too,
When churches will fall completely out of use,
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show...

Meditatively, the speaker begins to ponder the felt needs that places such as churches meet and the way that the secularisation of society still leaves even avowed atheists himself with some kind of hankering after the eternal:

A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.

There is something of the human condition that hungers for the divine, and churches, even though they are "going" in terms of sliding away, become a perfect place to meet those needs and ponder those eternal questions. Ironically, therefore, the title both points towards the importance of churches and how vital they are to humans as well as their demise.

This is an incredibly important poem from the works of Philip Larkin, the famous English poet. One of his hobbies was visiting old churches in the countryside of Britain of which there are many, but interestingly he was a devout atheist. In this poem he talks about the possible future of churches and also comments on the kind of need that they fulfil even for the cynics like himself.

The poem starts with the speaker entering the church he is visiting once he is sure "there is nothing going on." He finds the "unignorable silence" of the church to impact him, and he takes of his bicycle-clips as a sign of "awkward reverence." As he looks around the church and then leaves, he reflects that the place "was not worth stopping for." However, in the third stanza, he addresses this dilemma talking about why he did stop:

Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,
And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches will fall completely out of use...

Larkin thus addresses the paradox that causes him to keep stopping and visiting churches, and then begins to consider the future of religion and churches in England, which he saw as being phased out by changes in culture. To his mind, church was becoming "A shape less recognisable each week/A purpose more obscure." However, in spite of these musings about the extinction of churches and the fact that Larkin views this church as an "accoutred frowsty barn," it nevertheless pleases him to "stand in silence here." This leads us to the final stanza, where he talks about the way that religion and churches will always have a role in the future:

A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.

Thus, according to Larkin, churches will always have some kind of role, because all of our "compulsions" meet together in this "serious house on a serious earth." Churches satisfy the unexplainable "hunger in ourselves to be more serious," that comes to all of us, even the most hardened atheist such as Larkin. This "hunger" leads us to places like churches, which were "proper to grow wise in." It is typical of Larkin that he ends the poem with an ironically humorous note, suggesting that churches are only good to "grow wise in" because of the dead that there are there.

Finally it is important to note the multi-layered meaning of the title. "Church going" is about going to churches and visiting them at one level, but also it is talking about the passing of churches from culture and this present time, considering their extinction and what possible uses they will be put to in the future. This is a great poem so I hope you enjoy it!

The first stanza introduces the narrator, apparently a cyclist, stopping to explore a deserted church. He has to make sure "there's nothing going on" before he is willing to go in; his visit is not motivated by any religious faith on his part but he recognizes "the holy end" of the room he has entered and, "in awkward reverence," removes his cycling toe-clips since he has no hat to take off.

The speaker moves forward, noting the condition of the area as he approaches "the holy end." He is familiar with the rituals and activities that take place in a church - he reads "large-scale verses" from the Bible on the lectern and mimics the priest's closing of "Here endeth the reading." He signs the attendance record and leaves an offering, even as he concludes the stop was not worth the time away from his bicycling.

Then he begins to question - so, why did he stop? Why does he frequently stop to look at churches, particularly since he ends every visit "much at a loss like this, wondering what to look for." He contemplates the fate of church buildings in the future - will a few be preserved with all the religious relics intact while the rest are left to fall into disrepair?

Will superstitions arise so that people of the future avoid them? Will those superstitions cause people to come to them to enact rituals for good luck, for cures of illnesses or to see a departed loved one? When the superstitious beliefs are lost in the passage of time, then will the building's area revert to "Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky."

The speaker wonders who will be the last "to seek this place for what it was." Perhaps an archeologist, maybe an antique hunter, possibly someone who recognizes artifacts that could still be used for Christmas decorations. Most puzzling of all, the speaker realizes the final visitor may be someone like himself.

He comes to acknowledge that he attributes no special merit or worth to the place, but is pleased that it exists and recognized major changes in the lives of people in the past - "marriage, and birth, and death, and thoughts of these." To his surprise, he admits to himself that "Though I've no idea what this accoutred frowsty barn is worth, it pleases me to stand in silence here."

The speaker concludes that deep and serious thoughts about life will always need to be recognized and honored in "a serious house on serious earth." Perhaps, he decides, churches will continue to be needed as an answer to the search for "a place to grow wise in" and in recoognition of those buried on its grounds.

The entire poem follows a rhyme pattern that can be described as ababcadcd, although some rhymes are very subtle. The structure of the poem's story follows the pattern of many sermons, starting by presenting a situation or condition, considering a variety of possibilities and the ramifications of each choice, and concluding with a personal resolution to the situation that will bear further investigation and consideration in the future.

I am not sure what you mean by introduction, whether you want a general introduction or a literary introduction.  Generally, this poem by Philip Larkin provides the interior monologue of a man who stops by a church and considers the history, philosophy and implications of religion.  The reader can tell he, himself, is not a regular church goer.  The mention of "cycle-clips" indicates he is a cycler who may even be looked at as out of place if the church were having a service.  Perhaps this is why he makes sure "there's nothing going on" when he enters.  However, the reader comes to find out that this man has tremendous insight into the concept of religion and a society that is perhaps pushing religion aside as a mere relic of history rather than an experience of faith.  The speaker is able to put himself into the persona of various individiuals who may have come to the church for various reasons.  Ironically, the mind travels of this skeptical man are more philosophical and insightful than what many people consider the new hypocrisy of the church.  Through the speaker the reader is made to explore his own feelings of not just a church building but of all that it represents.  As the man searches for meaning, so does the reader.