The Church as Family

By Andrew Beasley       Many in religious circles in the United States share concern over the declining numbers in church attendance. For instance, in 2022 a combined study by General Social Survey and the Pew Research Center showed a nearly 30 percent decline in adults who claim to be Christian, while those who are religiously unaffiliated have seen an increase from 5 percent to 29 percent over a period of about three decades from the 1990’s to 2022. There are certainly many reasons external to the church for this shift, but it must be acknowledged that there are internal explanations as well.     Recently, a two-part post regarding the shift in thinking among millennials and Gen Z Christians (i.e. those who have become adults since the GSS/PEW study) noted a desire among this group of adults to shift from going to church to instead being the church. In truth, there should be room for both. It should not be an either-or proposition but a yes-and. In other words, we should be the church and also have a desire to go to what many refer to as church or what we refer to as worship services or assembly. If we truly are the church, then we should desire to assemble with our brothers and sisters in Christ to glorify God. However, that should not be all that we have to give.    Instead, we should look to Acts 2 for some guidance on what the church should look like. It is more than just the assembly. It is a family that seeks to be around one another as often as we possibly can, glorifying God and uplifting one another in everything that we do.

- Andrew Beasley serves as a minister with the Northwest Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: https://nwchurchofchrist.com/about/