Why should you attend a weekend gathering of the church? For years this question didn’t have to be answered.  It was just assumed.  When people thought about their faith they thought about it, at least, in relation to their Sunday activities of singing, listening, and giving at a church building.

But now many are questioning the importance of the church service. Some have given up on it altogether.  Here are some reasons for this phenomenon:

1. Sunday-centric ministry has not produced disciples like the 1st century disciples.
2. Worship is not meant to be a one day affair.  Worship should be 24/7.
3. Going to a church building on Sunday isn’t a “righteous” thing.  It is not a good work.

All of these critiques are valid. Attending a weekend church service is not enough to fulfill all that God desires out of His followers.  The Bible critics building centric or “event” oriented worship.  Just read Jesus response about worship in John 4.  And, of course, the weekend is not an “act of righteousness.”

But the Bible doesn’t forbid a weekly gathering of the church, either.  We can throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Just because some of the reasons for weekend attendance aren’t fully biblical, doesn’t mean there aren’t good reasons to attend weekly.

Let me give you two:

First, God has given us the Bible for our perseverance and encouragement (Romans 15:4).  God’s word is the energy that restores our initiative and drive to live the lives that God would have us live.  We need continual reminders of what God says in his word.  (Paul, Peter, Jude, and John all wrote their letters specifically to “remind”).  The weekend church service serves as those reminders: God’s word proclaimed musically, God’s word preached, God’s word fed upon in communion.

Second, we can’t just read the Bible by ourselves and expect that we are going to understand it in it’s fullness. We need teachers.  Just as no university would just set up a library and have no classrooms, neither should a local church just expect people to read the Bible for themselves and understand everything.  We don’t learn simply by reading and regurgitating.  We need people to reinforce, provide context, and give application to what is in the books.  That is how we learn.

Much more could be said, for God’s word is not simply about learning.  Yet we are foolish to cut ourselves off from the weekly gathering of the church.  For God has set it up for His people’s perseverance and encouragement.