“Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?” Well, no. The old saying still stands: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.” The church doesn’t make us Christians, but being a Christian should make us want to attend church. We all have something to learn and something to offer in our Christian life (Heb. 10:24-25). Church is where much of that takes place. And if you’re not there, the church is lacking (1 Cor.12:21-26)
In The Truth Project , a wonderful video series produced by Focus on the Family, Del Thacket points out that even God, the most self-sufficient being in existence, has community: the Trinity. God is a God of community starting with marriage, family, friendship, even our day-to-day acquaintances, and for the Christian, the church. We aren’t alone in this world nor are we alone in our faith.
When I speak of the church, I’m talking about the body of Christ, the total of believers (1 Cor. 1:2). Your local Bible-believing church is a part of that body, but not all of it. If your church isn’t a Bible teaching church, you should be looking elsewhere.
Jesus Himself speaks of the church as a natural expectation of His ministry (Matt. 16:18). So, if Jesus expects the church to exist and be produced by His teachings, shouldn’t we take advantage of the body He has set up for us?
Jesus also acknowledges it as the place where Christians are held accountable (Matt. 18:17). Paul tells us quite a bit about church life. Here are just three points:
- We are to stir up one another with love and good works (Heb. 10:24-25)
- We are not to neglect gathering together with other believers (Heb. 10:24-25)
- How this is all supposed to work (Col. 3:16).
Just a couple of observations to close: our witness to the world is effected by how we act. Someone who claims to be a Christian and doesn’t regularly attend church is seen as something of a hypocrite by the world. Their witness fails. James says our faith is seen by others through our acts, not our words (James 1:14-18). While you don’t need to be at church every week, we all have things that come up, we might think about being there regularly. We and our church are losing out otherwise.
AnswersAZ 