The Mourning Dove Caws

America is full of good guys who think their admittance to heaven is going to be based on their acts of charity, abstinence from cheating people, and the like.  With the utmost grief I profess that anyone who thinks they can earn God’s favor has grossly overstated their worth and grossly understated their sin (see Ephesians 2:8-10).  But that’s besides the point.  The point is that it’s usually this category of people who snub going to church.  Let’s just set the record straight from the beginning: church is not a building.  It’s not a place you go.  It’s a community of people that is universal/global (Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28; Eph. 3:10) but expressed locally in groups of believers who gather together for worship (1 Cor. 14:26, Col. 3:16, Heb. 10:25).

I’m very skeptical of anyone who claims right-standing with God but doesn’t attend church.  So although this apologetic for ‘going to church’ was stirred by a cultural need to defend and promote this discipline for the nonbelievers in our world, I also recognize that some people in the church genuinely struggle understanding the worth of gathering regularly for worship, instruction, fellowship etc.  Let’s admit it–sometimes sermons stink, people are curiously peculiar, and services are more boring than watching C-Span.  I’m not immune to feeling that sometimes I could have gained more from a personal Bible study at home or watching a Podcast from one of my favorite teachers.

With these realities in mind, I hope to shed light on why Christians should go to church.  This may serve as an apologetic both for believers and nonbelievers.

Let’s just ignore the fact that the Bible straightforwardly commands Christians to attend church (Heb. 10:25)!  Furthermore, it’s helpful to understand that the Bible hardly expounds on this practice because it was an assumed discipline and the early communities were keenly aware of why they were assembling together (something churches in free societies, where they do not suffer persecution, are less prone to).

The nature of my argument is a very pragmatic one.  I have traditionally taught that Christians should go to church for two simple reasons.  Though they are uncomplicated in theology, I don’t consider them lacking profundity.  Those who actively attend church and live out these two reasons will understand the strength of my argument.

God wants Christians in a church so that they can grow.

There are so many dimensions that we need to grow in as God’s people.   There’s worship (Col. 3:16), knowledge (Acts 2:42), character (Heb. 13:17) to name a few.  Local churches serve as the environment through which God wants you to experience this.  They provide relationships that will serve as an avenue for your spiritual growth.  Pastors, teachers, mentors, accountability partners cannot be found in solitude.  The cap to your personal growth will be your own experience if you attempt to grow spiritually on your own!  By joining a church, you humbly recognize that the Spirit has been working in his church (universal) long before you came upon the scene, and are given access to knowledge, understanding, and experiences that you can only gain from others.

God wants Christians in a church so that they can grow others.

All Christians are ministers (1 Cor 7:7; 12:7).  God wants you to be intentional about the relationships that you are going to serve others in.  This means you have gifts, talents, experiences that you’re supposed to use to build people up.  In a local church, people enter into a mutual agreement of edification.  It is understood that no two people are exactly alike, and that God wants to use everyone in a unique way to grow each other.  Social groups outside the church also need you, but the church acts a group of people who are seeking the same purpose.  This makes growth more efficient.  The church serves as a catalyst in forming Christ-likeness.

Recently I have been reading theologies of community (I will most certainly look back one day and recognize the influence John R. Franke has had on my thinking).  He convincingly argues for what he calls theology’s integrative motif.  Put another way, we may ask what connects our seemingly dispread Christian doctrines into a unifying purpose?  Community formation.  Pay close attention to the following words:

God is inherently relational in that throughout all of eternity God is a triune community of love.  In turn, God’s goal for humanity is that we represent God by reflecting the divine nature, which is our destiny in Christ.  In this context, the church is viewed as the foretaste of the new humanity.  Hence, the divine design for Christ’s community is that we be a people who, because we share in the Holy Spirit and thereby participate in the eternal love of God, represent God in the midst of a fallen world through lives that reflect God’s own loving Character.  Only through relationships and in community can we truly show what God is like, for God is the community of love, the eternal relational dynamic enjoyed by the three persons of the Trinity.*

God wants you in a church so that you can grow and so that you can grow others.  But that’s not all.  The world needs to see what restored relationships look like, and this can only happen in community.  When we worship in local communities, we are reflecting the triune nature of God’s relationality to the world.  This can take the form of sharing in communion, musical worship, teaching, sharing a meal, meeting in small groups, playing sports together, entertaining people–all in the name of Christ.  When these meetings are marked by relationships filled with mutual love, we the church testify to God’s character and mission.  He wants you to be part of that, and this is why going to church is imperative for anyone who considers themselves Christian.

*John R. Franke, The Character of Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 123.