Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

The quip draws a sharp distinction between outward association and inward transformation. By pairing church attendance with the absurd idea that proximity to a garage turns someone into a car, the line argues that religious identity is not conferred by location, routine, or social respectability. It reflects a revivalist emphasis on personal conversion and lived faith over mere formalism—an insistence that Christianity is defined by belief, repentance, and conduct rather than by institutional participation alone. The humor functions as a rhetorical hook: it disarms, then indicts complacency, urging listeners to examine whether their religion is performative or genuinely formative.

Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you an automobile.
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.