Welcome to First Christian Forest Grove! Since 1882 First Christian Church has been a lighthouse of God's love on the corner of 19th and Cedar in Forest Grove.The building has changed over the years and the congregation has grown in size, but the timeless values of Faith, Hope, and Love found in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ are still alive and unchanging here.

                                                  10:00 am

DRIVE-IN PARKING  LOT SERVICE broadcast over your CAR RADIO. 

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WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY DEVOTIONAL

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        We confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and Lord and Savior of the World

                                    

                               Church Attendance

                               By Rev. Spencer King

                               First Christian Church

                               Forest Grove, Or.

Hebrews 10: 23-35 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Due to a recent surge in Coronavirus cases the governor of Oregon has instituted something that she calls a "freeze." The allowed maximum indoor church attendance has been lowered to 25 people. So that effectively shuts down our Sanctuary worship service for at least the next few weeks because it takes about eight people to conduct the worship service which would leave us with room for only 15 or 16 additional people. We would have to turn people away almost as soon as we opened the doors. So, for now, we’re going to have a 10 o’clock parking lot worship service only.

The good news is that there seems to be an end in sight to the Coronavirus epidemic. A number of pharmaceutical companies have announced that they have developed a vaccine and are now in the final testing phases. They still have to make sure that it's safe but once that's been established we will be able to vaccinate everyone in America who is willing and that will limit the horrific damage that this epidemic has caused. It can't come soon enough for me.

I would never want to be responsible for any policy that risks the lives of the congregation of First Christian Church. But I know that church attendance is vitally important. Since the disruption, isolation caused by this epidemic has resulted in higher rates of suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence and so on. 

I am concerned, however, that there will be a number of people who have lost their commitment to church attendance. Some people have abandoned the habit of coming to church. Gathering together as the people of God and as the body of Christ has a great many spiritual and physical benefits. Here is an excerpt from a Wikipedia article entitled “Church Attendance;”

“Church attendance remains stronger among older demographics, and more common for women. There is evidence that links church attendance with health benefits. The Pew Research Center, which conducts the extensive research and information program Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, has linked regular church attendance with happiness. Several studies associated church attendance with decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease. Research by Rita W. Law and David A. Sbarra demonstrated that "church attendance was found to have a protective effect against the emergence of mood problems among older adults." Graham et al. discovered that "consistent pattern of lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures among frequent church attenders was found compared to that of infrequent attenders which was not due to the effects of age, obesity, cigarette smoking, or socioeconomic status." Oman D et al. found that "infrequent (never or less than weekly) attenders had significantly higher rates of circulatory, cancer, digestive, and respiratory mortality (p < 0.05), but not mortality due to external causes." With respect to students, Glanville et al. found "that religious attendance promotes higher intergenerational closure, friendship networks with higher educational resources and norms, and extracurricular participation." Research conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health found "that regularly attending church services together reduces a couple’s risk of divorce by a remarkable 47 percent" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_attendance)

We will resume regular church sanctuary services soon. In the meantime, if you can, continue to attend church at our 10:00 drive-in service. It does matter. If you have no car we will provide a handheld FM radio, while supplies last. Attendants will be there to help you park in an orderly fashion. Church attendance is the will of God for you and will have a beneficial effect on your life. See you at 10:00 this Sunday!

Spencer