Question and Answer: Why should I go to church?

The following question was sent to me this morning via facebook: I feel that I have an intimate reationship with God. I feel close to him while feeding cattle or mowing a pasture. Prayer and medittation come while driving down the freeway as naturaly as a church…Is a building constructed by man for man in the name of God more holy than my cow pasture created by God for man?

Let me say first that I agree that when it comes to eternal salvation, what matters is that we recognize that we are sinners in need of rescue and that we cannot earn our way into God’s kingdom. He has sent his Son who has done all the necessary work, dying on the cross in our place to pay the consequences our sins deserve. So, anyone who repents and trusts in Jesus Christ and commits his life to him, is rescued from eternal punishment and brought into the kingdom of God.

Going to church or not going to a church building does not “save” you. We are justified by faith alone in Christ alone.

I also believe that the bible is God’s Word, infallible, inerrant, and given for our instruction and growth. When you read the New Testament it becomes very clear that Jesus loves his Church. In fact, in Ephesians 5:25-32, the love that Jesus has for his Church is likened to the sacrificial love a husband should have for his bride. Jesus gave his life for his Bride, the Church, and a husband is called to love his wife in the very same way.

In John 17, Jesus not only expresses deep love for his church but prays that his Church will be unified, together as One, and declares that he will be present in the church in a way that he is present no where else.

The “Body” imagery is used throughout the New Testament to refer to the Church—1st Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 are great examples. The church is likened to the living Body of Christ—now, of course, Jesus is risen and has a real body so the NT writers are only speaking in analogies—but the reason this imagery is used is that Jesus is very truly present when his people are gathered together for worship and every member is necessary for the health of the whole. He is present and works powerfully in and through the community of those who call on his name.

And, finally, in Hebrews 10:25 we are given a command not to neglect the regular gathering of fellow believers but to gather with the church.

Why is that? Well one reason is that the church is a “means of grace” ie. a way that God makes sinners holy. It is his hospital for sinners where the Great Physician works to heal us of selfishness, pride, teaches us his word and helps us to love others as he has loved us. God uses other Christians as a vital part of his plan to help you become more and more like Christ.

Some of the things that God does through community of believers in Christ is teach us to forgive, have patience, be humble, love others like ourselves, to deal lovingly with people we do not like, sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others etc..

You cannot learn those things in a cow pasture. No doubt you can experience God, often more profoundly in the pasture than in church, but, again, your personal experience of God is not the end all and be all of being a follower of Jesus.

The church is not a building, you are right about that, but it is a community, a family, a gathering of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. We lost our building last year when the Episcopal Church won the lawsuit against us and learned how true that is.

When you turn your life over to Christ, he comes to live inside of you with the Holy Spirit—and when that happens you become eternally and spiritually bound, at the deepest level possible, to every other believer. You may not feel that but that is precisely what the bible says happens…that’s why Christians sometimes refer to each other as brother and sister, because we are bound by something stronger even than flesh and blood.

I hope this helps. In short I do not think church is necessary to be saved. I do think that it is a necessary and vital part of life for those who are saved.

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