The Point of Church

And Why It Should Matter to You

Steven Weems

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781666704082, 9781666704099
• eBook ISBN: 9781666704105
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Systematic Theology & Ethics

What's the point of going to church? Why get up so early in the morning, put on a bunch of uncomfortable clothes, sing the same songs, give away your hard-earned money, shake hands with people you don't really even know (and sometimes don't even like), and end up wasting your entire Sunday morning? Why do people put themselves through this on a weekly basis? This book is meant to help people understand that there is a point to church, a perfectly logical reason millions of people attend worship services around the world every week, and a reason men and women have dedicated their lives to serve in their local churches. There's a reason people sell everything they own and fly halfway around the world to start churches in cultures they know nothing about. Read this book with an open mind and an open heart, and you will discover that there is a point to church!

1

A Shift in Culture

In 2013, the Pew Research Center conducted an amazing study. They interviewed thousands of Americans and asked two simple questions. First, “How important would you say religion is in your life? Very important, fairly important, or not important at all?” (Don’t let that word “religion” scare you. We’re going to talk about the true meaning of that word later.) Second, “Did you attend church in the past seven days?” As a pastor and as someone who attends church a on regular basis, I found the results to be very interesting. There is a definite connection between the priority of faith in our daily lives and how often we attend our local church. In the 1940s and 1950s approximately 75% of Americans said religion was very important, meaning their religious beliefs or faith was the primary factor in their daily decisions, to their daily lives, and about 75% of Americans said they attended a local worship service in the past seven days. However, around 1965 we began to see a sharp decline in both religious importance and church attendance among the American population. Now I wasn’t alive in 1965, but for those of you who were, I bet you can remember some of the different events going on within American politics and culture. In 1965, for starters, the Vietnam War was escalating. What began as a French conflict with Indochina quickly became an American war, costing American lives. Justified or not, the death of thousands of American soldiers did not sit well with many in the American public. In August of 1965, the Watts Riots produced five days of violence, arson and vandalism outside of Los Angeles, CA. The riots ended with 34 dead, 1,032 wounded, more than 600 buildings damaged, and over 200 buildings completely destroyed. These riots left an entire nation questioning the current state of race-relations in America. In a similar vein, there was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote. However, many African Americans found the right to vote freely and the ability to vote freely, to be two completely separate issues, causing more stress and frustration among many African Americans, especially those in the South. Also, in 1965 the expansion of the Gemini Space Program gave us amazing technological advances in both astrophysics and engineering, laying the groundwork for the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. And these are just a few examples of historical and cultural events that helped shape our nation.

Gone were the days of uniformity and conformity; in was a time of rebellion and self-discovery.

Here’s the point. In 1965, something began to shift within the hearts, minds, and souls of the American people. Whether it was a positive or a negative shift, I’ll leave that for you to decide, but history is quite clear. The conscience of the average American citizen began to change. Gone were the days of uniformity and conformity; in was a time of rebellion and self-discovery. This became a time to throw off the shackles of the old-institutions and blaze new trails for the individual. And how Americans began to view church and religion was no exception. Within an eleven-year span, weekly church attendance dropped by more than 13%, and the number of Americans who viewed religion as being very important in their lives dropped by almost 20%. Emerging was a new generation, a generation that no longer viewed the Christian faith and church attendance as essential to their lives. The point of church was fading.

Simply, why would you attend a church where the people in power lived a life of “do as a I say not as I do?”

I’ll repeat myself; I was not around in 1965, but as I study history and observe how those in power both within the church and outside the church conducted themselves, I can’t say that I would not have been a little rebellious myself. Why would you want to attend a church where the pastor and leadership are openly racist? Why would you want to attend a church that says they exist for love and grace while denying their fellow citizens the basic right to vote? Simply, why would you attend a church where the people in power lived a life of “do as a I say not as I do?” You can blame drugs, sex, and rock-and-roll all you want, but the church has to take some responsibility for the mental and spiritual shift of the 1960s, because there is very little doubt that American culture began to move away from faith and church during those formative years.

