Faith. Hope. Love.
Someone posted on Twitter that we didn’t need the church, we needed community. There has been a long line of thinking in many cultures that we don’t need a church. I understand why people think we don’t need the church as everything they do in the community can be done outside of the building of a church. However after being in church almost all my life and leaving the church for about 4-5 years, I have come to some ideas about the importance of the church.
Well, first of all, we need faith. James talks about it in the bible how faith without works is dead. I am not a morning person at all so you can trust me. Going to church feels like work. It’s too early for no reason at all.
But the idea of faith calls for the action of doing something. The church is something to do. We live in a world where people are never sure of what to do in their relationship with God. Church helps with that. Also, the bible talks about how faith can grow in us by hearing the Word of God. Where is the Word of God (the bible) heard a lot? At church. Usually. Repentant faith should lead to an audile faith that should lead to an active faith. When you love God it should lead to doing something for Him. In our love for God, we should find our desire to show that love. How weird is it for a man to get married and not want a honeymoon or to be married but continue to live in a different house.
Just like love often requires a difference in our actions, faith should also cause a difference in how we do things. The bible says that God is love. He is not a part of love or a phase of love. He is the very definition of love. So this is why faith should equal some change in actions and habits. Our faith is in love. We believe in the change. The church is a place where most speakers talk about a change. We need to hear about it and we need to spend time listening to the Word of God. It is not mandatory to go to church to do that but it is beneficial. With so many things stacked against us as being faithful to God we need as much as help and stability as possible. A church should be the stability we all need in hearing the word of God and changing for the better.
Here is the negative part of the church. When a church becomes the only way you connect with God then church becomes an issue. What I have noticed in myself and others over the years of being a church attender is that we get addicted to the practice of church but not committed the practice of faith. Sadly what some churches do to people is they begin to love the process of Church more than the process of growing in faith and love with God. The easiest way to see this is people that are nice at church but jerks in public. They are committed to a seat in a building but are not committed to loving their neighbor.
This is the main reason why some people believe that the church is unnecessary. Many times a church experience produces religious people but not generous people. It produces confident people but not compassionate people. It produces knowledgable people but not caring people. It produces people that know about sin but not people that know how to love sinners. It was the reason Jesus was so different. He treated sinners like people. He didn’t see them through their sin, he saw them through the love of who God created them to be. The shame and evilness of sin can change people but the bible says love covers a multitude of sins. That love is based on faith and that faith is why the church exists.
You may have had a bad experience in church. Maybe you know you don’t need a church meeting place to grow your relationship with God but that doesn’t change the need for a church building. The church has a purpose. Bad times, economic pressures, or society progression doesn’t change the point of going to church. The point of church is not a good society, nor a good economy. The point of the church is “good news.” The gospel message must be spread and for that to happen it must be preached and for it to be preached it will be in a building. Mostly because Americans love amenities. We are a corporate type country so our churches will often have a corporate type feel. It’s not good or bad, it just happenstance. The gospel adapts to any culture because God doesn’t care about status He cares about hearts.
The church doesn’t have to look like you want it to because the purpose of the church is bigger than us. Its God’s good news and it must be experienced through faith in love. This is only one reason why I think the church must continue after the COVID quarantine ends. Besides the fact that it’s going to keep going no matter what I think. These are just my thoughts. I’ll continue in another post with the church needing to continue because of hope. Like, Share, Discuss your thoughts.
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