"you MUST attend church faithfully"

[Lvanett]

I got a devotional online the other day and the topic was faithful church attendance. The author wrote words to the effect of "you MUST attend church faithfully!" stating that the early Christians did and those who didn't were considered apostate. But the statement ""you MUST attend church faithfully!" bothered me. I wanted to write the author and give him a piece of my mind, explaining how some want to do so but can't for a number of reasons. But it's not Christlike to attack my brother or sister in this way, so I decided not to.

About that line...usually it's said by someone who means well but has probably not experienced spiritual abuse - or who has only been to a handful of churches and only experienced one "bad" one out of them all. Someone who may not understand.

I've tried so many churches I'm starting to run out of places I would consider going to. Oh we have lots of denominational churches (including Catholic) and of course local JWs, Mormons, SDAs and other Christian offshoot churches are aplenty. I definitely don't fit in those places, since the offshoots are too "extreme" for me and the denominational ones are usually too stuck in the past, just wanting the old worn pews, old dusty bibles, and old fashioned "Let us sing a hymn to Our God" (said almost robotically) style worship with or without olde organ.

The sad part?
I really want to attend a church and be faithful - I really do! - but I'm fearful that the next church I want to attend regularly will be abusive in one form or another. Things like false promises, putting on a show (gotta love these), or going the opposite way and running to their little cliques instead of acknowledging you even after several visits. Not that I expect people to come jumping for joy when I arrive, just a "hey how are you, we care about you" kinda treatment.

I've even thought of going back to churches I used to attend. Lots of prayer in that department. There's only one I would consider attending, but the last time I went I got a "show". I'm afraid that the next visit will be more of the same.

I want to use my spiritual gifts, but so many churches are not open to it and that further complicates things. Just makes me want to crawl in bed and sleep the rest of my life away.

So I hope the next person who tells me I "must attend church faithfully" can understand and accept the reasons why I'm hesitant to do so. I'm not sure if the Lord accepts it or not.