1. Worship
2. Sacrament
3. Community

If “go to church” means belong to a church not just attend a service there is a fourth reason.
4. Effective mission
Mission is much more effective if we are a group rather than isolated individuals.

I BELONG to a local church because it is the way I visibly connect with the Body of Christ.
I go to worship on Sunday because that’s where as a community of believers we are embraced by God so that we can embrace others.

I really don’t know!

Wow, when I was strolling past the blog role I saw this. I wrote a journal entry on this subject exactly because more and more I encounter people who truly believe they can be Christians outside a church. Perhaps they can – but I go to church. Why is posted here’
http://community.beliefnet.com/pamheatley/blog/2009/02/27/why_go_to_church

“Why do you go to church? is a question I’ve asked myself multiple times over the past several years.
In reality, church is difficult for me. I find it hard to “worship” without wondering “how did the pastor get that from the text?” Or “Why can’t the sound guys figure out how to work the mics?” And don’t get me started when it comes to Bible Study or “Sunday School”. Those are often simply toruture tests. It’s not that I’m smarter than most pastors or Bible teachers, it is simply that the same old thing seems to be repeated over and over again without any thought to validity or what I might consider scriptural integrity. If we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, body and mind, I often wonder why the mind part is sold short.

Network with other believers for encouragement, fellowship, and motivation
Equip to do the work God called me to as an individual
Empowered through worship and the foolishness of preaching
Disciple, cannot be done in isolation

I enjoy my church (Nairobi Chapel), and my kids enjoy it too. I enjoy the music. I enjoy having my three-year-old son sit on my lap, crawl around on the floor near me, and color in my notebook. I enjoy being with other Christians from all walks of life. I enjoy hearing about what others are doing for God, and I usually get challenged both spiritually and practically in relevant, real-life ways. Sometimes, I feel the presence of God in a way I don’t feel anywhere else.

I’d love to hear from Christians why they DON’T go to church. I really struggle with going to church. Am I alone?

Well, Literacygirl, I’m not the ideal respondent to your request, but I can tell you how I got to where I am: I asked myself the question, “Why do you go to church?” and my response was the same as that of Heath (#4), “I really don’t know!” As I dissected it, I found myself wrestling with all the same issues as Norm MacDonald (#6). The worship, sacrament, fellowship and study that I used to seek on Sunday morning I am now much more likely to find at our small group, but only once or twice a month. As I have continued to attend, my wife has been wrestling with all the same issues (she jumped at the opportunity to read, “So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore” with me), and now she’s feeling as though Sunday morning actually works against our growth in Christ and she’s even more determined not to go. We have got to get this sussed out: is it just our sin & rebellion? That’s certainly the answer that has decided this issue for me for a long time, but I don’t think that’s it. We’ll still be there in the fall as I am scheduled to continue teaching an adult Sunday School class, but each Sunday this summer we consider going to church while looking to see if our time would be spent better elsewhere (serving, home in prayer and bible study, getting to know our neighbors, or, to risk being too complete, catching up on the lovemaking that the week did not allow). Hope that last bit doesn’t get my entire contribution ‘bumped,’ but there’s the long and the short of it as of July 6, 2009.

What do we mean when we use the phrase “go to church”? Attend a large group gathering on Sunday for singing and sermon and small talk? Or are we talking about “gathering for ekklesia”? “Church” in our culture means something different than the biblical concept of “ekklesia.” I discuss this issue here:
http://peelingdragonskin.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/the-biblical-teaching-about-ekklesia/

I’ve attended or belonged to an evangelical church my whole life, except for one year (a long time ago) at an Episcopal church that had experienced a charismatic renewal. I am believing more and more that we are not saved to just get to heaven, but to be Christ’s body on earth. So, I will continue to be in a local body of believers. Plus, I can think all sorts of nice things about loving others, but until I have to actually love them in a local church setting… BUT, I’m really, really tired of the typical evangelical worship service: 3 songs, the offering, 3 songs and a sermon, with grape juice and oyster crackers once a month for communion. Out of much love for my fellow believers, I don’t complain.

I don’t GO to church. I AM the church. (Together we are the church.) I participate in weekly corporate worship (that’s how I understand your question) because God has called us to worship. God has not called us out merely as individuals to have respective God-and-me relationships; God has called us into a community, to be a worshiping community as a witness to the world. Corporate worship is a spiritual discipline. In my faith tradition our pattern of corporate worship is a template that reminds us every week of how we are to live our lives in the world as participants in Christ’s resurrection power.
We are called by God to worship God.
We praise God for who God is and what God has done.
We confess that we have not lived in shalom with God, creation and others.
We receive God’s forgiveness.
We hear God’s Word.
We respond to God’s Word by interceding for others and by giving of ourselves and our resources in order to build up the Body.
We are sent out into the world to live as witnesses of the resurrection, reflecting this pattern in our day-to-day lives.
That’s why I “go to church”.

Sue, I agree that we are “living stones” in God’s temple – to use biblical metaphore, but I think the question is wrestling with why to attend a physical church, not the metaphysical aspect of it. Your list covers the experience of a Christian whether or not he/she is attending a physical church. We don’t need to be part of a church congregation to worship, praise, confess, receive forgiveness, hear God’s word, intercede, or to be witnesses.
I go to church to be around other Christians, and as a conscious act of putting myself into an environment that give me an opportunity to take a little time to focus on God. Even then, I don’t focus very well some times.
For many years (>30 years) I went to church because it was what Christians did. It took my wife’s honesty to confront her own questions about regular church attendance to start me thinking about why I attend.
Now I’m much freer about attendance, and don’t have the same legalistic views that I used to have when I was younger.

Great insights and honesty from all. I think a lot of people are wrestling through this question–which is intriguing–because for many going to church means rejection, death threats and loss of life around the world. It’s interesting that we live in a culture where the question must be asked–and we have the leisure to wrestle with it.

Brian from NZ,
I’m not sure why my explanation is metaphysical. And while it may be possible to “worship, praise, confess, receive forgiveness, hear God’s word, intercede, or to be witnesses” without being part of a congregation, it is impossible to be a witnessing, worshiping community by oneself. Again, God’s intent was not to have merely individual God-and-me relationships with individual people, God’s purpose was to call out a worshiping and witnessing community. The existence of the community itself is a kind of witness.
Jesus said that people would recognize his disciples by their love for one another. How can one love other Christians if one is not in community with them?