How to Make Church a Habit in 2021
Recently, I cast a vision for 2021 in our Wednesday night student ministry worship service pulling from Acts 2:42-47, with a specific focus on verses 42 & 46-47. Verse 47 tells us, “Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” What an amazing thought, that God was adding to the number of salvations every single day. Some might argue that this was simply a move of the Spirit during the early church. However, I would argue that we have the same God and the same Spirit with us today that was present with the early church. Our God has not changed. If anyone has changed, it’s us.
Acts 2:42 & 46 indicate that during this great move of God, there were certain things believers were devoted to at that time.
Acts 2:42 says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.”
Acts 2:46 says, “Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house.”
There are 4 key things they were devoted to: God’s Word, gathering together (both in the temple and in homes), remembering Christ’s death (through the breaking of bread), & prayer.
And while it is important for believers to likewise be committed to these 4 things today, let me specifically address their second devotion: gathering together.
2020 greatly challenged our ability to gather together in-person. This isn’t just true for one town or one church; this was true for churches across our country and around the world. And for the sake of clarification, this particular blog is not to argue whether your church or all churches should be back to meeting in-person or not or to what level your church should be back to. I would not presume to know what is best for a church in a town 10 or 20 hours away from mine. I pray that your pastors are seeking the Lord’s guidance and making the best decisions possible for your church during this challenging time.
Also, for those in my own church, I realize that there are some that are still unable to meet with us in-person due to the impact of Covid-19 and your own level of vulnerability. This blog is in no way directed towards you with the implication that you need to get back to the building. I pray the Lord continues to be with you as you gather with us online until the day you are able to gather with us in-person again.
However, as we do think about gathering together, it is all too easy to get out of the habit, even without a pandemic. But, scripture is clear on the importance of gathering, not just in Acts 2, but also in Hebrews 10:24-25.
We read, “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”
Just as I encouraged our students on Wednesday night, I challenge you, believer, raise your level of devotion to gathering in 2021. I offer two simple questions: What if in 2021 things changed in a different way than in 2020? What if in 2021 we, as believers, became devoted?
So, let me give you a few ways to help you make church a habit in 2021.
First, make church a priority not an option.
In a consumer culture, it is all too easy to view church as a potential instead of a priority. “I will potentially go to church this Sunday, if nothing else comes up.” While this is the American Christian mentality, this is not a scriptural mentality. Gathering with the church is depicted as vital in scripture, both for the believer, but also for the move of God’s Spirit.
Gathering together is not the same as simply going to the movies, a concert, or a sporting event. Forgive us Lord for treating it this way. All of the worldly things that we devote our time to religiously have little to no value in eternity. Gathering together, on the other hand has great eternal value as we build each other up in the faith, encouraging one another and provoking one another to good works, and as we are equipped for the battlefield.
Is it really too far off to think about your week as a battlefield? You get in from work and you feel beat. You end a day with customers or clients and you feel wiped. You spend the day teaching children and you are drained. Yes, life often feels like a battle.
In the many sporting events that we often devote ourselves to instead of to church, when the players take the field or the court, they are going into battle. But, did they just show up for the game unprepared? Absolutely not. They’ve been practicing. They’ve been training. They’ve been preparing for this very battle. The preparation for the battle is a priority. And in most cases it is a requirement.
For us, as believers, the week is the battle. Gathering together is the preparation. It is the equipping for battle. I can’t stress this enough- Stop going into battle unprepared and ill equipped. Make gathering together as much or more of a priority than you make of the eternally non-essential things of this life.
Second, make a plan.
Making gathering together or making church a habit in 2021 won’t simply happen because you think it is a good idea. It will happen because you intentionally make a plan.
Maybe you have difficulty waking up on Sunday mornings. I get it. I do too. Nighttime Kevin is not always a friend of morning Kevin. Sometimes morning Kevin is pretty unhappy with nighttime Kevin when it comes to waking up the next day. Part of planning to wake up on Sunday morning with the readiness to gather with others, for me, is making sure I get the rest I need. Planning ahead by going to bed early enough ensures I can wake up a little more easily and a little more refreshed on Sunday mornings.
Set an alarm if necessary. There are many days that I am able to wake up without an alarm either because my body has been trained to wake up at that hour or other times simply because the sun is shining in my room. But, I can’t always depend on the sun or my body to wake me up. If I solely depend on those two things, there will be times that I oversleep and I miss important appointments. Therefore, I set an alarm. If my body or the sun fails me, the alarm will wake me up.
Clear your schedule. This could fall into the category of making church a priority, but I’ve chosen to include it with planning, because often times our schedules are kept in weekly “planners.” Instead of making other plans, have a longstanding appointment or plan on Sundays to gather. Don’t write this appointment in your planner in pencil. Write it in pen, with the intention of not erasing it.
By making a plan, you will in-turn make church a priority.
Third, change your perception.
If you are going to church simply for what you can get out of it, you will quickly get out of the habit of gathering. To paraphrase the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians, the church is a body with many members. Each member of the body with it’s own role to play. The question should not be, “What can I get out of going to church?” Instead, we should ask, “What can I put into it? What is my role?”
When you neglect the gathering, you neglect the body. When you neglect the gathering, you neglect the role God has for you within the church. When you neglect the gathering, the whole body suffers.
So, change your perception. Your role in the body is valuable, important, and necessary. Your faithful attendance and participation is as vital as my foot is to my body. I’m thankful my foot doesn’t take time off as often as we are tempted to neglect gathering together with the church.
If you will change your perception, not only will church be in your plans for 2021, it will be your priority this year and in the years to come.
Let me close by bringing you back to the two simple questions I asked early on: What if in 2021 things changed in a different way than in 2020? What if in 2021 we, as believers, became devoted?