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[The following is excerpted from the book, Gather: Getting to the Heart of Going to Church, Copyright © 2021 by M. Hopson Boutot. Click here to download the entire book for free.]  

Faithful church attendance allows you to use your spiritual gifts. Every Christian has been given a spiritual gift to be used in service to his or her local church. Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Every true believer has been given some manifestation of the Spirit, some spiritual gift. Why? For the common good, for the good of the local church. 

Whenever a member of a local church is absent from the gathering, the entire body suffers (1 Corinthians 12:26). Why? Because the body is not benefiting from the gifts that member possesses. Perhaps you’re thinking of some member in your church who doesn’t seem particularly gifted. “Surely their absence wouldn’t hurt us that much, would it?” Or perhaps you’re thinking that way about yourself. I mean, what can you do to serve the body? Consider again the words of the Apostle Paul to the Christians in Corinth:

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (1 Corinthians 12:14-20)

Every member of the body matters. Every member has a gift, and every gift is necessary. And without faithfully gathering with God’s people, you cannot use those gifts as God intends.