Old buildings, often with a spire or tower, where most people only go for weddings or funerals.
An archbishop or clergyman who appears on television to say what ‘the church’ thinks about some current issue.
A religious organisation which is out-of-date...

What reasons do people give for not going to church?

The services are old-fashioned and boring.
Only old people go to church.
Nobody else they know goes to church.
If they went they wouldn’t know what to do
They’re not interested in religion
Some people they know who go to church are hypocrites.

What does the word ‘church’ mean?

‘Church’ means an assembly, congregation or gathering.

So ‘church’ refers to people and not to buildings; special buildings are simply the places where ‘churches’ meet. Jesus said, "I will build my church." (Matthew 16:18), by which he meant, ‘I will build a congregation of people who have come to me, who believe in me, and belong to me.’

In the Bible ‘church’ is used in two main ways:

1. It refers to all believers in Jesus Christ from every part of the world throughout history considered as one great body, my church.
2. It refers more usually to the body of believers in a particular place, e.g. the church at Jerusalem (Acts 8:1). The great universal church of Jesus Christ shows itself in this world in churches in particular places at particular times.

What is church for?

It is the community of those whom God has saved from hell and whom he is now changing so as to make them the people he wants them to be. This is why churches are always imperfect: ‘A preacher told the story of a man who heard of a master potter and wanted to buy some of his pottery for himself. He went to the potter’s workshop, only to be confronted with a scene of chaos and mess. The potter was nowhere to be seen, but as the man looked at the tables and benches littered with tools, wheels, pots in various stages of completion and lumps of clay in its raw state, he saw a notice which read,

Please be patient
He has not finished with us yet
The showroom is upstairs.’

It is where Christians can grow in knowledge of God and his ways, and receive help in living their new life as God’s people. "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 5:18).

Growth takes place as Christians listen to the teaching of God’s Word and put into practise what it says. Growth also takes place as Christians talk to each other, share their experiences of God’s goodness and encourage each other in their faith.

It has the responsibility of making the good news of Jesus Christ known to others. A church has people with different abilities who can work together to do this. "Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word." (Acts 8:4).

While Christians should witness to their friends personally, churches usually have regular meetings or activities in which the church attempts to bring the gospel to different groups of people, for example, children or elderly people.

It is a community of people who worship God, expressing to him their thanks, recognising their dependence on him in prayer, and listening carefully to his word, the Bible. "You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5).

The regular services on Sundays are occasions when the whole church gathers in the presence of God to praise and pray, to read and receive God’s Word. These are occasions for coming to God with reverent joyfulness. Because there is nothing quite like these services anywhere else, people find them strange at first.

What are churches supposed to be like?

They should be families of God’s children who love one another. In a world short of love God puts a new love into the hearts of Christians and makes churches like families where all are loved and wanted. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35). "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (1 John 4:7,8).

No church comes up to this ideal perfectly, but God is at work in churches helping their members to love each other and live together praying and caring for each other.

They should be groups of Christians who knowing they are nowhere near perfect confess their faults and forgive one another. Jesus said, ‘If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother… ‘ Peter… said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sins against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’ (Matthew 18:15,21,22).

They should have in them men appointed to teach God’s word, to care for the members, to give advice and guide the church. "So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed." (Acts 14:23). "…appoint elders in every city… a bishop [overseer]…holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine [teaching], both to exhort and convict those who contradict." (Titus 1:5,7,9).

There are often two groups of men who lead in a church: elders, who include the pastor, who are responsible for teaching and care for the spiritual needs of the congregation; and deacons who are concerned more for the practical needs of the church and its building etc. "And we urge you, brethren, to recognise those who labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake." (1Thessalonians 5:12,13).

Above everything else they are made up of people who trust and love Jesus Christ and who want to serve him and please him. This is the common bond which keeps them all together. "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." (Colossians 2:6,7). "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17).

Attending a church, then, means joining with a group of people who trust Jesus Christ as they worship him and listen to the Bible, his Word. Joining a church means joining those who trust in Jesus Christ because you trust him yourself, so that you can worship, grow and serve with those who are now your brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.