Rainer on Leadership The Non-Legalist Reasons for Weekly Church Attendance
Too many church leaders shy away from encouraging weekly worship. They don’t want to sound legalistic. But that hesitation is a big mistake. In just 16 years, weekly church attendance has dropped sharply. Sam and Matt McCraw discuss why weekly church attendance is the best practice for everyone.
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- The weekly core has declined from 31% of Americans to 25% between 2008 and 2024. Those who never attend have risen from 20% to 34% during the same time period.
- The importance of social capital: Churches foster relationships among people who might otherwise never connect. They create networks of mutual support, encourage trust among members, and promote norms like generosity, service, and cooperation.
- God designed the human community for relational connection. You do not grow disciples in isolation.
- Parents who come monthly end up with children who come a couple of times a year. Generational “stickiness” requires the discipline of weekly attendance.
- Biblical knowledge increases over long periods of time via repetition. Churches are filled with largely biblically illiterate people because they do not attend enough to grow their knowledge.
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