Fellowship: Skip?

Intro

Do I need to attend church every Sunday? Do I need to do this thing called “fellowship with other believers”? Can’t I stay home from church and do my own private thing with my family? And hang out with who I want and still have a deep meaningful relationship with God and be a “good Christian”? These questions have been asked for a long time. And more people ask them every year. And having known more than a couple of people in my life who have thought this, I wish to communicate why I believe that it is difficult to maintain a deep relationship with God when you neglect to fellowship with other believers.

Reasons and Dangers

There are a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t skip attending church on a regular basis. And many dangers and risks that you subject yourself to. The list I’m going to go through isn’t exhaustive, but I think will convey my point well.

Disobedience to God

Right off the bat, not attending church regularly disobeys the command of God found in Hebrews.

 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)

Here the author of Hebrews makes clear that we are to not give up fellowship with one another. In fact, it even gives a good reason to meet with other believers: to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” and we are to encourage one another.

Worthy of Worship?

If someone tells you that they love God and follow Him, but they don’t prioritize going to church to worship Him, what would you think? I see two possible impressions you might have. 1. Does this person really love God? and 2. Is God truly worthy of worship? The first impression is a form of hypocrisy. The second impression is a form of trivializing God and denying Him before men. And there’s a serious danger in that according to Matthew.

But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10:33 (NIV)

God calls us to proclaim His name to all. But, if we give them the impression that God isn’t worthy of worship, then why should they listen to us?

Can’t Minister

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

Did you know that attending church is more than going to get your own spiritual needs met? It’s true! When we get together to fellowship, we are called to minister to one another and serve each other in accordance with the gifts we have. So, by skipping church, not only do you lose out on your spiritual needs being met, but you lose on being able to minister to fellow believers. And there are studies that show helping people releases endorphins and thus make you feel good as well. It’s a fantastic mood booster and motivator!

Along with this is missing out on community. The community of believers in a church opens up opportunities for building deep, meaningful friendships and getting encouragement and healing for yourself and encouraging others. We also learn from each other how to live out our faith and hold each other accountable. God gives gifts to all believers for the purpose of ministering to one another. But you can’t exercise it when you skip church. In fact, without attending church and being in fellowship with others, you (and I) will likely be ill-equipped to know how to properly exercise our gift or feel comfortable using it. After all, we need to learn and practice somewhere. What better place than at church?

A Foretaste

Did you know that worshipping with other believers is a foretaste of Heaven? God created us to worship Him and Revelation gives us pictures of Heaven being filled with people worshipping God. So, here on Earth when we gather together to worship God, we are joining with those in Heaven already; thus, giving us a glimpse of what Heaven is like. That’s pretty incredible.

Spiritual Growth

Attending church allows for spiritual growth to take place. Whether it’s through hearing something in the sermon that you take to heart and implement or being touched supernaturally by God during the worship or talking to someone about a struggle you have and receiving prayer that heals and encourages you. Attending church and prioritizing fellowship with other believers allows for spiritual growth to take place – the way God intended.

Unequipped

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. Ephesians 4:12 (NIV)

In Ephesians, Paul writes that all the offices we recognize today (evangelists, pastors, teachers, etc.) have the job of equipping God’s people (you and me) to do the work of the ministry. What does that mean? It means that you and I are called to go out into all the world and preach the gospel! The pastors, missionaries, and evangelists can’t reach everybody. You and I must do the day-to-day work where we are at. Our places of work, home life, friends outside of church, etc. And in order to be properly equipped, we learn at the feet of those God calls to preach and teach.

Character Development

Ever hear the saying “show me your five closest friends and I’ll show you your future”? This saying demonstrates that the people we spend the most time with have the greatest influence on how our character develops. As a Christian, our desire should be to reflect the character of Christ. In order to do that we need to spend time with Him, both privately and corporately. Doing so corporately allows for you to fellowship with people who might be a bit farther along in life and their faith and can pass you wisdom for the roads you walk. You learn to become godlier when you spend time with people who are godly. I find it truly amazing just how much I grow from spending time with other believers.

Loss of Discernment

A big danger of not attending church, is not having a proper understanding of the Word of God. This opens you up to believing in heresy and allowing false doctrines to skew your view of God and consequently, dictate how you live your life (in a less than godly way). I’ve known people over the years who have fallen for things that they never would have just a few years prior to quitting church. It’s a big risk you take not attending church regularly. And if you have any questions about the importance of believing the Bible and its infallibility, here’s a link to my blog about that very subject.

The worst part about falling into heresy is that it’s usually a slow process. And apart from attending a church that preaches heresy, the process often starts by not attending church at all. This often moves to thinking that the Bible doesn’t have it all right. Then you start picking and choosing what parts of the Bible to take seriously and what parts to ignore. Before you know it, you’re believing something that the Bible explicitly condemns or denies.

What I’m Not Saying

I don’t want you to come away from this thinking that you can’t have non-believing friends that you hang out with. Truly the Bible calls us to be witnesses to the unbeliever. And most people come to the Lord through relationship with a believer. Whether that relationship is familial, friends, coworker, etc., having meaningful relationships with people is one of the best was to witness.

Secondly, if you are physically incapable of getting to church, I’m not condemning you. In those situations, being able to watch services online would be good and having fellow believers come to you and spend time with you and pray and worship with you are all good substitutes.

Wrapping Up

If you got to the end with a better understanding of the importance of fellowshipping with other believers, than I have done what I set out to do. It’s my hope that you all prioritize this and help others to do the same. Don’t forget that popular saying found in Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” This verse greatly sums up this entire post.

And one final thing, don’t just willy nilly go to a random church and believe everything the pastor says. Talk to people you know who attend church. Do research and find a church that preaches the Bible and holds themselves to the standards found in it. And most importantly, read the Bible yourself to know if the church is preaching it or not.