Have you given up going to church but used to attend ?

As others have said, there’s a huge difference between religion and faith. I’m a Christian, I don’t attend my local church service every Sunday, but do go to a weekly home group and to the monthly women’s breakfast group. I was on the PCC for a while, but it wasn’t really for me. My church is very active, has groups for children and young people, is open once a week for anyone who lives alone and feels they want/need company, runs a food bank, and has recently become an eco-church. We also have a team that helps local people in difficulty. In the past, I’ve attended churches whose congregations were happy to sing the hymns, pray the prayers, etc. but no sooner had they stepped outside after the service than they were gossiping and criticising. I’ve also had ‘friends’ in the past who claimed to love Christ and who would forever quote the Bible but who deep down weren’t very nice people at all. One so-called ‘friend’ used to think she could tell me what TV programmes I should watch; she used to ask me if Jesus would approve.

I agree with you Polnan, love is the main thing. If there is not love it's discordant and I want no part in what I saw in our parish.

I also go to a small place now where there is love and kindness.

I went to church as a child, loved the hymns and the buildings, loved school Prayers with hymn and psalms. I don’t think I ever believed any of it.

My parents were both ambivalent about religion. They thought we ought to know about it, but were not believers themselves. My mother’s father was headmaster of an Anglican school, and my mother was so steeped in the church she turned against it in her teens. She said the only thing that had interested her about her confirmation was the dress.

Husband was a chorister in his youth and feels he's been to church enough!! I was brought up as a Catholic so attended church regularly as a child and teenager but didn't so much after I left home. All 3 DC were baptised but DGC haven't. I go when I visit my Mum but otherwise not

I think a lot of people do the same Grandma70's, maybe never even having their own personal faith.

For this reason many people are "Sunday Christians". Knowing about something isn't the same as having faith. I know about a lot of things, but I don't have faith in most of them.

When I was a child I was made to go to church and Sunday school. When I was old enough I told my parents I wasn't going and that was that. You can believe in God, but you don't have to attend a place to show you do, you can pray at home.

It's so sad that many people have had negative experiences at church, chapel or religious teachers/leaders. I think church ( which is the people who go, of course) should definitely reflect and exemplify God's love more than anything else. At 14, I became a Christian having considered things that were discussed at a Christian pony trekking holiday. I was on my own, in my bedroom, and felt an overwhelming sense of Jesus beside me and his love for me. We can certainly encounter God anywhere, anytime. Over the years, I've strayed from him at times, and attended one church for quite a while where the minister and others had gone badly off track. I am, however, 100% certain God has never abandoned me. I feel his nearness every day. I do attend a Baptist church now. I volunteer for a couple of things and have great relationships with many friends there. I would certainly be very careful about which church I attend nowadays ( I'm not bothered about which denomination), making sure I could question and challenge things I didn't agree with, see God's love in action in the community, and feel welcomed and valued. No church is perfect, of course, and posters have illustrated some of the reasons people can be put off ( as well as everyone having free choice of course).

Atheist here …so never been , never will. Peoples celebrations I go to.

Never been a church goer. As a young child I went to Sunday School but my parents weren't religious. I think it was more to do with them having an hour to themselves on a Sunday afternoon! I have a very early memory of being in Sunday School and the teacher talking about "cheese going among the poor". I pictured people eating cheese and only later learned it was a person called Jesus.

Brought up by Irish Catholic Mum, Dad never had any religion, stopped going to mass at 15, wont ever go back had enough being terrorised and brainwashed , threatened with purgatory and Hell and confessing ,
I don't believe in God now , but if I did I wouldn't go to church , chapel , mass or any kind of gatherings,

One of things I objected to as a child was the idea that we were all sinners. I didn’t think I was a sinner at all. I was a good girl!

Never felt the need. Churches ought to be converted into community centres for concerts, etc.

I am very involved in my local Baptist church, so much so that when my GD was telling her friend where members of her family work she said "...and Nanna works at the church"!
We have young families and older folk in our fellowship and it can be hard to please them all when it comes to choosing hymns etc but in general the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. For those who can't attend on Sunday the service is broadcast live and a recording can be accessed during the week. This week's link is: fccdl.in/v9nSCsmIvf
Most of the adults live out their faith in their work: nurses, paramedics, teachers and social workers for example. The retired members give a lot of time to the church, providing a Lunch Club, Toddler groups and more, as well as volunteering at the Food Bank and reading support and assemblies in schools.
If your church doesn't meet your needs, why not try a different one?

