Do you go to church regularly?

I'm a CEO - Christmas and Easter only. If the church had evening Sunday services, I would go. But I am not dragging my ass out of bed nine hours after I got home from work on Sunday, which is the only day I can actually take a breather and catch up on sleep every week. I don't do mornings.

I didn't make it to Christmas services this year because we had a massive blizzard and wind chills below 0. Something about not wanting to get my four-year-old cousin out into all of that mess, so I stayed home and babysat while my aunt and cousin went to play bells.

 

I think part of attending services regularly is making an occasional sacrfice. If the whole church/worship thing was supposed to be easy, they'd hold services much later, serve beer and nachos and let you watch TV on the big screen during lulls in the action.

 

My faith is strong, and I pray daily. I do not attend organized services on a set schedule. I have always been of the belief that showing up at an appointed time and place will neither get you into Heaven nor keep you out of Hell. It's how you conduct yourself and treat others all the time that counts.

 

Very commendable and thoughtful attitude.

I know that many people traditionally have been raised in church, gone their own way and then come back as their priorities change later in life.

But I just think the landscape is different now. One of the important functions the church has always served, and served well, has been providing a sense of community. I attended youth groups with a lot of people (including myself) who were there not so much because of their wanting to worship god but because it was a good, social place to be. I'd venture that only a fraction of them attend church now.

There are so many other ways to fill that "sense of community" part now. I think the people who are seriously devout and religious will always be there, but those for whom the church was a means of social structure will peel away and find other outlets. I think (outside certain areas, like I said), traditional churches will have a hard time in the coming years.