Why Should I be a Church
Go-er?

After Nancy and I were married in the early 70’s we moved to a ranch that had been in my family for over fifty years. No one had lived fulltime on the old place since shortly after WWII; it had become a weekend retreat for my family and provided lots of wonderful childhood memories. The ranch was located on an isolated property, which required nearly an hour of driving to reach anything that resembled a town. For me it was a dream come true to be able to live there fulltime. 

My Junior High School teaching job didn’t start until the following September. This gave us nearly nine months to turn the old cabin into a comfortable home that would end up housing our young family for the next 18 years. For the first six years we were without a telephone; for fourteen years we lived without outside power. We had a wonderful vegetable garden, and raised most of our own meat that I supplemented with local hunting. The ranch provided us with more than a home; it was a unique lifestyle and an identity that became all too important and detrimental to my spiritual maturity.

About two years into our marriage Nancy began to realize something was missing. She was about twenty-one years old and pregnant with Katie, our first child. My parents lived an hour and ten minutes away and were very active leaders in a thriving Presbyterian church. Nancy began to drive there every week in an old Volkswagen bug while fighting morning sickness to attend a woman’s Bible study. She soon became a Christian and began to hunger for regular fellowship.

They say that the Gospel is the ‘Good News’, but at that time of my life it was really bad news. I drove nearly forty miles five days a week to my teaching job and that left only two days to pursue my dream and identity as a rancher. It just wasn’t fair that Nancy would expect me to give up one of those precious days to go to church that was over an hour away. That was entirely too radical and definitely cut into my freedom. I remember arguing that church was just a man-made institution and unnecessary for a relationship with God. I would say things like, “I feel closer to God in nature than I do when I’m around a bunch of people”; and “The church is made up of a bunch of back-biting hypocrites that can’t ever seem to get along. Why would I want to get involved with something like that?” And better yet, “All the church wants is our money.”  I had a hundred arguments that helped me stay out of any regular Christian fellowship for the next seven years. During that time, the ranch developed into a beautiful sanctuary but for me it became a sanctuary of self-worship.

If you asked me in those days if I was a Christian I would have told you with some sense of assurance that I was. I just had a strong conviction that consistent church life was not a necessary ingredient in faith. I honestly believed I could maintain and even mature in a relationship with God without the influence of other people. It wasn’t until I was nearly thirty years old that I realized my assumption was false. Without going into a longer testimony of my faith, let me simply say that one night while sitting on a log up on the mountain behind the ranch I cried out to God for help and in a very amazing way He met me. I had an authentic encounter with Christ and because of it I experienced life change. In that moment I sincerely hungered for the truth, not my own, but God’s. I started to ask real questions and to look in the Bible for the answers. For the first time the Bible began to make sense to me.

Over the next few months my attitude and perspective about life began to change. I was experiencing what the Apostle Paul called the transformation and renewal of the mind. I longed for greater understanding and knew I couldn’t get it on my own. I also became aware of the fact that I was eager to be around others who had experienced what I had. I knew that unless I was in regular fellowship I had no chance for growth as a believer. The more I read the Bible the more I understood that Christian assembly was not man’s idea but was very clearly Christ’s commission to His people. I realized that most of the New Testament was instruction to the Church.  It gave understanding as to how to get along and what to do when meeting together.

When I read Hebrews 10:22 it had an entirely new meaning to me;

“let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

I came to realize that not only did I need others in my life, but they also needed me. Christianity is truly about community. It requires relationship with other people to encourage me to grow and be functional, to “spur me on to love and good deeds”. Authentic Christianity is others-centered.  As I look back now, I see how self-centered my life was before I had an authentic relationship with the Lord and His church. 

It is the role and responsibility of the church to be the agency of God’s manifold wisdom and truth. Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus, “His (God’s) intent was that, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord [Eph. 3:10]. When he was giving instruction to Timothy concerning his leadership in the church he said, “I am writing you these instructions so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth”[1 Tim. 3:15]. Jesus said that it was the truth that sets men free, and thus the church is His vehicle to proclaim His truth and therefore be used as an agency for freedom.

Church participation is a sign of genuine salvation. Hebrews also says when you came to salvation in Christ “you have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven” [Heb. 12:22]. One thing I learned early on is it is impossible to love God and not love His church. He loves His church, gave His life for it and would be opposed to anyone who would try to damage or despise it. 

The Church is clearly God’s idea for the proclamation of truth, for the activity of His commands, and for the advancement of His kingdom. God loves the assembly of His people. He told His disciples that where two or three are gathered in His name He would be there also. The problem is that the church is made up of fallible people. The Bible never said that church would be perfect; it only says it is essential. As a result a vast amount of the New Testament teaches believers how to treat one another when they come together. Let me close with a few examples: