Well, I am just getting in from Church, I hope that doesn't disappoint anyone.
I was looking at some statistics and I see that less than 20% of Americans regularly attend Church; half of what pollsters report. In a study surveying the growth of Protestants, Marler and Headway discovered that while the majority of people they interviewed don't belong to a local Church, they still identify with their Church roots. "Never mind the fact that they attend Church less than 12 times a year," according to their research. They estimate that 78 million Protestants are in that place. Ask most Pastor's (they report), what "percentage of inactive members they have" -- they will say, "Anything from 40%-60%.
Even with a broader definition of Church attendance, classifying a regular attendee as someone who shows up at least three out of every eight Sundays, only 23%-25% of Americans would fit this category. Olson notes, that an additional million Church attendees would increase the percentage from 17.7% to only 18%. Thus, you'd have to find 80 million more people that Churches forgot to count on their ledgers to get to the mainstream pollsters 40% conclusions.
Clearly a disconnect between what Americans say and what they actually do has created a sense of a resilient Church culture when, in fact, it may not exist. With that said, it is obvious to me Jesus wants us to attend a corporate gathering in way of suggesting to bring our tithe into the store house. We know in Luke 14:6 regular Church attendance was what Jesus did, are we not to follow His example? We know thru Hebrews that people have left the practice of gathering together, and Jesus admonished them to instead - gather, for the sake of fellowship and encouragement, all the more, as we see the day approaching of His return, thus applying to today as well as in His day.We know God wants us to honor the Sabbath and keep it Holy, we know by going to Church it is a positive testimony to others as well. We know that its practice is encouraging us towards love and good deeds, and that by its commission the gifts are used in a single-mindedness to serve His purposes.
My Spiritual discernment of the Bible tells me to go to Church, and to serve God in a life2life one-on-one experience with people in discipleship. Both are His will. So far, I have never had God suggest to me that I am wrong, thru the holy Spirit or His Word.
I was looking at some statistics and I see that less than 20% of Americans regularly attend Church; half of what pollsters report. In a study surveying the growth of Protestants, Marler and Headway discovered that while the majority of people they interviewed don't belong to a local Church, they still identify with their Church roots. "Never mind the fact that they attend Church less than 12 times a year," according to their research. They estimate that 78 million Protestants are in that place. Ask most Pastor's (they report), what "percentage of inactive members they have" -- they will say, "Anything from 40%-60%.
Even with a broader definition of Church attendance, classifying a regular attendee as someone who shows up at least three out of every eight Sundays, only 23%-25% of Americans would fit this category. Olson notes, that an additional million Church attendees would increase the percentage from 17.7% to only 18%. Thus, you'd have to find 80 million more people that Churches forgot to count on their ledgers to get to the mainstream pollsters 40% conclusions.
Clearly a disconnect between what Americans say and what they actually do has created a sense of a resilient Church culture when, in fact, it may not exist. With that said, it is obvious to me Jesus wants us to attend a corporate gathering in way of suggesting to bring our tithe into the store house. We know in Luke 14:6 regular Church attendance was what Jesus did, are we not to follow His example? We know thru Hebrews that people have left the practice of gathering together, and Jesus admonished them to instead - gather, for the sake of fellowship and encouragement, all the more, as we see the day approaching of His return, thus applying to today as well as in His day.We know God wants us to honor the Sabbath and keep it Holy, we know by going to Church it is a positive testimony to others as well. We know that its practice is encouraging us towards love and good deeds, and that by its commission the gifts are used in a single-mindedness to serve His purposes.
My Spiritual discernment of the Bible tells me to go to Church, and to serve God in a life2life one-on-one experience with people in discipleship. Both are His will. So far, I have never had God suggest to me that I am wrong, thru the holy Spirit or His Word.
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