Whether because of health concerns or simply out of preference for watching online in their pajamas, 30- to 49-year-old churchgoers now attend church far less often than before COVID. For some, gathering in person can feel risky or inconvenient.
No doubt online services can serve beloved homebound saints and sick members. There are valid reasons to miss church. And yet God’s Word insists individual Christians need congregational worship.
When the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost in Acts 2, the church sprang up and gathered regularly. By Acts 20:7, Christians were gathering each Sunday. Moreover, Hebrews 10:25 warns Christians not to neglect meeting together. So, “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” Right?
True, but the Scriptures offer additional benefits for showing up in person. Here are five incentives God gives every Christian to wake up and go worship with your local church.
1. Show up to stir up.
Just before encouraging Christians to gather, Hebrews 10:24 says, “Let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works.” This need to show up to stir up reminds me of a trip I took with my wife. We joined a night kayaking tour to see bioluminescence produced by rare microorganisms—found only in 12 places on the planet—that glow when stirred up in the water. We marveled as the light intensified when we stirred them with our paddles.
Interestingly, though, they don’t light up unless stirred. Hebrews 10 says Christians work like that. But again, you need to show up to stir up. Watching online simply can’t do that with the same force. God’s people need you to stir them up, and you need them to stir you up.
2. Gather to make it to the last day.
The author of Hebrews summons us to gather “all the more as [we] see the Day drawing near” (10:25). History runs toward a great future day when Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. In the meantime, we’re told to do two things: gather faithfully as that day draws near and view corporate worship as a means of grace to help believers persevere to the end.
Leverage the Lord’s Day to anticipate the last day.
We’re obviously closer to that “day” than when Hebrews was written. So should we gather more or less? All the more! Leverage the Lord’s Day to anticipate the last day.
3. Gather to evangelize the lost.
“A new commandment I give to you,” Jesus said, “that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35).
Do you see what he’s envisioning? Christians gathering together—visibly and regularly, at the same place and time—so those on the outside identify them as a distinct group. Self-giving love binds them into a unified body. Such a gathering displays God’s glory to the nations. As Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry observe, “The church isn’t just meant to be a new community (there are plenty of those constantly springing up). It’s meant to be a new kind of community.” Indeed, the local church is God’s chief evangelistic strategy for a lost and dying world.
4. Gather to display God’s glory to the universe.
The book of Ephesians opens with awe-inspiring theology regarding our salvation. Paul then shows how the gospel that reconciles us to God also reconciles Jewish and Gentile believers into a brand-new people. Such unity displays the gospel’s power so profoundly that even “rulers and authorities in heavenly places” look on the church with spellbound wonder (Eph. 3:10). Divine glory on display in an ordinary church captivates even angels and demons.
The local church is God’s chief evangelistic strategy for a lost and dying world.
Think of a healthy church as like an episode of Planet Earth featuring stunning images of creation. A closer look at your TV screen reveals thousands of smaller dots of light. But though an individual dot isn’t that impressive, thousands of points working in concert form a brilliant display. Likewise, when individual believers gather to glorify Christ, even cosmic forces in unseen realms tune in. But his glory in our gatherings doesn’t just reach to the heavens—it touches down on earth.
5. Gather to declare Christ and equip his people.
Jonathan Leeman calls the local church an embassy of the High King. This means the Sunday gathering is an outpost of heaven. Gathering in Christ’s name declares his authority over heaven and earth (Matt. 18:20; 28:19). We testify of the King of kings as we gather and declare all he’s commanded. Word-centered gatherings steadily transform us into the image of Christ so we increasingly resemble citizens of heaven.
The Sunday gathering is an outpost of heaven.
Long View
Gathering with others can be risky and inconvenient, but I hope you see that not meeting with God’s people comes with greater risks. Who will stir you up to love and good deeds or help you persevere to the end? Where else can you gather with others to display the glorious power of grace to human beings and cosmic powers? And who wants to miss out on being a colony of heaven on earth?
If you’ve grown sluggish in your commitment to Christ’s body, attend a gospel-preaching church this Sunday—and every Sunday thereafter. You’ll be eternally grateful you did.
The Gospel Coalition