Many Choose to NOT sit in Pews

 I read with interest a recent Gallup Poll which saddened me:

IN THIS GALLUP POLL you can read all the details.  I will cut and paste some of the more pertinent take-aways below and then will discuss further below.

"Church membership is strongly correlated with age, as 66% of traditionalists -- U.S. adults born before 1946 -- belong to a church, compared with 58% of baby boomers, 50% of those in Generation X and 36% of millennials."

"The two major trends driving the drop in church membership -- more adults with no religious preference and falling rates of church membership among people who do have a religion -- are apparent in each of the generations over time."

"While precise numbers of church closures are elusive, a conservative estimate is that thousands of U.S. churches are closing each year."

I grew up attending church because (shamelessly robbing an old preacher joke) I had a drug problem - my parents drug me to church!  I attended Sunday School, VBS, learned all the songs like "Zacchaeus was a wee little man," "This little light of mine," "Deep and Wide," and "Jesus loves the little children."  We had "sword" drills, memorized Scripture and grew in the Faith.

We now attend a small country church.  Tricia and I drug our kids to church.  Forty people meeting regularly to worship God, pray, and be taught from the Bible.  It is an older congregation.  There are strong role models there.  Imperfect people serving a perfect God.  We rejoice in each others' victories and mourn in each others' losses.

Truth be told, the Gallup Poll is about church membership - not believers. Just because you are a member of a church does not mean you are a believer.  Heaven will have people who never joined a church.  However, we are admonished to "not forsake the assembling of yourselves together" in Scripture.  We are encouraged to meet to worship our King, be edified by sitting under strong Scriptural teaching, to pray for one another, to sing praises, and to fellowship with one another.  By doing this, your faith should grow as your Christian walk deepens.

Alternatively, Hell will have people who were church members:  

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:21-23

So looking at just church membership is not looking at the whole picture.  However, fewer people on the pews is sad.  That's potentially fewer people hearing the Gospel, fewer people being changed by Truth found in the Word of God, fewer people being encouraged to not conform to a darkened world, fewer people being equipped to bring the Light of Christ into that darkened world.  And as the Gallup poll showed, the trend shows decreasing church attendance with each generation.

It is my opinion that we are In the Last Days.  You can click that hyperlink to read what the Apostle Paul wrote about these times in II Timothy.  Things will get worse, but take heart.  If you know Christ, He will guide you through the storms that are sure to come.  Get to know Him if you don't!  Keep the Faith!  Find a strong Bible-believing church and attend and grow despite the trend the Gallup poll showed.