well I belive you need the HolySpirit to help you identify the problem because sincerely speaking, as a good christian, we need to understand the word and principle of God well. Although going to church is not the real amtter but your heart with God and how well dip is your knownledge in His world, remembe the Bible says Do not forsake the gathering of your brethen. Think well about this. with much Love ubc_min1@yahoo.com

@poster, going to church does not mean u're saved. U need to pray a genuine prayer for God's mercy.
[size=14pt]SALVATION IS NOT OBTAINED BY A MERE RAISE OF HANDS IN THE CHURCH[/size]

I will advice you to seek GOD first and be SAVED!. There's no way a real child of God will want to miss a Sunday service, knowing fully well that that's where you obtain your spiritual food.

Once again be reconciled to God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hen!

Can someone save these ones from blindness

that they may actually read through the Thread. Amen

these nairaland people sha.

Has anyone here ever heard of SUNDAY ADELAJA. who wasnt able to attend any church for eight or so years, because he was in the Soviet Union where religion was banned.  Today he has a church with over 10,000 members. Am not saying people should stay away from church, but all the fake exorcists and whatnots here, would you rain thunder and lightning on Sunday Adelaja if you'd known him when he wasnt attending church?

Why do people put common sense on the back burner, especially with all the educated Nigerians all over the place?


You people forget you are NOT God.

Ok, so i couldnt make it to church today

i think someone will sentence me to double dose of deliverance

My sister was ill so bla bla bla. . .

i wont try to explain myself out of this

but thats the fact, im watching live streams of services online

because im not a fan of TBN.

tascoray:

knowing fully well that that's where you obtain your spiritual food.

I obtain a lot more spiritual food when i study the bible on my own / do my devotion. And i understand God's word better this way, cos a lot of times pastors would have preached their own biase into what ever they are preaching. i still go to church though, but to me it is not compulsory. And gathering of believers does not mean just going to church, it more specifically means fellowship of believers. The early church meetings /gatherings were more in form of fellowships were everbody was free to talk and discuss issues than church services we have to day were you can't even ask for clarification of things you don't understand.

I feel the same way here
sunday comes and to me its just a day to rest
I don't even think its a sin until my day comes home to give me the lecture of the week
it could be easy for some of you but think about being the son of a pastor(MFM at that)
at first it was finding fault with the preaching then with time i lost interest all together
though i still get moved when ever i watch TBN and hear the word from mean of God that anit Nigerian
so i think its just that i don't like the way our pastors preach but i love God despite my many sins

Fat Stan, You sound like David

Many of us who wants more than just the songs and fellowshipping; who desires more of God and not mere living life; experience this exhaustion that originates from a kind of shallowness in many of our churches. Nevertheless, the act of going to church is not contestable, because for everyone that is of God, such fellowshipping is needed to keep us in the pursuit of Him.
Now, the question is where? I sort for 5, 6 years trying to get a place to feed my spirit and not just my mind, till I went back to Him for direction after exhaustion fiancially, mentally and maritally. I knew somthings weren't right. And He directed me. I can't say I am totally satisfied where I am, but I am adding to the church in the way I have never done and presently the church is also growing.
Surely, you have something inside you to offer. There is something in you that is seeking for expression. Find a place you are welcome and accepted to add your ideas and gifting, but if you can hear Him, find a place, where He wants you to be.

Gamine, your feeling is not peculiar to you alone. it happens to almost al christians and has happened to me too . as a matter of fact i am presently struggling with the situation. first of all check your live if you have been distarcted or committed a sin. that always leave us feeling guilty. pray and move on but where there is no sin, then maybe you need a rivival. cry out to God for a revival and ask him to help you. try studying you bible more and fast too if you can and that will help. goodluck sis.

Thanks

I dont really believe in people that says i am a christian but i dont like going to church. That is religious fallacy. Going to church does not appeal to the senses, you just have to do it in obedience to the word of God that says we should not forsake the gathering of the saint. Christianity without church is demonity. Try and train yourself that way

Demonity?

thats a new one o

You have to be vigilant says the bible. Just because you are old enough does not meet you don't need anybody. No matter what happens you will need people. Jesus is coming for the church. Not the individual. Its good you brought this topic up. Don't be deceived that church is not necessary, it is. You are trying to do what is expedient.

i believe the answers are in our heart. its our doubts and fears that wont let us face it.

Ah,Gamine.I am in the same shoe of not wanting to go to church anymore,Sundays just come and go and I'm content just watching a sermon on TV.My spirit is cold and I'm just afraid that I'm too far gone for redemption.My spirituality left and my morals are in disarray!Sad for someone that once burned with the Lord's zeal.

Haaahha, i have not been on this site for ages, hmmm my dear friend, u need church ooo, u need tobe more active in that church of urs, join the prayer ministry for 2 weeks.,u will be fired, lol, i mean it,

@Lechatte

You are never too far gone, try to go to church one of these days eh

it may help you

@shreks
"Abasi Ordiong fee" ( Make God Reward You)!

Sincerely We Need church Don't say Its unnecessary,

Iron Sharpeneth Iron; Do we think We're too sharp to Handle??

I'm 1 of those absent for some time but won't say Church Is Unnecessary.

