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December 13, 2004
Why go to “church?”
After an engaging discussion this weekend with a friend who is currently without a “home” church, it got me thinking about the scriptural evidence for having one particular church where you would consider yourself a member/regular attendee/whatever.
The classic scripture that comes to mind for me is found in Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, (25) not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” However, this hardly seems like sufficient evidence that the Lord would have us regularly attend the same church each week. What if someone’s “assembling” occurred by attending a different church each week, or one week through a home Bible study, or simply hanging out with fellow believers on a regular basis?
Does Paul not also instruct us to “…exhort one another daily,” earlier in Hebrews 3:12-13, which seems to suggest that weekly “church attendance” wouldn’t suffice?
Now, I realize that exhortation is more than what most might do “hanging out” (and by def. would include: admonishment, encouragement, consolation, instruction and teaching) however it all parts of the definition or exhortation seem to occur when I get together with fellow believers to “hang out” and in general, I think it’s just a worthwhile discussion to have.
My point is not to support an argument opposed to regularly attending a church, rather, to discuss the broader idea behind “assembling ourselves together” and “exort(ing) one another daily.”
I'm eager to hear your comments.
Posted by anthonyb at December 13, 2004 03:44 PM
Comments
You are correct, there is no pointed biblical statement concerning attending a single church. Howver, there is many examples and support for a local church body. This is evident in the titles of the Epistles and the addressing of the 7 churches in Revelation. People that are not hooked up with a local church vision, usually become mundane in their walk with God or are just searching for the dramatic. There is not on example of a person continually bearing fruit while moving from church to church?
The problems with moving from church to church is:
1) Person cannot commit and cannot grow into a trusted leadership position
2) God deals with churches where they are at to support the needs of the body
3) God always deals through annointed and appointed authority. This cannot happen if eveyrone just goes to a different place everytime.
4)Even in heaven there will be specific assignments to specific people.
If everyone went to different churches on a regular basis, we would have little order, herisitcal beliefs, and a malfunctioning body in total.
Posted by: TD at December 14, 2004 10:58 AM
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