Is Church A Waste of Time?

April 20th, 2012 - By Alissa Henry

getreligion.org

A few years ago, Beyonce told a magazine that churchgoers’ reactions to her celebrity status keep her from attending church. “I think God understands if I miss Sunday service,” she said.

Well, Beyonce may not be one of them, but according to the National Council of Churches, 147.3 million people—or just under half of the American population—attend church.

Personally, I’m a church girl and have been for most of my life. I’m always at church. I volunteer at my church, worked at my church, went to high school at my church, attended a Bible college at my church and even met my husband at my church. However, as I’m reading more of the Bible, aggressively pursuing my career goals, paying closer attention to my financial status, navigating life as a newlywed and generally just re-evaluating several areas of my life, I’ve begun to wonder if incessant church attendance is necessary…or even productive?

I believe that church attendance is vital for education, edification, and fellowship with other believers. Week after week, God moves in churches across America to bring salvation, healing and deliverance. There are people in other countries who risk their lives to have an organized church service.

However, many churches like mine have three or more services a week and expect their members to attend every one. I’m not convinced any successful person spends this much time at church.

chron.com

How could they? There are only so many hours in a week and if we have jobs and families then where does excessive church attendance fit in? It doesn’t. Something has to suffer and because too many erroneously and un-Biblically equate church with Christianity, we find ourselves forsaking all to…attend church.

That’s not what God intended.

When people in the Bible asked Jesus what they must do to be saved, he didn’t answer, “Spend every waking moment at church,” so why, two-thousand years later, has the Way, the Truth, and the Life been watered down to church attendance?

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently reported that “roughly 60 percent of Black women say they attend religious services at least once a week. No group of men or women from any other racial or ethnic background exhibits comparably high levels of religious observance.”

We also know that, statistically, Black women lag behind others in the areas of health and wealth. Are our peers are climbing the ladder of success as we sit in our local sanctuaries? How can we even begin to fulfill the Great Commission and be the “light of the world” if we hide our light under the church pews?  Living in Christian bubbles is wholly ineffective. The expectation that Christians cloister in church every chance we get has largely left us out of the ranks of highly successful people. Is there a way to find a balance between spending time at church and still getting substantial things accomplished in life? I believe so.

Of course, I can think of many less noble ways to whittle away time than spending it at church. People spend an exorbitant amount of time watching Real[ly] [Not Anybody's] Wife of [Pick Your City], enjoying senseless “hobbies” or being engrossed in Facebook’s new Timeline feature. Personally, I’ve spent hours I’ll never get back on Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr or catching up on shows via DVR.

I’m merely suggesting for that we shouldn’t be made to feel as though we are less than heaven-bound because we skip a Wednesday night service in order to go to work, get our house in order or even to spend time with friends and family.

I’m no Beyonce Knowles but, yes,I know God understands if I too, miss a Sunday service.

Follow me on Twitter: @AlissaInPink or check out my blog This Cannot Be My Life 


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  • Negress

    My job is actually a waste of my time but I still go.

  • Gimmeabreak78

    Speaking as a former frequent churchgoer, I feel that church attendence does have its benefits, but it lost its luster a long time ago somewhere between the numerous sexual scandals which have engulfed churches of all denominations and the numerous money scandals that seem to occur every other week. 

    Further to that, it has been my experience that church is no longer a way for black people to get pratical information about the world they live in. During the Civil Rights Movement, churches were more involved in preparing people for not just life in the hereafter, but life in the here and now (i.e. voter registration drives, civil disobedience, etc). In this day an age, the way that HIV, crime, and unemployment are ravaging the black community, churches are curiously silent on those issues, while they are fervently insisting that we prepare to rejoice in glory in the sweet by and by.

  • Sabrina

    I don’t think you can go to church too much. To the well-aware Christian, God should always be put first in your life, and from there, everything else will prosper. So you wouldn’t need to worry about “becoming more successful” and other such things because He’s already working on that for you.

    Now I’m not saying I live in the church, going all day every day, but whenever I don’t HAVE to be somewhere, I don’t mind making myself available to some church service and receiving a Word and thanking God for all that He has done.

    Personally, it all depends on where your heart is as to whether you believe there’s such a thing as “going to church too much.”

  • Caroneisha

    My thing is, why is everyone worried bout what the next person is doing? So what if whores,pimps, or what have you are coming to church. Is that affecting you in any shape, form or fashion? You came to church to praise god and receive the word, so do that. And god can speak through anybody he chose, it’s up to you to get it. And this whole study about health and wealth among black women is bs. Boy I swear when people want to justify when their doing wrong they would use anything as a defense. You can’t allow other things to tarnish your vision, cause if you do you will miss your blessings. Yes, people use god as a tool to make money, but it’s up to you to not take part in that. Everything in life is about free will, meaning either you can chose the right thing or the wrong it is completely up to you. But be very careful because for every action there will be a reaction. And last be not least, all of you negative people out there, before you leave this earth god will reveal himself to you and you will have no choice but to eat every last negative thing you have said about him. But untill then all I have to say is “ Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34

    • KickWhitesOutAfrica

      It’s black people like you who are the MAJOR problem of our people.  CHRISTIANITY has done nothing GOOD for us.  It has only done us EVIL.  CHRISTIANITY has kept us loving and forgiving our enemies who have lynched, burned, tarred and featured us… the list goes on.  CHRISTIANITY has kept us ignorant of who we really are.  It has kept us fleecing our people through offering and tithes.  But worst of all, CHRISTIANITY has kept us worshipping an IDOL. Black Christians are the TRUE DESTROYERS of our people and until they walk away from that poisonous religion our people are going to continue to suffer under the whip of Ole Massa’s God – JESUS CHRIST.  You need to WAKE UP to the LIES you’ve been spoon-fed. 

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