“Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together”—unless, of course, the Lord reveals to you that you are the church, as one lady said to me. Or, that you are smarter than the preacher, the deacons are trying to run the church, or no one in the congregation will speak to you. Hebrews 10:25, sort of. All these could be reasons why someone would quit going to church. 

When you don’t want to do something, you shouldn’t have to have an excuse.

If you do not want to go to church, for instance, if you can skip church for a whole year and never miss it, you should “man up” and admit, “I’m not a Christian and don’t believe all that Bible stuff. Church is for people who take the Lord seriously. Not me. So, I don’t go.”

Hmm. That felt ‘mean,’ didn’t it? But it’s dead on accurate.

More Here

POWERFUL MESSAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From ChurchLeaders:

By

Carey Nieuwhof

It’s never been easier to avoid church, skip church or exit church than it is today. And it has a lot of church leaders and Christians scrambling to figure out what’s happening, why decreased church attendance is happening and what it all means. Those are great questions.

On the positive side, a lot of the social stigma associated with ‘missing a Sunday’ is gone, and that’s not a bad thing. Self-righteousness and judgment should never have felt at home in church anyway.

On the other side, though, what’s actually going on? Is decreased church attendance a good thing for Christians to rarely/never/infrequently attend church? If you watch online, does it count? If you do your own thing, is that a good replacement?

From CHURCHLEADERS:

Greg Laurie is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, one of the largest churches in the country, as well as the founder of Harvest Crusades, which nearly 10 million people have attended. He is also the founder of Harvest America, one of the largest gospel presentations in American history. Greg is the author of over 70 books, including “Jesus Revolution: How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today.” 

Other Ways to Listen to This Podcast With Greg Laurie

► Listen on Apple
► Listen on Spotify
► Listen on Stitcher
► Listen on YouTube

Key Questions for Greg Laurie

-Tell us a little about your journey. How you did you come to know Jesus?

-For people who might not know what the Jesus Movement is, help us understand what it was and how it impacted the church.

-You’ve been in ministry now for 50 years, so you’ve seen many cultural shifts. Were there any reasons why the Jesus Movement happened when it did?

-How do you help regular, everyday people be evangelistic?

Greg Laurie on the Likelihood of Another Jesus Movement and Why Pastors Need to Evangelize