The Benefits of Church
These things I write to you though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. – 1 Timothy 3:14-15.
There are so many wonderful benefits from church attendance that it would be difficult to list them all. So many people that I talk to say that they just do not have time for church because of the busy lives they lead. However, if they could somehow comprehend the benefits church provides for them, they would never miss a service. Taking a few hours, a week to attend church services will when done faithfully bring order and coherence to every area of our lives. Instead of taking away time from us church attendance brings quality to every hour we live.
One of the more recent studies demonstrating the importance of church attendance is a Canadian psychiatric study. The study measured the impact of religious commitment with psychiatric patients. The results demonstrated that those patients “who worshipped more often also benefited more.” The study was published in the March 28, 2002, issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
Dr. Marilyn Baetz, the professor who conducted the study, said, “regular worship helps in regulating behavior problems plus a sense of coherence and meaning to life – an important factor in overall treatment.”
The apostle Paul writing to Timothy also describes the importance of the church. The church is “the pillar and ground of the truth.” To take the church out of your life or to leave the church out is to leave out the “truth.” In many ways leaving the church out is to leave out the spiritual reality or truth of every situation and circumstance. However, when we include truth, the church, we can sense a “meaning” and “coherence” in every area of our lives.
Once you establish the habit of church attendance you will never want to abandon it because you will know the difference that it makes for you and your family. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25) as the church of the Living God.
(There are so many wonderful benefits from church attendance that it would be difficult to list them all.)