Have you ever noticed how it seems pastors are always trying to get you to attend church more? If you don’t come at all, then you should start coming. One you start coming, you need to be there every Sunday. Once you attend regularly, then you should also attend Sunday night. And on and on it goes, until the “most faithful” members are there Sunday morning for three hours, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Saturday morning, and teach a Tuesday night Bible study in their home.

And at first, they tell you just to attend and “enjoy” the service. But later, they want you to “get involved” and start serving. It’s like the first one is free, but after that, you better start paying for what you’re using.

Is it just me, or do pastors have a lot in common with drug pushers?

Many pastors are only too happy to allow their congregations to depend on church attendance, for attendance addictions fill the pews and the offering plates on Sunday morning. In fact, many pastors reinforce such behavior. In the minds of most church leaders, the “truly committed and faithful followers” of Jesus Christ are those who are at the church whenever the doors are open. I know that I felt this way as a pastor. I expected it of my elders.

Yet such beliefs are not only contrary to reality, they are also contrary to Scripture. There is not a single verse anywhere which says attending church is an indication of spiritual health or that God is using you in mighty ways. It’s just not there. In fact, such a mentality reveals a deep misunderstanding of the purpose and function of the church. Pastors who teach and encourage such behavior not only enable this dependence, but have even become pushers, trying to get more and more people hooked on the drug of church.

To break free, to destroy the dependence, to stop the enablement, pastors may have to do something drastic. Telling people that there is more to following church than showing up at a building for another program or Bible study is simply not enough—especially when the church offers so many programs and Bible studies. It may be that the church needs to follow the example of drug and alcohol rehab centers, and require that people go “cold turkey.” Cancel everything—Sunday services, Bible studies, programs, everything—and see what happens.

If your church cancelled all services and programs for one week, or a month, what do you think would happen?

Note: this post is based on a section from the book I am writing, Close Your Church for Good.

Close Your Church for Good. Chap 4, Sec 4. This section is actually based off a blog post I wrote a while back. It fit in nicely with the direction of this chapter, so I included it.

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Modern Christians are not the only ones who met together in large groups to worship God, pray, sing songs, and listen to Scriptural teaching. God’s people have been doing this for thousands of years. And God isn’t necessarily opposed to it, unless it gets in the way of certain things that are nearest and dearest to the heart of God. What things?

If we take passages like Isaiah 1:12-13, Amos 4:4-5, Amos 5:21-24, Jeremiah 14:12, Hosea 6:6, and Micah 6:6-8 and put them together with modern terminology, we could say that the following is what God has to say about the church:

“Go to church and sin!
Attend Bible studies and multiply your sins!
Volunteer to clean the church.
Faithfully tithe your 10%.
Praise Jesus for all He has given you.
Thank God for your many blessings.
For these are the things, Oh Christian, you love to do,”
says the Lord God.

“I hate your pot lucks.
Nor do I delight in your Christian concerts.
Though you give generously to support the building fund,
And donate faithfully to the Christian organizations,
I will not even look at these many gifts.

“Cease your many sermons,
Stop writing your faithful blog.
Get out of your pew,
Put away all your Christian books.

“When you fast, I will not listen.
Though you cry out, I will not hear.
I will not accept your offerings
And sacrifices of praise.

“Take away from me the noise of your many songs,
Your numerous prayers are an abomination!
Quit playing the guitars, banging on the drums,
And raising your hands in praise.
Stop trampling the parking lots
In your eagerness to get to church.

“Sunday morning, Sunday night.
Wednesday evening, Friday morning.
I hate all your meetings.
I despise your numerous studies.
They are all evil in my sight.

“Instead, let justice roll down like a waterfall,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I want you do justice, love kindness,
And walk humbly with your God.”

Does that sound harsh? It probably sounded so to the Israelites who heard God say such things about their temple worship, yearly festivals, frequent fasts, and sacrificial system, much of which He instituted! But notice. It is not that God doesn’t desire such things; it is that they were supposed to lead to something else. The worship of God is supposed to result in justice, kindness, and the humble service of others. If our churches services are not accomplishing this (and preaching about such topics is not enough), we should cancel our services until we have our priorities straight.