Church is born out of forgiveness, grace and love. Not just flowing from Jesus to you, but from you into others! The Church then is a conduit, an overlap of Heaven and Earth in which the prayer "Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven" is fulfilled, at least temporarily. Is this conduit for Christians necessary?
CS Lewis was once asked, "Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?" His answer was as follows: "That's a question which I cannot answer. My own experience is that when I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn't go to the churches and Gospel Halls; and then later I found that it was the only way of flying your flag; and, of course, I found that this meant being a target. It is extraordinary how inconvenient to your family it becomes for you to get up early to go to Church. It doesn't matter so much if you get up early for anything else, but if you get up early to go to Church it's very selfish of you and you upset the house. If there is anything in the teaching of the New Testament which is in the nature of a command, it is that you are obliged to take the Sacrament, and you can't do it without going to Church. I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren't fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit." God in the Dock, pp. 61-62. Why do you need Church? If and when you don't feel like you're being "fed", what should you do? What is the primary purpose of doing church in community according to Lewis?Email Subscription:
The question: Who needs church?
The answer: Everyone — everyone, every person, living and breathing on the face of the earth.
For as long as we, each person, is alive, we need church. It isn’t whether church needs us; it is that we need church.
Why? Because, as my pastor friend teaches and preaches in accordance with God’s most sacred and Holy Word, we are relational human beings, created to be in relationship, first and foremost, with God and secondly, with each other.
Church is it! Church is where we come to be in relationship with God and with each other.
Why? Because God commands us to worship Him and to worship Him in “His house of prayer.”
Church is it! Church is God’s “house of prayer” and where we are to come to worship, thank, and praise Him.
Who needs church?
The answer is non-negotiable.
The answer is unequivocal.
The answer is obligatory.
The answer is so easy for so many; yet, so difficult for so many others.
Who needs church?
Everyone!
…you’re included…and…you’re welcomed…seek Him in church…He’s waiting for and wanting you to come.