3 Reasons Why You Need To Go To Church
Thoughts on Community, Edification, and Spiritual Growth.
Let me start off by saying that when I say the phrase “go to church” I don’t mean some large, expensive building that’s a burden to the congregation.
I’m in the camp that it’s better to meet in a home and use the extra funds to support various missions than to go into massive debt for a fancy building.
Plus, I was once convinced that a Christian did not need to attend a local church as long as they spent time in their Bible and prayed every day.
I have since changed my mind after much meditation on God’s word. That’s not to say that you need a local church for spiritual growth, but it helps.
Here are my top three reasons I’m no longer engaging in the solo Christian larp.
Community
This first point got me be back into regular church attendance. If we have any hope of holding together some form of society when the pagan version collapses around us, we need to build close Christian communities. This happens the at your local church first and for most.
Start going to the Lord’s Day services. If that local church is preaching the Bible for what it says, then keep going. Work into joining other events that the congregation holds to form better relationships. It’s in the relationships that society functions and we want to create strong Christian societies.
The stronger the Christian societies we build, the better suited they are to resist the West’s modern persecution. Because the communities we build are the strongholds against the current antichrist world, which we find ourselves within.
However, this can only work if we don’t compromise to the world. Many local churches are complacent and even give into every leftist ideology, no matter how nonbiblical.
In the past, many local churches got complacent because times were good. These complacent churches let the enemy gain ground in the name of tolerance and “I’ll leave you alone, please leave me alone”.
It’s now clear they won’t leave us alone and so we need to band together and create powerful communities that won’t back down from the standard that is God’s word.
You can not get this kind of community by staying in your home, alone, and watching YouTube videos about theology. Yes, you’ll can experience edification to a degree and you’ll learn a lot of head knowledge about the faith. But you will not have a support group around you if or when you need help.
I created an online membership site called the Guild (it’s free) and anyone that supports this project by upgrading to a pro membership gets access to a private group with me and the other supporters.
Even though I created this group and find value there, it still does not compare to the in person community you get by physically attending a local church.
Edification
As a mentioned previously, you can experience edification alone using YouTube or some other media. But just because that is true does not mean it is optimal or should be the sole form of edification.
We all have learned much online and in books over the years and will continue to see the fruit of their edification. I spend lots of time in the digital because of my line of work and this project.
I also keep a journal, note system, and to-do list all in a digital format. But that does not negate the need for physically present edification.
This physical edification comes from the community of the local church. One such example is a Bible study. I’m able to attend a men’s Bible study twice a month, which is run by my local church.
I look forward to this hour each week with much eagerness. Something about sitting with our brothers in Christ, talking about God’s word, while drinking a cup of coffee is far superior to any digital edification we can experience.
Spiritual Nourishment
This is yet another aspect of the Christian faith which I used to think was optional. Likely because of attending an independent fundamental baptist church where they never took part in the Lord’s Supper.
I’d be a fool to say that I understand this important aspect of the Christian faith entirely, but what I can say is that I now know of its importance.
John Calvin states in is book “Institutes” that the Lord’s Supper is “a spiritual feast, at which Christ testifies that he himself is living bread, on which our souls feed, for a true and blessed immortality.”
“refreshed by communion with him, we may ever and anon gather new vigour until we reach the heavenly immortality,” - John Calvin, Institutes
The physical bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper are there for our understanding. The familiarity of the material gives our minds access to the reality that Christ feeds our souls.
Taking part in the Lord’s Supper is a feast for our spirit. Just as the bread and wine hold physical nourishment, the very things they represent are nourishment for our spiritual.
It’s important to take part in the Lord’s Supper for our spiritual nourishment, and we cannot partake in communion alone.
Paul even talks of the Lord’s supper with the assumption that we come together to eat of it after he expounds on its seriousness in earlier verses:
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. [1 Corinthians 11:33 KJV]
Brothers, It’s Serious.
Don’t let the enemy convince you that “going it alone” is just as good as being a part of a covenantal community of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
If you are married, it’s your duty to lead your family into covenant worship of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. If you’re not, it’s to your advantage to attend in order to build the foundation once you are married.
It’s time to step up and start building your Christian community because it’s better to fight alongside your brother than alone.
“Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” - John Knox
My Brother in Christ,
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