Rediscovering church attendance

By Charles Christian

It’s just not popular to go to church anymore.

Statistics bear this out, with the “nones” – people who profess no specific religious faith – becoming the fastest-growing group in the United States.

I don’t say this in a way to mock those who don’t attend or claim a particular church connection. In fact, as a lifelong churchgoer and longtime ordained clergyperson, I will honestly say that much of the blame for this decline rests squarely in the laps of churches and denominations. Too often we have taken our eye off the ball, so to speak. We have traded marketing for ministry, and we have substituted politics for the genuine proclamation of the faith.

There are other reasons for the decline, of course. Those can be found in books, articles and surveys over the past decade that provide a roadmap on how we got where we are.

The good news is there are still genuine believers, authentic churches and people committed to serving God and those in need. Churches that provide actual fellowship and genuine concern are still part of the landscape.

In recent years, I have discovered that many of these churches are smaller in attendance, and some are even older congregations whose membership consists of generations of attendees who have been investing their time and resources into their surrounding communities for decades.

At first, these kinds of churches may seem like they would be closed communities, consisting of “insiders” who want to keep things as they have been until the church just fades away. While there may be people like that in these congregations, by and large the churches I am speaking of are hungry to welcome those who have lost touch with church and even with the faith. These churches, though small in number, are trying to provide genuine means of connection to newcomers (or to those who left long ago), while also using their longtime knowledge of the community to meet real needs and make a genuine eternal impact.

Along the way, these churches can provide a way to reconnect with your faith and find meaningful involvement in a mission that is bigger than yourself.

These congregations may look like the church of your parents and grandparents. That does not mean they cannot become a place where faith is renewed, new relationships are cultivated and new life is nurtured. Check them out. There’s probably one right up the road.