going to church is it important?

[Aviyah]

ok i have been saved only 8 months now, and i was wondering is it really that important to go to church? i mean you can worship and talk to god anywhereright? , he s not inside four walls right?
well i whould apreciate your coments thanks

 

[Warrior FC]

The church buildings or as they called them back in Jesus' day "synagogues" were originally designed to be a place to be taught and equipped for ministry... So it is a good idea to find a church that allows "freedom of the Holy Spirit" and start attending there. Just don't make a system out of going to church.. learn to be led by the Spirit of God!

God will direct you on where to go and if He wants you in a building or not or if He has other plans for preparing you for your ministry... Seek out God and He will direct your steps!

Remember this.. There are many that will spend a life time going to a church building faithfully 3 times a week and do everything they think is right but still will not enter the kingdom of God... it's all about knowing God.. not about attending some church.

Soldier... I will pray for you right now and ask God to give you the direction that He desires for you and place it upon your heart! And He will lead you by His Spirit into ALL TRUTH and TEACH YOU EVERYHING!

Be blessed and may God use you mightily in His Army!

 

[Gerry]

The comments and opinions of others are NOT important. As a new Christian you need to spend a lot of time in God's Written Word. We are COMMANDED to study it, and it is just for this purpose. When you do, you will find the answer to this question from GOD and that is surely more valuable than any opinion of any man.

READ and STUDY your Bible and PRAY everyday. It is as vital as eating and breathing.

Get into that Book of John and soak there till you are ready to move on. This is where you will learn specifically about Jesus and His commandements to us and His direction for our lives.

Be very blessed as you are obedient to Him.

And YES! One of the things you will learn is that it is VITALLY important that you attend Church. And not just any Church but a Bible believing Church that God will lead you to after you prayerfully seek His leading!

 

[luigi028]

Hi soldier_of_God,

Although the Lord lives inside us and He is everywhere, it is vey important you attend church. Not for the sake of going to a church, but to have fellowship with other brothers in Christ, brothers that may help you in your spiritual path.

(Hebrews 10:25) "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."

From my experience as a new born Christian, many times you will find confusion or you will be beaten down by circumstances, sin or other things in life and there is nothing better than the warm love that TRUE brothers in Christ can give you. And material help too if that was the case, because we are called to love one another as Christ loved us.

The church's mission is to prepare you and give you tools you may ignore at the present time. Now be careful of the wolves with sheep costumes, as many false prophets and false doctrine teachers have taken over the Christian media (tbn for example) and many "churches". Always, always examine the teachings and make sure you are not receiving extrapolations or man made tales about the bible.

(Acts 7:11) Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

And pray my brother. Pray to God that he may ilumminate the path to a great bible believing, sound doctrine and Holy Spirit filled church! I prayed for you so that our Lord will guide you.

God bless you,
028

 

[Warrior FC]

LET US NOT GIVE UP THE MEETING TOGETHER.. doesn't have to be in a church building!

 

[Blessed-one]

yep.

a thing that really hits on me is that God uses the church to teach us a serving attitude. In church, we live in a community with a spirit of God, where we give willingly according to God's will, you'll surely find out more about yourself and God in a church setting. Of course, i don't mean you can't find it anywhere else, but that's the thing i learnt from church.

 

[speechless]

Going to church is mostly about interacting with fellow Christians. Mingling with people who have the same beliefs as you, and of course helping each other with our walk with Christ.

Just my $0.02.

April

 

[Zoe Girl]

I grew up going to church.  My parents wouldn't let me miss.  A year ago though, I just decided I was tired of it.  I'd been, I'd heard every sermon, I knew my stuff, why was it necessary for me to go to church every single week?  So I started skipping, one Sunday here, another Sunday there.  The more I skipped, the more I found new excuses to skip.  It didn't take long for me to quit going all together.  I didn't go to church at all for about four or five months.  At the same time, everything in my life just felt like it was getting worse and worse, and I blamed God for it.

In August I started going back to church again.  I found a new, dynamic church that was more relevant to me (there was nothing wrong with the previous church, it just wasn't the one for me).  I have been going faithfully ever since.  It is so easy to lose everything when you quit going to church, or don't go enough.  What I discovered was that when you quit going to church, you also quit talking to God and worshipping in your free time.

All that said, you have to remember that church is not a building.  The people are the church.  Make sure you find a church that is not lifeless, or one where the people don't know that they are the church.  There are a lot of churchs out there that have lost sight of God.  Make sure you find one that hasn't.  When you find the one you know is right, get involved and make friends so you have a reason to keep going back.