When There's an opportunity, Please Be glad when U R told 2 go In2 d House Of the Lord,

there are activities most suitable for Perculiar places, (even sex) and ther is time for everything,

Please Nairalanders Its wrong not to feel like,

if U have d opportunity or havnt a good excuse Go to CHURCH! Dont Just feel Like.

not going 2 church has nothing 2 do with how religious one is,i mean through out last year i didnt go to church,it dint stop me 4rm believing in GOD.BESIDES IF U NOTICE,some people go to church on sat,some sundays.

I am speaking as a non-Christian American with an education in the social sciences.

Generally, people get bored with church out of curiosity for other things. Another reason people stop going to church is because it is very time-consuming and often prevents you from doing things that can actually help you - like learning, working, or networking with people who can provide more realistic opportunities.

As an American who used to live in Ghana, I feel like African churches often get in the way of peoples' lives. Although churches can often provide strong social networks, they often provide people with networks that can't move them upward.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why you are tired of going to church?

Kojo

can u remember when and how it started, proberly you hand out with people that find it dificult going to church

My brother nowadays Churches are money spinning ventures. they dont preache the kingdom of God as it were with jesus and the apostles. They preach that the kingdom is here now, that expains why they always seek to solve all your problems now, and kill your enemies for you.

@Poster Well I share the same thing about not going to church everysunday, there is nothing wrong with u and me either.
Most times when I read in nigerian papers about pastors and church memebers ving sexual related issues it makes me feel bad to me its best I serve my God at home and watch and listing to Godly messages than to worship under a sinful pastor or congregation of possessed memembers waiting to destroy the little joy u ve left.

I have heard alot of tales and stories about bad life experiences of innocent church members been violated physically, spiritual and mentally for me its every 2sundays I attend church service not everyday as before.

It's probably the church you're in, also how active are you. I was like this too, until when I changed churches, after that I went back to mine and I appreciated how wonderful the sermons were. You tend to take things you're used to for granted,

Don't feel bad, no one ever said that you have to enjoy church, especially if it is laid out in such a boring manner. I appreciate my church now because they put so much effort into making it exciting and up to date. It's not about being the opposite to secular it's about adapting to the times. That doesn't mean our church supports gays or is pro-abortion or whatever, it's just we don't have a ban on secular music, and sometimes our pastor using cut-throat terms, let's not be angels for the 2 hrs we're in church then return to our alcohol drinking, sex talking surroundings,

My advice is try different churches and groups, you'll find what you're looking for if you get up and look

Man, do I understand where you're coming from or what? I hardly attend church, but I have a hunger to find and know God personally, and sometimes He's lost in the hustle and bustle and Pastor's posturings. I went mountain climbing one day. It was beautiful. The sky was four shades of blue. There were eagles and butterflies. To my astonishment, I got a glimpse of God that day. And I'm not referring to the physical environment. I would dodge questions like 'Did you go to church today?', and accusing looks if I say I hadn't been. Now I give a curt 'No,' and profer no explanations.

Don't get me wrong. I occasionally attend services and I'm uplifted by a message, and I have pastor friends,but I've grouses with Nigerian churches a mile long. It's a culture over here, church. It has its own language and practices and ways of life, and once you master them, you can pass yourself off as anything. That's why my cheeks used to ache from all the false smiles I'd dispense in church, because I have to pass muster. Religion is a blanket people use to hide who they really are beneath. Tiresome,motonous religious activity that do little to change the darker sides of one's character. Not to mention there's no real love amongst church members. Pastors are arrogant and strut about like peacocks, expecting you to worship the ground they walk on. They pass their own prejudices and jaundiced view of life off as religious doctrine, and you'd better obey or it's off to hellfire you go. They tell you what to do, what to think and how to think it. One pastor came to my house and,when he didn't get the 'Daddy' and the 'respect' he thought it my constitutional duty to furnish, became hostile and began to misbehave. I 'dashed' his annointed face a good slap. Yes, I did. And to pastor worshippers who're clutching their hearts in horror and looking to consign me to hell,good luck to you. A pastor is merely an office in a church, and is no more noble or deserving of respect than an usher or a chorister. God is no respecter of persons but we are, forming cliques in church and not recognising or respecting boundaries if it kicked us in the foot. 

Church today is a travesty of what it was intended to be. I'n under no obligation to conform to its rules or abide by its dictates. There's a Bible, and I can read. Your brethren is not the people who gather with you in a hall to perform religious ceremony. They are people with whom you share a spirit and the love- translatable into action- of Christ. So you can be in a congregation of 100000 while your actual brethren therein are 1000.

I totally understand your dilemma. I face the same. Just don't let some misguided sense of duty guide your life, and remember there's just this one life and it's short. Do everything from your HEART.

Mad Max,
i feel ya, i feel ya

Gamine, how are you dealing with it? Maybe I can learn jare.

gamine,u av gotten a lot of response."no matter how new a car is,it still enters a fillin station".u need fuel to move on in this world.

must every body go to church.

@Mad max.

i realised it wasnt about my feelings

The Christian life is not based on feelings.

I intend to attend a friends church this sunday

i want to get around, i dont want to be holed up in one place

and im joining a service unit, not because i want to feel fulfilled

but because i want to add value to someone else's life

I do attend the occasional church service. I'm not saying don't go to church. I'm saying I understand if there are times you wouldn't want to.