Why Do Christians Go To Church?

Why do Christians need to go to church? Why can’t they worship God at home?

What is the Church?

The church is the “called out ones” from the Greek word “ekklēsia” and as the Greeks used it, it was understood to be an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating something, not individuals sitting in their homes. The church is not a building, but many Christians must meet in a building because of the size of the local membership. Some house churches are necessary due to extenuating circumstances like distance from other churches, low population areas, no churches available, it’s illegal to have a Christian assembly, and so many other circumstances. One example is there is no church in the local nursing home so our church offers church services. They can’t come to church so we bring the church to them.

Why the Church?

Why is there a church at all? Jesus said “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18) so that should be enough for us to know that Jesus ordained the church and it is His church, not ours. The church is composed of individual members of the body of Christ, each having an important function just as God “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:11). Once we are called into the Body of Christ, we “are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:19-21) and in this way we can “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13).

Community of Believers

There are no solo Christians anywhere in the Bible but believers are always in community in every single case you read about in the Bible. The only exception is the missionary work and church planting by Paul. Some who refuse to assemble with the church say that they love the Father but in effect, they can’t stand to be around His children. They say they love Christ but they don’t love the members of His Body. Do you see the contradiction in that? If one of my friends came up to me and said they love me but can’t stand to my children, I can tell you that I wouldn’t like that very much. Some were apparently offended or had a bad experience in a church but is that a good reason to forsake the assembling of the Body of Christ? Psalm 119:165 says “Great peace have those who love your law; nothing shall offend them.” It says “nothing shall offend them” so if they’re offended that easily, then they either don’t love God and His law or they’re not a Christian at all. It doesn’t say “nothing shall offend them except….” When we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ someday and say, “Well, I love you God but I didn’t like the way the rest of your body members acted so I stayed away from them” do you think Jesus will excuse that? There are no church-less Christians in the New Testament church and the Christian life was never meant to be a solo act.

The Body of Christ

The members of Christ’s body need one another in order to grow spiritually and to grow as a church. Here’s how the church in the Book of Acts did it, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42) “And all who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44) “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46-47). They were faithful to one another and God “added to their number day by day.” His body does not have individual body parts scattered everywhere. A hand is a beautifully thing…until it’s severed from the body, then it becomes grotesque. Each member of the Body of Christ is assembled together as one body to function as only a body can…with all the necessary parts working together. We need to be praying for one another, loving one another, serving one another and to all be worshipping together. When did the gates of hell prevail against the church in your mind? Just because it’s composed of imperfect members (like you and I), what makes us think that we don’t need the Body of Christ? He is the Head of the church and we are the body.

Why go to Church?

Jesus said that He would build His church and that not even death (gates of hell) will stop it but we also need one another to encourage one another and pray for one another.  What of the imperative command from the author of Hebrews who wrote,“let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, and do not neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:24-25)? These verses tell us to do something we can’t do as a non-assembling Christian sitting at home; you can’t encourage one another and you can stir up one another to love and good works. If you have neglected to assemble together with the Body of Christ, I would ask you my brother or sister in Christ; show me chapter and verse where it says we don’t have to church or that the church is no longer necessary. Jesus said nothing would stop it!

Conclusion

If someone has no interest in the church, no interest in prayer, and no interest in Bible reading, then they might want to consider what Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test” (2nd Cor 13:5). Those who have no interest in God at all but consider themselves to be a pretty good person, having done a lot of good things, should heed Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” It’s not that He didn’t know them well, or not well enough; He says “I never knew you!”  It’s means nothing to say “I know Jesus.”  The critical question is “Does He know you?!”

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.