With all that said, where does that leave us today? Pre-1960s most people could have the expectation of getting up early on a Sunday morning, putting on their best clothes, and the whole family heading off to church. The current culture just isn’t that way anymore. The expectation of the regular American getting up on Sunday morning and heading off to worship just doesn’t exist. The data from the previously mentioned survey shows that only 45% of Americans, both Protestant and Catholic, say they attend church services once a week. And only a little over 50% say that religion is very important to their daily lives. So in 60 years, basically one generation, we’ve seen the importance of religion drop by almost 25% and regular church attendance drop by almost 30%. And if I’m going to be completely honest with you, I think those numbers may be a tad high.

As a pastor who deals with real people with real life issues on a daily basis, I would be shocked if 50% of those within a given community actually believe their faith is “very important,” meaning it’s important enough to be their primary guiding point in life. This has been my observation in over twenty years of ministry; I would put that number closer to 25%. And the percentage of regular church attendance would probably be much lower than that. Remember that phrase “very important” is extremely specific, meaning your faith actually guides the decision making processes of your life; how you spend your time, money, passion, and energy. Life gets so busy and so chaotic at times we often shift into survival mode, just trying to get from one day to the next without things falling apart. And unfortunately, faith tends to take the back seat and consistent church attendance goes along with it. It happens to the best of us. Life gets busy, faith becomes secondary, and what we think and hope to be “very important,” in reality becomes only “somewhat important.”

The Power of Culture

What defines American culture?

I love social media. Like most things in life, it can be used in both a negative and positive way. One of the things I like to do on social media is ask open-ended questions, they make for great discussions. So, a few months back I asked the simple question, “What defines American culture?” The question came to my mind as I was sitting in a large shopping mall watching people Christmas shopping. People watching can be a lot of fun but also very scary! As I was watching everyone shop, the one thing that kept jumping out at me was the diversity of the shoppers. People of different colors, languages, and nationalities all spending money they probably didn’t have, on material things they probably didn’t need, and given to people they don’t really even like. But, they were all doing it together, and it made me really think, how would I define American culture to someone from another country? What defines American culture?

I can tell you first-hand, after spending three weeks in Eastern China, I came to appreciate the clarity of their culture. It was expressed in different ways, and although there has been some Western influence, for the most part, Chinese culture has a clear sense of self. The same can be said of other cultures such as Latin, Indian, and Middle Eastern. So truthfully, when it comes to defining American culture, I struggled. Because culture is often defined as specific customs, traditions, or uniqueness related to that group of individuals. At first, outside of hamburgers and hotdogs, I found it difficult to think of anything specifically unique to Americans. Yes, we are a free and democratic society, but we didn’t invent democracy, and we’re not the only free country on the planet. Yes, we have admirable concepts as freedom and opportunity, but the truth is other countries have freedom and opportunity just like we do.

So, what really is “American Culture?” For me, American culture comes down to one word, Stubbornness. And I mean that in a good way! One could say the horse-n-buggy is the best form of transportation, America will give you Henry Ford. One could say that man is not meant to fly but let me introduce you to the Wright Brothers. And one could say man will never walk on the moon, but I’ll raise you one Apollo 11 mission! What we have accomplished in our short time as a nation is absolutely remarkable. We are a culture of hardheaded, laser-focused, stubborn individuals, and the best way to get us to do something is to tell us we can’t! A large part of our many accomplishments as a nation comes from our diversity. Not just racial diversity, but diversity of thought, opinion, and ideas....

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: A Shift in Culture
• Chapter 2: The American Gospel
• Chapter 3: The Meaning of “Church”
• Chapter 4: The Upside-down Kingdom
• Chapter 5: Built for Relationships
• Chapter 6: Unity Not Uniformity
• Chapter 7: The Sunday Morning Worship Service
• Chapter 8: The Church and State
• Chapter 9: I’m Church Hurt
• Chapter 10: Mo Money!
• Chapter 11: Your Pastor isn’t Superman!
• Bibliography