Ok my main question that no one has answered is when did it become ok to miss church all the time if you are an evangelical and still claim that you are one no catholic that goes to mass 10x a year would claim to be involved at church but evangelicals would
My husband and I were Evangelical Protestant for the first 47 years of our lives. I grew up in a church where Gary Smalley was the associate pastor. John Ortberg was in my youth group; I played piano for him often. The current head of Campus Crusade for Christ was a member of my church.
Evangelical Protestants will recognize those names and understand why I am claiming impeccable Evangelical Protestant credentials and therefore, can answer your question correctly.
Evangelical Protestants would NEVER approve “missing church all the time.” Just the opposite.
A person who deliberately chooses to miss church would be considered either a “carnal Christian” or worse, someone who was never really a Christian to begin with.
According to Evangelical Protestant teaching, a genuine Christian does not practice sin regularly, and failing to associate with other Christians on a regular basis is definitely a sin according to the Bible (Hebrews 10: 23-25) because it demonstrates a disobedience to the teachings clearly stated in God’s Word. Therefore, a person who chooses to miss church all the time is very likely not a Christian. Their act of “asking Jesus into their heart to be their personal Savior” was insincere, and the person is not saved.
Here’s how strongly Evangelical Protestants believe in the importance of that passage of Scripture in Hebrews 10 that says that we need to assemble together with other believers. After my husband and I were kicked out of our Evangelical Protestant church by a TRIBUNAL of pastors and elders in that church (a cruel gathering with no kindness shown to us), we stayed away from any churches for several weeks. But after several weeks, I told my husband that I was going to go the Catholic Mass at the church down the street from our house because I knew that it was important for me to be in obedience to Jesus and “assemble together” with fellow believers. My husband agreed.
Do you hear what I’m saying? What I’m saying here is that we were willing to attend a CATHOLIC church
rather than staying away from assembling with believers! THAT’S how important church attendance is to Evangelical Protestant Christians!
However, in recent years (the last twenty years or so), “church” has been defined differently by many Evangelical Protestants who teach that “traditional church” is not what Jesus intended at all (based on their interpretation of God’s Word), and that the emphasis should be on gathering with other believers, not on any type of “program” or “liturgy.”
So for many Evangelical Protestants, gathering with other Christians for a meal, a Bible study, or for prayer, would be considered obedience to the passage in Hebrews 10.
And I agree with them, that this definition of “assembling together” is legitimate for Evangelical Protestant Christians, who have never had a “liturgical” worship service the way Catholics and other liturgical Christians understand “liturgy.”
So my answer to your question is that for Evangelical Protestant Christians, “I only need to go to church a couple times a year to get fed I can just read the bible at home with a couple friends because jesus is were two are gathered in his name” and going to “get fed which means less than once a month they are much more likely to attend a weekly Wednesday bible study than Sunday service” IS appropriate and adequate for a Christian.
Indeed, many of the country’s largest megachurches (10,000 or more members) do not offer Sunday “worship services” for the members, but instead, offer weekday small group gatherings for their members. The Sunday worship service is a “seeker service” meant for non-believers, visitors, and seekers. Many of the smaller Evangelical Protestant churches are following this model (with varied degrees of success).
Another movement that has developed in Evangelical Protestant circles is the “domestic church” or “family church,” in which “church” is held at home, and Dad is the pastor/leader of the church. Sometimes these “family churches” invite a few other families to join them, and sometimes they don’t. But they are definitely in obedience to Hebrews 10: 23-25–“assembling together.”
As to your question about the emphasis on “getting fed,” I agree with others on this thread who say that this is a perfectly logical thing for ANY Christian to desire, including Catholic Christians. My husband and I became Catholics because we HUNGERED and THIRSTED for righteousness, and after two years of study, we knew that the Catholic Church was the True Church of Jesus Christ, and that only by receiving Him in the Eucharist would our hunger and thirst be satisfied.
We shouldn’t criticize Christians who want “to be fed.” That’s a good thing for Christians to want.
What you need to understand is that Evangelical Protestants don’t realize that they are searching for Jesus Christ, Truly Present in the Eucharist. So they “church hop” hoping to find adequate “food”, and they try to find satiety in good fellowship, emphasis on prayer and Bible study, riveting teaching and preaching, opportunities for service in the community and the rest of the world, great music (this is HUGE for most Evangelical Protestants–Catholics have no clue about how important music is to Evangelical Protestants), strong children’s and youth programs (including Christians schools and support for homeschooling), etc.
I think it’s important for Catholics to deal kindly and gently with Evangelical Protestants who talk about “being fed,” and instead of criticizing them or disdaining their desire, instead, we should invite them to observe “dinner” at our parish!
Anybody who thinks evangelicals look the other way when you don’t go to church is kidding themselves.
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