"Do I Have To Go To Church To Be A Christian?"

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No, you don't have to go to church to become a Christian. We know that becoming a Christian---an adopted son or daughter of God---is a the free gift of God (Romans 6:23); totally by grace, not by works. This is great news, since every "good deed" we try to do is only filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) before Holy God! So, maybe we are focusing on the wrong thing. Instead of debating whether or not you can be a Christian without being part of a local body, let's just consider it this way: "If you are a follower of Jesus, why would you NOT want to be with the people of God?" Or, we can look at the flip side of that question, "Why would you WANT to be with the people of God?"

Historically, I have always thought this was a pretty straightforward issue. Hebrews 10:24-25 makes it pretty clear to me that we are not to "give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing". Bam! Enough said for me. Strangely enough, though, I've run into quite a few people who I believe love God, and they have even read the Bible, but they feel that this issue is not that important to them personally. Well, this morning I believe God is shedding new light on the matter for me, and I thought I'd share it with you.

You might be familiar with chapter 2 of James, where the half-brother of Jesus and early leader of the church reminds Christians that we can't simply hear the Word and think that makes us okay, but we must do the Word, or else our faith is in vain. In other words, if your life is not transformed by the Word you hear, then your faith is not working (pun intended?). I listened to a sermon on this portion of Scripture yesterday and the teacher fleshed it out, saying if we study alone, we will most likely do one of two things: 1. we will think that just because we studied something, we are now transformed and applying it to our lives, or 2. we will forget what we've studied and it will bear no fruit in our lives. This teaching collided with my morning reading of Mark 2:1-5 today.

In Mark 2:1-5, Jesus is teaching in this super-crowded room. A paralytic man wants to get to Jesus to be healed, but there's no way in the room, so his friends go up on the roof, dig a hole in the clay, and lower the man through to reach Jesus. Pretty awesome. We're going to be looking at this story in our Campus Life Middle School small groups Tuesday, and discussing how we need help from people.I was thinking of an example I could give in my own life of this truth, and I started thinking "Well, I needed people to teach me how to grow in my relationship with Jesus when I first started following Him." Then I realized, I actually still need this. I need people to help me figure out how to walk with God through this season of life, too. I was trying to think of conversations I'd had about that, and instead, I could only think of a lot of books I've read about following Jesus.

Books are awesome. I love books. Come to my house and see them all if you doubt me. And reading a book is like having a conversation with the author, but the problem is, there's no give-and-take. I hear what they say, but they can't hear my questions or my thoughts on the subject. They can't tell if I misunderstood something, so they can't clarify when I wander down a crazy trail of thought. So, I realized I need to apply the sermon from yesterday to this.

I should read books. But I shouldn't stop there, because if I do, I'm liable to 1. think just because I know what to do, I'm doing it, or 2. forget everything I read and be no better off than I was prior to reading. So, I should read books, and watch sermons online, and listen to sermons in the car, and then I should share with my church family (my husband, our Life Together Group, a sister on a Sunday night, a friend at YFC, etc.) what I am learning so that iron can sharpen iron, mistaken ideas can be challenged, life application can be considered, and accountability can take place. The author of the book and the teacher of the sermon don't know me! They are faithful to sow the Word, but the people who see me week in and week out---they are the ones who are gonna help me walk out the Word. They are the ones who know my struggles and strengths. They are the ones who see where I need to apply truth, and can call me out when I'm not doing that! I need the church. And so do you.

So, no, we don't have to go to church to be a Christian, but we aren't gonna be a very fruitful Christian without the church. I don't know about you, but I desperately want to bear some fruit for Jesus!