Sunday

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sathish Kumar ( Dan) on September 10, 2013 at 2:35am

hmmm Seems that everybody is utlilizing

Permalink Reply by Carla on September 14, 2013 at 9:07am

Hi Dan,

Here's a great article that addresses this topic:

Question: "What are appropriate reasons for  missing church?"

Answer: Many people have an improper and/or  unbiblical understanding of church attendance. Some people feel that they must  attend church legalistically, being at church virtually every time there is any  kind of service or meeting. Some people experience a feeling of guilt whenever  they miss a Sunday morning service. Sadly, some churches encourage this guilt by  putting excessive pressure on people to attend regularly. In the matter of  church attendance, the most crucial thing to understand is that the quality of a  person’s relationship with God is not determined by how often he/she is in  church. Similarly, God’s love for His children is not based on the number of  times they attend formal services.

There is no doubt that Christians,  followers of Jesus Christ, should attend church. It should be the desire of each  and every Christian to worship corporately (Ephesians  5:19-20), to fellowship with and encourage other Christians (1 Thessalonians  5:11), and to be taught God’s Word (2 Timothy  3:16-17). Attending church should be a joy, not a dreaded and dreary  assignment. Just as God loves a cheerful giver (2  Corinthians 9:7), so He is pleased with a genuinely cheerful church attendee  (Hebrews  10:24-25).

What then are appropriate reasons for missing church? Is  it acceptable to miss church to attend a sporting event? Yes. Is it acceptable  to miss church while on vacation? Yes. Is it acceptable to miss church when you  are sick/ill? Yes. Is it acceptable to miss church because you are tired from a  difficult week? Yes. Like so many other issues in the Christian life, church  attendance can become legalistic instead of a matter of grace. A person does not  have to attend church to be saved, to be a good Christian, to grow spiritually,  etc. Rather, a Christian should attend church to learn about the greatness of  God’s gift of salvation, to learn how to become more like Christ, and to have  opportunities to minister to others.

Why do you attend church? Is it to  make yourself appear spiritual? Is it to interact with possible business  contacts? Is it out of legalistic thinking that says the more frequently you  walk through the doors of a church, the more God is pleased with you? Is your  Sunday morning filled with family strife, arguing, and screaming, followed by  attending church with pasted-on smiling, happy faces? In such an instance, it  would be better to stay home and work on biblically resolving the conflict in  your family, instead of making a token appearance at church.

It all  comes down to perspective and priorities. The busyness of many people’s lives  makes church attendance more of a chore than a blessing. If attending church is  not important enough, or valuable enough, to make it a priority, either  something is wrong with your church or something is wrong with your attitude  about church. Is your church attendance nothing more than arriving one minute  before the service starts, sitting bored and inattentively through the worship  and sermon, and then leaving immediately after the service ends? If so, you  might as well have missed church, as you did not take anything from it, and you  contributed nothing to it.

We should want to attend church so we can  fellowship with others who have also experienced the amazing grace of Jesus  Christ. We should avoid missing church, whenever possible, because we recognize  the importance of hearing God’s Word, applying it to our lives, and sharing it  with others. We should attend church, not to collect spiritual bonus points, but  because we love God and recognize what His Word says about the importance of  corporate fellowship and worship (Hebrews  10:24-25). Every Christian should attend church regularly. At the same time,  missing church for a good reason is in no sense a sin or something that should  cause feelings of guilt.

When you miss (do not attend) church, do you  miss (have a longing for) church? If so, that is a sign you have a good and  biblical connection with church. If not, that is a sign you need to re-evaluate  your choice of church and/or participation in church. God knows our hearts. God  is not impressed by a person attending every Sunday morning service, Sunday  evening service, mid-week service, and Bible study opportunity a church offers.  God’s desire is that we utilize the local church for our own spiritual  edification and the use of our spiritual gifts to minister to  others.

Recommended Resource: Why Church Matters: Discovering Your Place in the Family of God  by....

Read more:  http://www.gotquestions.org/missing-church.html#ixzz2esaupZlU

Why do I go to church? 

Personally, I attend because I always learn, and also the corporate worship.  The church I attend is a large church, so the fellowship on Sunday's doesn't really happen.  The fellowship happens during the week at different home groups.  A smaller group gathers together to worship, pray, discuss the teaching and learn how to apply it to our lives.  We also reach out compassionately in our community through the home church.  I believe church is important to attend... not legalistically, but in order to live the life God has called us to.  God has designed things in such a way that this life is lived out in community with others, never alone.  The true 'church' is not a building, it's God's people being the hands and feet of Jesus and proclaiming the good news while serving others.

 

Blessings, Carla

Permalink Reply by Sathish Kumar ( Dan) on September 14, 2013 at 11:33am

Thanks a lot Carla , God bless you I have posted this discussion and seems no one has replied , but I know deep inside  that God is ordaining and Im going to get the right words which I need to hear

Your answer and the article is awesome ... now I get a clear picture and especially I love these words .. The true 'church' is not a building, it's God's people being the hands and feet of Jesus and proclaiming the good news while serving others. AMEN

I thank God for giving this wonderful word through you ... God Bless you sis :)