If you’re new to your faith in Christ or to church attendance, you’re probably confused about Christianity in America. You’re not alone. Most people aren’t sure what to think about our current mix of politics and religion. Thankfully, being either a Democrat or a Republican is not a sign of your faith or lack of it, though your belief in Christ does shape your political decisions.
New York City pastor and author Timothy Keller recently addressed the challenges American Christianity faces today. “Thoughtful Christians, all trying to obey God’s call, could reasonably appear at different places on the political spectrum, with loyalties to different political strategies,” Keller wrote.
To read this New York Times article by Keller: click here. See how your faith can show in your practices and voting.
Today, it’s often difficult for American Christians to know how to practice our faith or even why church attendance is important. The Bible contains several passages that tell us how and why we attend church. Let’s start there.
Today, it's often difficult for American Christians to know how to practice our faith or even why church attendance is important. The Bible contains several passages that tell us how and why... Click To Tweet“’Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.’” (Acts 2:38-40 NIV).
These are the simple steps for beginning the Christian life. Belief in Christ as Lord and the actions listed above and below are still the model for living the Christian life.
“Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper, communion), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved” (Acts 2:41-47 NLT).
This is the norm. These are still our practices.
Christian life is still to be lived in supportive, family-like fellowship and community known for our strong faith, worship, and Biblical teaching, not for our political affiliations.
We are to remember Christ in regular communion (Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper), as well as by acts of love, kindness, and generosity.
If we live like this, we do well.
Christian life is to be lived in supportive, family-like fellowship and community known for our strong faith, worship, and Biblical teaching. We are to remember Christ in regular communion, as well as by acts of love, kindness, and generosity. Click To TweetThe church was birthed amid great persecution in the first century. Politics of the time actually caused problems in the church, as is usually the case. This spread believers across the known world as families moved to safer locations. Many Jewish believers in Christ considered leaving their newfound faith to return to Judaism, because they feared losing their property and their businesses. But the Holy Spirit inspired the author of Hebrews to tell them that, since we have all we need in Jesus and his sacrifice, we should instead live like this:
- “Let us draw near to God with a heart full of assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (baptism).
- “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
- “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
- “NOT neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,
- BUT encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day (of Christ’s return) drawing near. (Hebrews 10:22-25 ESV).
These lessons are still applicable today. In light of these instructions, our personal application and faithfulness looks like this even today:
Faith in Christ includes habitual confession and repentance of our daily sins and maintaining a clean conscience. This is normal Christianity.
Practicing love, charity, purity, and service to others is still the Christian norm.
Drawing near to God in relationship and having full assurance that we are forgiven and that we belong to him is still our practice.
We hold unwaveringly to our hope in Christ, because he is faithful to us.
Commitment to regular church attendance is still vital.
Encouraging one another by our faithful attendance and our fellowship with one another is still how we show love to one another.
Still today, we encourage one another to rely on Christ and to serve him with good deeds of kindness, charity, and faithful commitment to our churches.
These instructions are how and why Christians meet together. Nothing has changed. It still has nothing to do with political affiliations. This is still the recipe for healthy individual growth and healthy churches.
Do we know and follow these simple instructions?
By the grace of God, let’s adhere to our faith by living out this type of loving, integrated, fellowship-filled lifestyle of community. Following Jesus, rather than a political party, is supreme. Love for Christ and obedience to him, rather than to party platforms, is still what guides all our decisions, including the political ones. The church is the body of Christ – his hands and feet on the earth. The church is led by Jesus, not by a political party.
By the grace of God, let's adhere to our faith by living out this type of loving, integrated, fellowship-filled lifestyle of community. Following Jesus, rather than a political party, is supreme. Click To TweetNeed a good church? Click here to discover how to find and attend one.
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I love the lessons listed and the reasons to attend church. The time we live in can be so confusing for many. And I think the way the churches are responding to society is causing many to fall away. We all need to be in prayer for our churches.
I agree, Yvonne! We’re giving a very confusing picture to the world. The body of Christ is led by Jesus, not by a political party. Thank you for your thoughts.
Excellent post! Christianity is not limited by political views. My husband and I pastored an international church representing people from approximately 28 countries. We had a politically divided church and my husband pastored that church for over 16 years during the years of President Bush and President Obama. The focus of the church was the Kingdom of God. It was what we could all agree on. It was a loving and strong church sending many missionaries to many parts of the world as well as reaching out to the lost in our own country. We truly were known for the love we had for each other. That’s what people who attended our church for the first time commented on the most. Your insights about the necessity for church attendance are exactly right. My husband and I no longer pastor a church, but we are still a part of a church, and we will continue to do so. I need the church. We all need the church. The church was God’s idea. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Your church achieved a miracle in these polarized times! You and your husband handled it exactly as you should have, and the grace of God was clearly at work. That’s what all our churches should look like. Reasonable Christian people can find their political home in either party, or the Libertarian view as well. We pray and think and reason. We listen to our own consciences. But we often land in different parties. We all need the church. It’s essential, like you said, so we’ve got to figure out how to show tolerance, love, and kindness toward those who differ with us politically.
I love how you illustrated a parallel between the early church and their need to congregate and the instruction in the book of Hebrew and our current need to belong to the body of Christ. It is fascinating that these commandments that transcend thousands of years are still so relevant today.
They really are! That’s a blessing, because we’re able to continue to apply God’s Word to even our modern circumstances and our political situation. Thank you for stopping by to comment!
