To put it bluntly, I can’t imagine anything more important than being involved in a local church. What does it look like? Here are some of the biggies: regularly attending services where you hear the Word preached, interacting and investing in relationships with the rest of the hypocritical sinners like you and me, and submitting to the elders of the church. One important point to note: I’m assuming involvement in a church that falls in line with historical Christian orthodoxy, believes and preaches the gospel, and teaches the Word of God.
The dangers of forsaking the church are too many to list. But I just came across a few blogs that caught my eye from different angles. One is an article by a seminary professor at Westminster arguing (rightly) that church membership is more important than post graduate academic study. For those with a theological bent, check out the article here. The other is a short video clip of Matt Chandler talking about the dangers of trying to love Jesus outside the context of the local church. Check out Chandler’s 2 minute video here (click on the “community” tab).
My own experience tells a tale. I grew up in a church that unfortunately didn’t teach me how to understand the Bible. Bummer. When I got to college I was young, zealous, and wanted to love Jesus. I quickly found the most theologically intense guys I could find, spent all the time in the world with them, and neglected the local church because I felt like it was filled with a bunch of hypocrites. Result: I ended up in extreme legalism, holding to many (if not mostly) heretical beliefs, estranging myself from my family, and causing alot of personal pain. Ouch.
What’s your story? Have you neglected the church? Do you view it as something, let’s say, minor or optional? Do you think you can love Jesus and flourish in your Christian pilgrimage outside the context of the local church? Everything from seminary prof’s, pastors like Matt Chandler, personal experience, and most importantly Holy Scripture (Heb. 10:24-25), seem to say otherwise.
