Hello Lanolin;
If church was compulsory, then it would be a "forced command" by God.
Going to church is not a "forced command," instead an "inspired requirement" which is a big difference from a "forced command." Why is it an "inspired requirement?"
It is shared in Scriptures - Matthew, Acts, Romans, Ephesians, Colossians, Hebrews, James, etc...to encourage our gathering with like believers, to pray and worship together and receive the message given to the preacher from the Lord. The Gospel and passage teachings from this helps us grow, relationally with each other in Christ.
However, many believers opt their freewill by watching church on TV, having church by themselves, negative experiences and other reasons not to attend corporate worship. Many Christians will have their reasons and for this we must include them in our prayers. I remember years ago my wife and I attended church like it was a "revolving door."
At some point our Pastor called and we talked about it. I told him how we felt about attending church every Sunday and it became like a burden. I wasn't being entertained. We dialogued with our Pastor and after pointing the Scriptures and right reasons for attending church helped us. We TALKED about it and after much prayer we saw attending church in a new LIGHT.
My personal relationship with Jesus turned my attitude of attending church around to grow in my personal growth, but more important, to feel the joy of worshiping our God, first. I don't attend church by works, but so I can worship all day my Jesus with my church families.
Thank you for this thread, Lanolin.
God bless you and your family.