Do Not Abandon the Gathering

A man can love the Lord and still treat Sunday as optional.

He listens to a sermon in the truck. He prays on the way to work. He may sit with a few Christian men once a month. Then the church service is the thing he drops when the weekend fills up.

I have done that. It felt practical. It was a habit of leaving.

Missing once is not the same as leaving

Hebrews 10:24-25 says:

“and let's consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
—Hebrews 10:24-25, NASB

The warning is about a habit, not a single Sunday. If you are sick, or you are out of town, you have not abandoned the church. If you have a standing reason every week, you are building the habit the verse names.

Feelings are not the test. Some Sundays will seem ordinary. Go anyway. The command is to meet, and to encourage one another there.

A men's group is not your church

Hill Cities helps men pray and grow together. That is a good gift. It is not a church.

A breakfast, a podcast, or a workout cannot take the place of a church that preaches the Word, baptizes believers, shares the Lord's Supper, and has pastors you can speak with. If a men's gathering has become your only Christian meeting, you have not replaced the church. You have left it.

Pray with a small group. Do not use that group as a hiding place from the church.

If you do not have a church, get one

Some men are between churches. Do not let “between” last for months while you stay home.

Visit a church that preaches the Bible. Ask what they believe. Then stay long enough to be known. Sampling forever is another way of not belonging.

If your job takes Sunday morning, say so to a pastor and ask what other service you can attend. A night shift is a real limit. It is not a reason to belong nowhere.

If a church has left the gospel, leave it for a faithful one. Do not use a bad church as your reason to quit gathering.

Go this week

Pick the service you will attend. Tell your wife, if you are married. If you have a child at home, take him or her with you.

Stay long enough to speak to one person. Do not slip out before anyone can know you were there.

Then tell a brother where you went, and ask him to ask you next week whether you went again.

You do not attend so the church can admire you. You attend because God commands the meeting, and because a man who only hears the Word alone will eventually hear it less.

Can we help you find a small group of men you can pray together with?

Do you enjoy my blogs? Help me reach more people, and please share this with your friends. Thank you!

Jeff Hagen
President & Founder
Hill Cities, Inc.