Why do people attend church?

 There are four main reasons why people attend church:

1. People crave a spiritual component to their lives.  Generally, people derive a measure of satisfaction from participating in a meaningful religious experience in their everyday lives.  Attending a church service can provide that connection with the divine, the holy, the ascendant, something larger than themselves.

What can happen, however, is that some new element is introduced that makes it difficult to achieve that same sense of spiritual connection.  For example, if your idea of a worship experience is with traditional hymns played on the organ, and your church introduces a rock band, you may have a difficult time achieving that same sense of serenity and participation.  If you have a particular connection to praise and worship choruses with simple lyrics, and you are confronted with 19thC hymns with 6 dense verses that you have to read from the hymnal, again it may take you out of your experience of worship.

Similarly, theological trends in doctrinal issues now seem to divide the church more than ever.  Disagreements in doctrinal matters, however minor,  now take on a strident tone that can destroy the sense of community and serenity within a church body.  If your pastor or sunday school teacher starts wandering towards Calvinism or becoming charismatic or begin to cozy up to New Age mysticism, you may find your fellowship with the church begin to be eroded.

If a church service is not conducive to your sense of spiritual connection, then you're not getting what you need from church attendance, and you are much less inclined to go on Sunday.

2. The church is a very effective way to connect the entire family with spirituality and provide a moral foundation for their lives.  This is particularly true for families raising children.  Being associated with a community church can foster internal family connections, connections between families - for example a place for children to make friends within a moral peer-group, children's activities to develop growth, leadership, and personal experiences in a generally wholesome and supportive moral environment.  This can also be a connection to older or previous generations of the family, when you go to a church or a denomination that your parents or grandparents also attended.

However, more recent generations are not getting married, and having children is a low priority.  There was a time in the 70s-90s where raising families was where most people were occupied.  But modern demographic trends have moved toward smaller families or of couples having no children at all.  Other segments of the population may be divorced or older and the family connection is not as strong. If you fit this category, your connection to church may be diminished. 

3. Individuals who desire a deeper understanding into the more foundational truths of our lives can find it through study of the Bible, and the exchange of ideas among others seeking similar answers.  This can be facilitated in the preaching of sermons, in Sunday school classes, and in small group Bible studies.

Two things can work against this motivation, however.  If you attend a church where the teachers are not particularly learned, if their messages are simplistic and emotional, if they tend to be exhortational or emotional rather than expository, then you may not be getting all that you expect from church attendance.  

On the other hand, you may find a preacher who takes a different view from your own on particular theological points, who tends to have a more liberal approach to Bible interpretation.  You may find that listening to such messages is more annoying than edifying.  

At the same time, there are an abundance of internet podcasters who delve deeply into Biblical issues and you may not need to attend church at all in order to find the Christian teaching that you seek. You can certainly find speakers who are more closely aligned with your own doctrinal position.

4. The church functions as a social organization.  The church provides activities and supports functions that allow people to socialize in a relatively safe environment with people who have similar world views, backgrounds, and values.  It allows singles to make connections with each other in a pre-selected environment.  It allows adults to collaborate over meaningful projects that provide support to the group as well as the community as a whole.

It used to be that a respectable church was at the center of community social life.  For a banker, a politician, a businessman, having a connection to a church was an important social requirement.  But with the secularization of our culture, that requirement is no longer the case.  You might do just as well with other social organizations like the Elks club or the Shriners.  You might find important partners or clients at the golf club or an online forum.  In fact, religious affiliation might be something that you want to keep private for fear of inviting scorn or condescension.

In a similar way, a church organization used to be a way to make a meaningful contribution to your community, from something as simple as coordinating with others to mow the lawn and maintain the building, or working with the youth, to complicated interactions such as being on the board of elders to help guide the direction of the church, or coordinating community outreach and missions efforts, overseeing thousands of dollars in budget.  Some members sing in the choir, while others decorate the sanctuary, act as ushers/greeters, work on the sound system, the webcast, the refreshment table, or any of an number of other ways that elevate their experience beyond merely sitting in the pews on Sunday morning.

If a member cannot find a way to find significant participation in the church and its surrounding community, then they are likely to lose their connection to the organization.

To summarize, the reason that church attendance is diminishing is:

1. People can no longer feel a connection to God and to the divine.  Something about the service disturbs the spiritual connection that it used to create in its participants.

2. Church participation creates a strong bond among and within families, particularly families with many children.  However, younger generations are no longer having large families and potential church-goers are more likely to be single, or with no children at all.

3. There are several alternative sources of Biblical instruction available for those seeking for spiritual insight, while the weekly sermon tends to become less and less significant.

4. Church organization has tended toward either a corporate arrangement, or toward a one-man ministry.  There are fewer and fewer opportunities for men and women to make meaningful contributions to the church community.