  "My children have sports games on Sundays.  It is the only time that it is offered and I feel like this is a great opportunity for our family to be witnessing to other families."

Certainly, this could be true.  However, I would doubt that 99% of the families who are playing sports on Sundays, do so in order to win others to Jesus.  I think most families are there to play sports first, and if someone happens to hear about Jesus along the way, that's a bonus.  You have to look at your family's heart and see if you're honestly in that 1% or not.  We don't want to just do whatever we want to do and then try to somehow make Jesus work in that.  We want to do what He has planned for our life, and then let Him provide our fun for us while doing His will.

4)  "We have Bible time at home and, therefore, we don't need to go to church every week."

How wonderful if you are having daily family Bible time at home!  This is something I would bet most Christians don't do (in fact, we didn't do it for much of our married life up to this point).  However, church is not only a place for you to go and learn from the Word.  It is a place of fellowship with other believers.  We need our accountability, and we must remember that our brothers and sisters in Christ need us there as well.  Can you imagine everyone skipping church one Sunday and some families come to church who are not saved?  Who will talk with them?  Just the preacher?  Why would they continue to come and seek God if God's people don't feel it important to go to church?  So while I commend you on having Bible time at home, remember, church is much more than just going to hear the Word of God.

5)  "Sunday is supposed to be the Sabbath day.  I'm supposed to rest like God did."

Oh this is one I hear often!  And to be honest, many church people are soooo busy with choir practices and wedding showers that they forget to rest on the Sabbath!  First of all, I don't believe that Sunday has to be your Sabbath day.  I mean, if I were to have a baby on a Sunday, I don't want my doctor saying, "Sorry, I must rest today!  Just hold that kid in about another 24 hours!"  The Bible says to "REMEMBER the Sabbath day to keep it holy".  If you choose to do this on a Sunday, then certainly you need to rest.  However, we CAN rest in the House of God.  We don't HAVE to be so busy at church.  We should be able to attend church and celebrate the Sabbath on the same day!  However, if you're having this trouble, I would suggest resting on a different day than the day you are going to church.  Church is important in many ways, including  fellowshiping with one another.

We certainly are not required to be at the church every single time the doors are open.  However, I would urge you to search your heart.  Why wouldn't we as Christians WANT to be at church as much as possible?!  I mean, it should be a place of learning, a place of fellowship, and a place of worship!  When you're out in the world all week, it's a BLESSING to get to be with other fellow believers in the House of God!  Can you worship at home?  Certainly, but what if your brother or sister needs you?  You won't be there.
I encourage you to make church a #1 priority for your family.  If you're having trouble getting up and going to church every morning, maybe you need to search your relationship with God.  Here's how you can know if it's your relationship with God that needs to be refocused:

Would you get out of bed on a Sunday if you had a doctor's appointment?  What if you were meeting a friend?  Would you be on time to work?  If you answer yes to any of these questions, maybe you should re-evaluate what your priorities are.  I know often I try to tell myself God is most important, but when I really look at my actions, I'm not displaying what I'm preaching.

For our family, we try to attend both services on Sunday.  We do not currently attend Wednesday night services because my husband works during that time.  Certainly I could still drive the 40 miles to go, but with two little ones, I know that I would be spending all of my time correcting and training, and probably being more of a distraction than learning myself.  However, we hope for my husband to get on first shift soon, to where that is not an issue and we can attend on Wednesday nights.  Even if not, as soon as we feel my oldest is old enough, it is worth me taking the girls to go even if I am not able to pay much attention due to attending to a baby.  Araylah will be old enough to benefit and sit and listen, even if I must leave to attend to the baby in the nursery.  As soon as we feel she is old enough for that, I will take all of my children (no matter how many) to the services.  We currently practice being still and quiet at Family Bible Time.  Hopefully, we will get to add another service soon.

We do try to attend every service on Sunday, unless we are out of town (in which we try to find another church to attend).  Unfortunately, lately we have missed due to bad weather.

I tell you what our family does, not for you to be just like us.  Some of you might be judging me for not attending Wednesdays while others only wish they could attend most Sundays.  I am only saying this to say that my husband will be held accountable for our church attendance as a family.  The same applies to your family.  We need to be certain we are not doing what is "convenient," but what is pleasing to God.

There is no magical number of times to attend church, but if you're asking yourself, "Do I HAVE to go every Sunday?," I would reckon you're not really wanting to be there...in which case I would either find a church you wanted to go to every week, or I would re-evaluate my relationship with God (do you even have a daily relationship with Him?).  I know that the more I attend church (mainly because we are in a church that we felt God lead us to), we HATE missing.  We know we are missing out on a blessing when we miss.  Why would I not want every blessing I could get?  That's why I want to be at church so much!  I enjoy being blessed and encouraged!

So, we do miss a Sunday here and there, and currently, we miss all Wednesday night services.  But we are not missing them to please ourselves.  I know that God looks at our hearts more than anything.  Don't let someone make you feel guilty for not being at church every time the doors are open.  Simply make sure your heart is where it needs to be with God and let Him do the convicting on this issue!  But don't avoid the issue to keep from feeling guilt either!  Pray about it.  Seek God on this issue and He will give you what your family needs!