Our church is an independent one and very lively. As well as services there are many activities for all ages through the week which benefit people in the community whether they are believers or not.

My DH and I and our children used to attend church one or twice every Sunday. They were all in the church choir. DH was church warden, church treasurer etc for years. I did church flowers, looked after church hall bookings etc. Then a rogue priest came along with two henchmen, and they systematically got rid of just about all existing church members. The organist, the wardens and DH and myself. I have to say that that shattered our faith, and neither of us have any desire to join another church and get involved again. Unfortunately I don't think our experience is unusual in church circles.

When a child went to church and Sunday school but now am an atheist. I have a friend who believes every word of the Bible. Considering how many times the original, which was written many years after the events, has been translated before the King James Version is stupid.
So many wars and atrocities are caused. now by religion.

Not at all religious. I would class myself as agnostic but when I visit churches or cathedrals are l often get very emotional and brought to tears and I have no understanding of why that would be.. mother nature is my God…

Shinamae

Not at all religious. I would class myself as agnostic but when I visit churches or cathedrals are l often get very emotional and brought to tears and I have no understanding of why that would be.. mother nature is my God…

I visit them to admire the architecture in case anybody is wondering…

Went Sunday school and church every Sunday. Lost faith for a while when teenager but I like to go to church every few weeks (I'm disabled) to pray, it's so peaceful there.

I started out as a Methodist, because some local children asked if they could take me to Sunday School. My parents weren't churchgoers, but probably enjoyed the hour's peace and quiet. I continued until I left school, mainly because I enjoyed the singing.
When I met my husband to be, who was RC I became interested, and eventually joined the church, with no pressure from him. My parents were very bigoted against Catholics, and only grudgingly came to the wedding.
I attended Mass regularly, though our children all dropped away in their teens, and sang in the choir. In recent years I began to have doubts, but continued attending because I loved the music. When Covid stopped me from attending I began to realise that my beliefs have become more agnostic than Christian, and I no longer go to Mass. I think that, for most people, it's just a weekly habit which has little relevance in their daily lives.
Urmstongran summed up her attitude perfectly, and I feel the same way. Actions speak louder than words, and I try to do my best for our community.
The church leaders who do the same impress me more than the ones you only see on Sundays. Our local Vicar(ess) has just raised £1,500 for her Church's foodbank by abseiling down the Cathedral in Liverpool. Now THAT'S what I call religion in action!

I went to a Baptist church twice on Sundays and Sunday School as well when young and living at home. I was baptised and confirmed in the C of E in my mid twenties, and went to services. However, husband does not have any faith having been brought up in a mixed marriage (gentile and Jewish) and his parents had agreed not to practice any religion for that reason. He, however, is strongly principled and in all aspects of his life tries to help other people. I do not attend church now because I realised when my FIL died that I do not believe in life after death (not in the sense of Heaven anyway), and that seems rather central to believing through a religion. However, I do have faith and believe that there is a power beyond our direct knowledge which is shaping our existence. Earlier posters have mentioned the difference between faith and religion and that makes sense to me..

I go now when I did not previously. DH had cancer, treatment - arduous, life endangering of itself. I do not have local family and few close friends. KNEW I could not cope with holding him up, all the admin of life and stay sane - but that there was no choice but to do just that. Tried to have some activity daily that was not focussed on medical things. One day on a walk, thought I'd go into our local (ancient and beautiful) church - locked - but a simple Icon picture in the porch - helped me. I suddenly realised it's not a set of rules - just the hope (only hope - no certainty) you are not entirely alone. We have a great treasure in our historic buildings, bells, music, liturgy. Imagine it all being gone - support it if you can. It just helps me be a little better than I otherwise am.

As a child I was forced to go to church, Sunday school, confirmation classes and was eventually confirmed into an Anglican/Methodist Church.
Sin after, I learned about Darwin and evolution which seems far more believable as we can see how creatures have evolved but people coming back from the dead (except with medical intervention) really isn't possible. So I ripped up my bible and confirmation certificate and have never set foot on church grounds since and most definitely not inside a church and i have no intention whatsoever over ever doing so again.

Bloody, bloody, bloody.... I hate autocorrect..... Soon after, not sin after

thanks for that sandelf.