This is Pastor Tim’s article which appeared in the Evening Leader on Tuesday, Dec 23, 2025.
Of the spiritual disciplines we have considered over the past few weeks, the one that is often overlooked is worship. If you want to be a follower of Jesus, then worship as a part of a congregation is absolutely necessary. You are starving your soul if you are not a regular part of a worshipping community.
Through the years, I have heard various forms of the argument that people don’t need church to be Christian. That is factually inaccurate. Jesus often held public gatherings where He could teach the people and show signs of being the Son of God. The Apostle Paul also speaks often of not neglecting meeting together (Hebrews 10:25) and Paul also talks about how all the parts of the Body of Christ are valuable to the function of the congregation (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
While I could not agree more that attendance in worship is vital to the health of the whole congregation, for purposes of this article, I want to explain why worship is important to the individual Christian.
Worship is where your prayers are joined with the prayers of your sisters and brothers in Christ. Not only in your local congregation, but also with all believers all over the earth. When we pray for peace or guidance or deliverance, by joining our prayers together, God has an easier time answering these prayers. Vital congregations give God a large number of people who are potential answers to the prayer. Often we think that the answer to our prayers is for God to just fix whatever we are praying for, and no doubt, that sometimes happens. However, God also wants to use His followers to act on His behalf to bring circumstances to a successful conclusion. That happens much easier through a congregation that is united than it can through a bunch of individuals who are isolated believers.
Being attached to a congregation gives you a place to go for support when you need it. As a pastor, I get requests for help on a nearly daily basis from people who are in no way affiliated with Wayne Street. I almost never get requests from people who are active participants of this congregation. That does not mean that people who come to church never fall on hard times. What I believe that means is that when people who are a part of the congregation need help, that help comes to them before I am even aware of it. People who are a part of a congregation have a network of people who are willing and able to help before a request is ever made. This is far less discouraging than the endless amount of requests for help we pastors get from people who want our help but never make any attempt to connect with the congregation.
The third reason that community worship is important is because it is an appetizer as to what heaven will be like. During worship, all of the people are focused on what God is doing in our midst. That is just like heaven will be some day. Worship is the one place in life where we get to surround ourselves with people who are looking forward to encountering the same God we are searching for. Worship gives us a chance to reach toward God together.
While the Church is not perfect, she is the organization God asked the Apostle Peter to start. Today we exist for many purposes, but conducting worship is one of the most important. There are many wonderful churches who are based in this community, who have pastors who live in this community, and deeply desire to be a meaningful part of this community who would love to welcome you to their Christmas Eve service. I encourage you that if you are not already doing it, make worship a regular part of your life for 2026.