Penna Dexter

In heartfelt remarks broadcast from her late husband Charlie’s radio studio, just two days after he was murdered — actually, martyred — Erika Kirk was adamant. The movement among young people which Charlie built through Turning Point USA, the organization he founded, will only grow stronger. She encouraged people to join and become active in changing the nation. Then she said:

“But, most important of all, if you aren’t a member of a church, I beg you to join one — a Bible-believing church. Our battle is not simply a political one, above all it is spiritual. The spiritual warfare is palpable.”

That next Sunday, citing online predictions of a “Charlie Kirk effect” upon churchgoing, churches all over the nation prepared for greater attendance.

Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show podcast, told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, “If you [want to] honor Charlie today, it is Sunday… go back to church, open your Bible, pray, ask God to lead you. That’s what he wanted.”

According to reports, church attendance was way up. May it continue to increase. Revival would be welcome. Church attendance is making a modest comeback but, overall, has been in decline over the last 15-20 years as the culture secularizes.

Religious practice has diminished in all major demographic groups, even among conservatives and Republicans.

Ironically, many evangelicals report they’re not attending church.

When asked about church attendance, self-identified Christians who don’t attend church offer explanations like: ‘I don’t need to go’ or ‘I can worship on my own’ or ‘I find God in nature.’

We can worship by an ocean or a tree. But we should go to church. We need biblical preaching and sacraments to show us the fullness of who God is.

If you aren’t a churchgoer, if you do anything in response to the murder of Charlie Kirk, do this: Go to church. Go back to church. Or, as Erika Kirk advises, find a church.