Question:
Should I attend church or stay at home when my family who are atheists come to visit?
Response:
This is a common concern for many Christian grandparents, so I am sure that my answer to you will be helpful to other grandparents.
I appreciate your sensitivity to their beliefs but encourage you to attend church without them.
Worshipping God, fellowship with other Christians, and the opportunity to learn more about God’s word and how it applies to your life is important to your spiritual development. Their choices in life should not change how you choose to live your life, and they should not interfere with your opportunity to seek the Lord.
Also, the example you set may make an impression on one of your family members and move him or her to attend church in the future. Your attendance at church is an act of discipleship of your children and grandchildren. I encourage you to continue to set a good example for your family members and to pray for them to have a desire to know God.
I also suggest that you don’t overtly mention that you will be going to church and wish they would too or make any comments that might be heard by them as judgment or criticism as that is likely to make them less likely to pursue God in the future.
Just go about your normal routine, and let them learn from what they see you do.
2 thoughts on “Attending Church or Staying Home with Visiting Family”
Because my adult children will not attend church, we watch church online with them every Sunday at one of their homes or ours. Do you feel this “does not set a good example” since we are not attending traditional church services?
No, I think that you are setting a good example by being with them. Just make sure that you are caring for yourself and tending to your own spiritual development at the same time. So, if attending a traditional church service helps you do that, you might attend at a different time during the week.