Hi, and welcome to the Five Word Prayers Daily, a five-day-a-week daily devotional where we share the

word, prayers, in our heart. I'm Lisa Whittle, and I welcome you to just five minutes with me,

which I trust and pray will be five minutes well spent. Continuing in our growing up, moving on

month on the Five-Word Prayers Daily, and the Church Questions Week this week, I'm answering

some of your questions about church.

Yesterday, we dove into what I see as the biggest problem in the church today, and I gave it a

little twist, by the way. And today I want to talk about something that's kind of a question

that nods to a trend. If church is not a physical place, but rather a group of people, the body

of believers, then why is going to church

so important? Isn't important at all? Can't we just be the church and not go to church and that be

enough? And what does God think about that? We'll talk about all that in just a minute.

So statistics float around from time to time about how many Jesus followers or people who say they are of some type of faith go to church every week.

And in 2016, Barner Research came out with a statistic that only 35% of people go to a weekly church service of some kind.

But 75% of people say they pray, which I like that

statistic much more, obviously. But here's the thing. I don't really know how many of us are

going to church or not going to church now, especially compared to what it used to be.

I think statistics can be helpful, but are not to necessarily be taken as gospel. And I don't get too caught up in a lot of

numbers, to be honest with you. What matters for discussion here is what does God say about church?

Is it necessary? Can we be believers and do church more uniquely than going to a building and meeting

together and such? Well, a few things I want to say right off.

First of all, I'm not sitting in judgment of the way you've determined to do church for

yourself or your family because I do believe this is an issue that we all must manage

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