Our “Impact DNA” series will conclude this weekend with our final “G” – which stands for, Gather. And although this includes many things, I will be honing in on the one aspect that most people don’t consider all that important—the Sunday Gathering.
Why?
Because God’s Word considers the corporate gathering of all believers of a local body to be of utmost importance but most Christians? Not so much. Why the disparity?
Maybe you’re reading this and you want me to stop beating around the bush—“Come on Pastor, speak English. What are you trying to say?”
Ok, that’s fair. Here it is… I’m saying that only about half of the people who call any given church “home” will actually attend more than once or twice a month (if you’re lucky). For a lot of churches it’s no better than a third! And I’m not talking about severe sickness, vacations, or work related travel. Take all that out. I’m talking about being in town, perfect weather, good hair day, favorite team has a bye week, you got an extra hour of sleep, all the planets are aligned and still, people look for a reason not to gather with the whole church family in corporate worship.
Now, occasionally, a group comes along that breaks the mold—It’s looking like Impact is such a group! Gang, I don’t ever want us to take this for granted because a movement of God needs all hands on deck! Currently, out of the more than 450 men, women, and children calling this place home—close to 300 are showing up each week to hear about the foundational DNA for this new body of believers and to study the anatomy of a movement. That’s close to 70%! Believe it or not, that’s unheard of these days. I should be thrilled out of my gourd (whatever that is). But one thing concerns me…
The 30%.
Hit or miss attenders come from all sorts of perspectives. Maybe some don’t see the benefit of the larger weekly gathering. Perhaps others don’t know of the unique ways God’s Spirit moves during this time of worship. And who hasn’t heard believers say, “I’ll just stay home and watch someone on TV and worship alone. What’s the difference?” Finally, still more don’t know that scripture emphasizes the importance of the corporate gathering each week on the Lord’s day at all—but it does—so much so that “Gather” is one of God’s five pillars for the church.
So, even if you haven’t been to hear a single DNA sermon in this 5 week series—make sure you don’t miss this one! Let’s show up in force and I’ll make you this promise. You’ll never again wonder exactly how God feels about regular corporate worship again.
See you this Sunday.
BTW, if you’re not in the area, I encourage you to still listen to the podcast so that you can understand why it’s important to find a church in your community and dive in with everything you’ve got!
* If you want to know more about Impact Church, send me an email at pastorrob@impactchurchlive.com and we’ll make sure to keep you in the loop!