Why Don't Modern Christians Worship?

Why don't modern Christians worship?

That question may seem a bit harsh.  After all, nominalism has been a cancer within the Christian Church since at least Constantine's day.  We can't lump committed Christians in with cultural Christians, can we?

And yet, even many regular churchgoers seem uncommitted to weekly church attendance, as borne out both by anecdotal evidence and by many studies.  See here, here, and here for examples (do note the encouraging trends among younger generations).  Particularly telling is the fact that what constitutes regular attendance is itself somewhat of a mystery.  Beyond this, stats regarding family worship throughout the week would probably be too depressing to consider.  I think we can agree that that is rare, at best.

 

It suffices, and is fair, to say that many professing Christians, even relatively devout ones, view regular worship as optional.

Why?  I think there are a few reasons.

Firstly, we are distracted.  We all have somewhere else to be--something else to do.  We're all chronically exhausted.  We're all constantly playing catch-up on yard work and laundry.  It's no mystery that sports now command religious devotion, as well, even among Christians.  Frankly, any type of productivity or discipline requires more intentionality now than ever since, between sports, doomscrolling, and workaholism, it's easier to stay busy than it is to stay focused and in the moment.

Busyness--sheer busyness--is one of the great threats to personal piety and regular corporate worship.  

Secondly, we are anti-ritualistic.  We love to break with traditions, especially embodied, religious traditions.  We reject the rituals and habits of our grandparents because we don't understand them or because they have been empty rituals for far too long.  We eschew traditional wedding practices, funerals, and even workplace routines, and we've never felt more alone.  

COVID illustrated this perfectly.  Lawmakers demonstrated how we as a society underestimate the importance of the embodied experiences that mark important life events and transitions.  Teens and young adults were robbed of their graduation ceremonies, brides and grooms missed out on normal weddings, and mourning survivors were unable to hold proper funerals.  We may never know the emotional and psychological damage this caused, but the fact that as a society allowed it to happen reveals a deeper abandonment of ritualism in our modern era.

Also along these lines is the I can worship on the ball field or on the lake thought process.  Yes, God is everywhere.  Yes, you can experience God in nature or sport.  Yes, these experiences can certainly be worshipful.  This attitude, however, reveals a lack of appreciation for the higher purpose and formative effects of regular, corporate gathering with other Christians.

Thirdly, we are expressive individualists.  Much has been written on this topic.  I recommend especially Trueman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, where he makes palatable Charles Taylor's important work on the subject.  

I think this concept is particularly important for understanding modern attitudes towards church attendance.  We are, all of us, expressive individualists, which inevitably comes through in our religious beliefs and practices (or lack thereof).  My religion is just that--my religion.  It is for my benefit and my piety is dictated by what suits me.  Even those of us who have gone back to older, more traditional churches have often done so because the worship, theology, or ecclesiology suits us.  We are consumerists to the core.

When our focus is inward, we are less likely to miss corporate worship.  When attending a church service is about what I get out of it, it's less of a vital appointment with God and more of an optional pick-me-up.  It's like an AA meeting--if I'm doing alright, I don't need to go this week.    

This is why seeker friendly worship is so dangerous and is partially to blame for declining attendance.  When church is about motivating, entertaining, or therapizing me, then my impulse to attend is dependent on my current need to attend.  

I am sure many authors could identify further reasons, but I think we have spent enough time identifying the malady.  So, what is the cure?  How do parents impress the importance of church attendance on their children?  How do clergy convince their parishioners to show up every Sunday and maybe even for a Wednesday service every once in a while?

Certainly the answer is not a moralistic insistence that this is what we do.  After all, nominalism is part of how we got here in the first place.  What we need is a proper understanding, a proper theology, of worship.  This begins with remembering who God is and, subsequently, who we are.

God is the Creator.  We are creatures.  We were created in the image of God to worship our God.  Furthermore, those in Christ have been redeemed to worship God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. 

We see this throughout Scripture.  The Psalms consistently call all of God's Creation, animate and inanimate, to sing the praises of God.  Psalm 95:6 bids us, Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our maker.  In Isaiah 43:7 Yahweh speaks of Israel as everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.  The throne room scenes in Revelation reinforce this theme.  Revelation 4:11 records the heavenly anthem: Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. 

I think Reformed pastor and theologian (and classically trained musician) John Frame said it well in his book Worship in Spirit and Truth:

Redemption is the means; worship is the goal.  In one sense, worship is the whole point of everything.  It is the purpose of history, the goal of the whole Christian story.  

When we understand this--that we were created and redeemed to worship God--we see that worshiping God is so much more than an option or even a begrudging duty.  Worship is our purpose.  Worship is our telos, our end or goal.  It is literally the primary goal of our existence.  

And, as such, it is lifegiving.  It is when we fulfill this highest purpose that we find true happiness and fulfillment.  In this corporate, self-effacing activity we find real meaning.  When we approach regular worship with this God-centered mindset, we find that we get all that other stuff (emotional uplifting, camaraderie, etc.), too.

So, worship isn't about us.  It's not a social club or a free therapy session.  Nor is it simply a duty we full--a box we check.  It is the Triune God meeting with His people.  We are blessed and fed when we come, but we come primarily to worship--to acknowledge and praise our Creator, to remember what He has done for us in Christ, and to discover His will for our lives.  

We systematize those things in life that are important to us.  Worship should be no different.

It feels only appropriate to end with the opening words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (I may not be Presbyterian anymore, but Westminster is in England, after all!).     

What is the chief end of man?

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.