Church attendance

Many Christians attend church services on Christmas Eve, the Christian vigil that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.[1]
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Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday). The Canon Law of the Catholic Church states, "on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass".[2] The Westminster Confession of Faith is held by the Reformed Churches and teaches first-day Sabbatarianism (Sunday Sabbatarianism) and the duty of church attendance on this day.[3] Similarly, the General Rules of the Methodist Church also requires "attending upon all the ordinances of God" including "the public worship of God".[4] The Lutheran Christian theologian Balthasar Münter [da] stated that church attendance is the "foundation for the Christian life" as "the Christian Bible and the sacraments provide the framework for the faith"; he also states that it is important for believers because it aids in the prevention of backsliding, as well as offers "the company of other believers".[5] Until 1791, it was a legal requirement in the Kingdom of Great Britain to attend services of the Church of England (the state church) at least twice a year.[6]

In addition to being based upon the spirit of the Ten Commandments,[7] the importance of church attendance in Christian theology is delineated in Hebrews 10:25, which implores the believers: "Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near."[8][9][10] Certain early Christian saints emphasized the necessity of church attendance for the continuance of the faith, such as Saint John Climacus, who declared that "A sure sign of the deadening of the soul is the avoidance of church services."[11]

About two-thirds of Latin American Christians and 90% of African Christians (in Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zimbabwe), according to the World Values Survey, said they attended church regularly.[12] South Africa is the only African country where just 55% of Christians attend church regularly.[13] According to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center, Christians in Africa and Latin America and the United States have high levels of commitment to their faith.[14] Data from the European Social Survey in 2012 showed that around a third of European Christians said they attend services once a month or more.[12] The Gallup International, a self-reporting survey conducted via telephone, indicates that 37% of Americans report that they attend religious services weekly or near-weekly in 2013.[15] The Pew Research Center stated, however, that there is a "sharp increase in church attendance around the two most significant Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter."[16] As such, on Christmas (a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church, a Festival in the Lutheran Churches and a Principal Feast in the Anglican Communion), LifeWay Research found that "six out of 10 Americans typically attend church".[17] Countries that hold or have held a policy of state atheism have actively discouraged church attendance and church membership, often persecuting Christians who continued to worship.[18]

  1. ^ Jespersen, Knud J. V. (21 June 2011). A History of Denmark. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 91. ISBN 9780230344174. It is quite normal to go to church on Christmas Eve, and many people like to celebrate a christening or wedding in church. The Church is especially important at the end of a life; by far the majority of funerals are still conducted in a church by a minister.
  2. ^ Nelson, Matt (1 September 2022). "Even in Summer, You Must Go to Sunday Mass". Catholic Answers. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  3. ^ Wigley, John (1980). The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Sunday. Manchester University Press. p. 800. ISBN 9780719007941. Following the formulation of the Westminster Confession, fully fledged Sabbatarianism quickly took root too, being embodied in an Act of 1661, then spreading northwards and westwards as the Highlands were opened up after the '46, during which time the doctrine lost its original force and vigour in the Lowlands.
  4. ^ Abraham, William J.; Kirby, James E. (24 September 2009). The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies. OUP Oxford. p. 253. ISBN 9780191607431.
  5. ^ Roos, Merethe (2013-03-08). Enlightened Preaching: Balthasar Münter's Authorship 1772-1793. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 99. ISBN 9789004249899.
  6. ^ Day, Cathy (26 September 2014). Wiltshire Marriage Patterns 1754-1914: Geographical Mobility, Cousin Marriage and Illegitimacy. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 198. ISBN 9781443867924. Attendance at an Anglican church service at least twice a year was a legal requirement for all people until 1791 and some parishioners endured the minimum church attendance requirement in order to avoid a fine.
  7. ^ McKim, Donald K. (2011). More Presbyterian Questions, More Presbyterian Answers: Exploring Christian Faith. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 72. ISBN 9780664503086. The Westminster Confession urges a strict observance of the Lord's Day as a day of rest and worship, away from "works, words, and thoughts" about "worldly employments and recreations." The whole time is to be devoted to "public and private exercises of [God's) worship, and in duties of necessity and mercy" (BC 6.119). In the United States, many "blue laws" relating to Sunday originated from this general prescription observed by American Puritans of the Reformed tradition.
  8. ^ O’Hare, Terrence D. (1 December 2011). The Sabbath Complete: And the Ascendency of First-Day Worship. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 228-229. ISBN 978-1-62189-134-5.
  9. ^ Brattston, David W. T. (2014). Traditional Christian Ethics 4. WestBow Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-4908-0205-3.
  10. ^ Richardson, John R. (1966). Christian Economics: Studies in the Christian Message to the Market Place. St. Thomas Press. p. 91.
  11. ^ "On Avoiding Church Services". ww1.antiochian.org. Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. 8 February 2017.
  12. ^ a b Christianity and church attendance
  13. ^ Mitchell, Travis (2018-06-13). "3. How religious commitment varies by country among people of all ages". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  14. ^ "The world's most committed Christians live in Africa, Latin America – and the U.S." Pew Research Center. 22 August 2018.
  15. ^ "Religion: Gallup Historical Trends". www.gallup.com. Gallup, Inc. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  16. ^ Kuriakose, Noble (18 April 2014). "When Easter and Christmas near, more Americans search online for "church"". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  17. ^ Stetzer, Ed (14 December 2015). "What Is Church Attendance Like During Christmastime? New Data From LifeWay Research". Christianity Today. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  18. ^ Athena Magazine, Issues 41-55. International Studies Association. 1991. p. 86. It has also shrunk through the trial, 'as by fire', of decades of totalitarian state atheism, in which simply to profess the Christian Faith automatically ranked one as a dissident and church attendance was not infrequently the first step towards martyrdom.