The Myth of Optional Church Attendance

by Jack Partridge

What does church attendance have to do with sharing the gospel? Plenty. At the recent Bible Study and Preaching Retreat, Don Wilton boldly declared that one of the mark’s of someone that is “living out their Christianity” is that they have a desire to be with the people of God.  If you share Christ often enough, you will meet people that claim they are Christians and even say that they go to church, but just try asking them about their church. I asked a man about his church a couple of weeks ago after he confidently told me that he went to church. He just looked with a blank stare and then fumbled around to remember what the name of his church was and even where it was located. A guy I was talking to last week said that he just didn’t like going to church. I quickly discovered that he didn’t like going to church because he didn’t know Jesus. In a spiritual conversation, never stop the progression toward Christ because they mention that they “have a church.” At one time I avoided asking about church because I wanted to talk about Jesus, not church, knowing that many people are under the impression that just going to church will get them into heaven. But I have come to understand that church conversation is the fastest and most comfortable way to create an opportunity to talk about Jesus. When I ask people if they go to church or if it comes up in the conversation, I then say, “That’s great, how long have you been a Christian?” If they don’t know how to answer that question I immediately share my testimony with them and the conversation opens up from there. So, one of the best ways to create a witnessing opportunity is to simply talk about your week, which I trust will include at least a couple of visits to your own church.