By David Onwuchekwa
It’s both surprising and amusing, sometimes painfully so, that many people today claim to “go to church” but never actually enter the church.
They hover around the premises, lingering by the gates or shaded corners, chatting away while the priest is preaching the Word of God. We’re not judging but it’s our observation.
What, really, is the point of going to church if not to worship? For some, Sunday service has turned into a social hangout, a place to display new clothes, gossip about politics, or strike business deals. Some even turn it into a romantic rendezvous.
Meanwhile, the message of salvation echoes inside the church, largely unheard by those who claim to be worshipping outside.
This is not only hypocrisy, it’s mockery. It’s a subtle, yet dangerous, erosion of Christian values. The younger ones are watching. They see adults who boast about being “faithful churchgoers” yet cannot sit through a single sermon. What example does that set?
Let’s be clear: this behavior isn’t due to lack of space. Investigations show that most of these “outside worshippers” simply prefer it that way. They arrive late, stand around the compound, and go home satisfied that they’ve fulfilled their religious duty for the week. It’s a spiritual charade, religion in name, not in spirit.
Faith is not about appearances. Christianity is not a fashion show or a meeting point for idle talk. When you attend church, you are expected to enter, sit, listen, pray, and reflect. Anything short of that is self-deception.
Church leaders must also rise to the occasion. Ushers and wardens should politely but firmly ensure that those who come to worship do so within the church, not outside it. Discipline, order, and reverence must return to our places of worship.
If you go to church, go to worship, not to gossip, trade, or flirt. The time has come to end this growing culture of pretence. Faith is not performed at the gates; it’s lived in the heart and nourished by the Word. Anything less is not worship, it’s theatre.