So, to be frank, one of the main reasons I attend church regularly is because of our awesome worship team. Their musical talent and openness to the Holy Spirit during worship is one of the biggest draws I have to going to our particular church (non-denominational). But it’s more than that. It’s simply honoring God through corporate worship. It sometimes makes me think how amazing it’s going to be to worship Him in heaven, before the very throne of God! (Oh my… don’t get me going on heaven! Ha ha ha….) But yeah, all these things are GREAT reasons to go to church.
I appreciate your frankness! That’s a great reason to go, especially since you’re trained in apologetics. You already know all the doctrine. Your spirit needs uplifting. The fellowship is necessary, too, and you get a good dose of that during worship. Your strategy makes perfect sense to me!
Excellent post – Acts 2 is magical for me, in both describing how my life and behaviour is enhanced by my Faith AND how as a family of Christians we are to live together – thank you for making those feelings clearer through the Word
Thanks, Bob! The Word is such a gift. It provides us with all we need for living godly lives, and its living and sharper than a two-edged sword, convicting us as well. Thank you for commenting. God bless!
Yes, this is still how we are supposed to do things. We follow Christ, not a political party. I feel like some Christians slander the names of some in office under the guise of service to God, though it looks more like what the disciples might have tried to do to those who did not support Christ. Jesus rebuked the disciples for this. Thank you for pointing us back in the right direction.
Thanks for commenting, Stephen. You raise a valid point about slander, since Romans 13 and 1 Timothy 2 tell us to, rather, respect and pray for our leaders. That was written when Nero was emperor, so it covers a lot. We also have to allow one another to evaluate the positions, pray, listen to our own consciences, and reach positions that may differ. Our focus on Christ and the unity of the church is more important. Our love for Christ shapes our decisions. Meanwhile, that need not impact the unity of the church. In 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, as well as Romans 14, the Scriptures detail how to deal with our differences of opinion and conviction within the church.
This is such a critical step that we can easily overlook as Christians. Part of giving our talents back to God includes giving them back to God IN THE CHURCH and encouraging others IN THE CHURCH. Thank you for this reminder Melinda. With all of the ways there are to minister these days, we can forget about God’s house.
Good point, Brittany! Serving in the church is so significant, yet many of us merely watch without offering our own gifts in service. The body of Christ needs all its members to use their gifts. The church needs each one’s gifts to function properly – Romans 12, 1 Peter 4, and 1 Corinthians 12-14 tell us. Thanks so much for commenting!
Oh, Melinda! I just love that you wrote this post! Because many Christians downplay the importance of connection to a local church. God’s Word addresses this in the Hebrews passage you shared…we are NOT to neglect meeting together. We were simply never meant to do life alone.
This line and tweet…”Christian life is to be lived in supportive, family-like fellowship and community known for our strong faith, worship, and Biblical teaching. We are to remember Christ in regular communion, as well as by acts of love, kindness, and generosity.” Yes!
How you point to scriptural practices as “normal” Christianity made my heart leap! For repenting, confession, practicing love, encouraging each other, drawing near to God, meeting together…these are the true life of a true disciple of Christ. Perhaps it’s not “Jesus freaks” or “radical Christianity. Maybe it’s the norm for disciples who follow Jesus with everything!
Church life is so crucial, yet this seems to be increasingly neglected in our culture. We’re post-Christian. Most of us are unacquainted with the Bible and don’t recognize the need we have for this type of regular church fellowship and for familiarity with the Word. At the same time, we’re increasingly shaped by the platforms of our political parties, as if these are the prescribers of ethics and morality. They are not. God’s Word must shape our lives, but if we’re not in our churches and we’re not in the Word, how would we know what God has declared to be moral and just? There needs to be a revival in America and return to personal practices of faith. May God help us! Thank you for commenting, Karen. You’re always such an encouragement!
Dear Melinda!
I’m very interested in the discussion among Christians about the topic of mixing politics and religion as you write about here.
Two sentences you wrote point out our job as Christian blogger/writers or content producers.
1. How to practice the faith.
2. Why church attendance is important.
That’s what we need to explain and help people to understand.
You mentioned Tim Keller in your blog posts. Tim Keller said in another context that we, the Christians need to stop discussion and to spend time on minor differences between different churches. We must stand together and find a third way. I really like that perspective.
With love!
Edna Davidsen
I so agree, Edna! When I write on this topic, I stay Biblical, not focusing on minor differences or issues about which Christians may have varying opinions – what used to be called “disputable matters.” As you (and Tim Keller) said, the minor issues aren’t important enough to allow them to cause disunity in the church. Increasingly in America people rely on their political parties and outside voices to dictate to them what is right and wrong, rather than examining their Bibles or attending church regularly under the teaching of a good pastor. It’s causing a lot of confusion here, and a lot of blending of religion and politics, which was not the intention of our founding fathers. Religion was to be free of the influence of politics, something that they didn’t have in the European countries from which they came. It never goes well when the government dictates morality to the church.
Yes, I can follow you in your observation about the political climate in the United States.
It’s always a great idea to go back to the roots.
Melinda, what a timely post! In the midst of all the political tensions, the importance of being connected in a church may get lost in the fray. I especially appreciated that you used Biblical examples to explain and re-center readers. This is what church was and should always be. As things seem more polarized today, I pray the church will shine more brightly with something the world cannot offer.
We can hope and pray! It’s so important for churches to preach the Gospel and to disciple the believers, so we know how to navigate these dark times and all the difficult decisions. We need to know what God says about issues, not what a political party thinks, in order to vote and to speak according to truly Christian values. Thanks for commenting, Melissa! God bless you, sister!