I think the best church for you is going to be the one where you won't question whether it's okay to skip church or not.  If you find the right church you won't want to skip.  In my new church, I'm already for it to be Sunday again each Monday!

 

[Aviyah]

well thanks for answering my question, i was thinking about checking out this baptist church, they left a leflet on my door but i dont know , becasue i have had some bad experiences with churches and the ppl in them ,to many hypricrties in them and i a m really turned off by them , well thanks again

 

[Job_38]

My advice: Find a good Bible teaching church and go there. It might be hard, but God lead me to one BEFORE I was a Christian.

I have been saved for almost a year, when were you saved?

 

[speechless]

When I became Christian, God said to me "Go".... meaning go to church. God wants us to be around other Christians. He wants us to pray together. He wants us to talk about our Christian lives. When I started looking through the directory of churches, the name of the church I go to now just stood out. It's everything I believe in, so you have to be careful they believe in the trinity, ALL of the bible, etc when finding the "right" church.

 

[Aviyah]

26th February 2003 at 01:20 PM Job_38 said this in Post #10 (http://www.christianforums.com/showthread.php?postid=677768#post677768)

My advice: Find a good Bible teaching church and go there. It might be hard, but God lead me to one BEFORE I was a Christian.

I have been saved for almost a year, when were you saved?

i was saved july 2nd 02



i just found a church today i checked out a non denomational church called calvery chapel i really liked it it wasnt to big nor to small it was justtttttt right and i feel this is where god wants me

im just glad i found a good bible teaching church lol i even rembered the pastors sermon this morning

it was on being content with what you have and not what you dont have ,

thank you agian to those who responed to my question

 

[Blessed-one]

that's great Soldier_of _God! looks like God has everything planned for you.

 

[speechless]

God has perfect timing for everything.

 

[ikester7579]

Going to church is not only about learning about God and his son, but being around those in the body of Christ. When we turn our backs on those in the body, we also turn our backs on Christ. This is because we as being christians are the ambassadors for christ. We set the example for others to follow. I can tell you that nothing hurts worse than when you finally get to witness to someone and they say something like: Why should I be a christain when I don't even see "you" go to church. Or I see you hanging around unGodly friends that do unGodly things. I have had this happen. And I can tell you nothing cuts to the quick with conviction as when this happens. Why? By not going to church destroy your testimony and the respect that you have built in the minds of others. For you set the example for others as what a christain should be and what a christian should do. Don't ever think that your christain life does not plants seeds in the minds of people around you when you live your life right. When God's light shows through you, it shines on others and they will be drawn to you because of it. And the ones that meet you and see it will never forget what they saw. That is the seed that is planted in others when you live like God's word says. Seeds always grow, and you won't know just know much until you get to Heaven and hear someone say that they are in Heaven because of you setting the example.

Just because you did not lead this person to Christ does not mean you did not have a part in it. For if you ask, you will find that the deciding factor for that person, is the one who set the example, and made that impression in their life, that planted the seed, that grew.

 

[endure]

hehe,
thats really funny.
somebody said you could meet together without a church.
WELL WHERE ELSE ARE GONNA MEET?

it seems some people just dont like other people and like to stay to themselves, but thats a pride problem, you cant do this alone.
God gave us people to encourage us, the only reason some are bent on hearing from God all by themselves, is because they are full of pride and want to be the greatest, and cant bear ever having to listen to anyone else or be helped by anyone else. but sometimes, you need help, and youll be glad there is a church you can go to and receive help. God didnt make any lone rangers. anyone who wants to be is proud and will fall. God does sometimes take away from others, and those are times of testing, but those also when we get hit the hardest, becuase that is when we are weakest, when were isolated.

i know our own relationships with God dont center around any one building, but it is of absolute importance that we come together, encourage each other, find men stronger than ourselves to learn from and be strengthened from, and be a people. peoples and families and groups and organisations have times to come together. becuase we cant be a people or function properly without communication and fellowship and it being a joint effort.
and just becuase its one building so all can hear and benefit, and just because it may always be the same place for convenience sake, doesnt means its wrong or that it is just dead religion.

 

[1-peter5-9]

Church is important for new believers especially. Especially a Bible believing strong church where they will teach you the Word of God, where there is good praise and worship of God, and people who will encourage you when you need encouraging.

More important is your own walk with God and spending time alone with Him in prayer, praise, and worship. In order to have a successful walk with Him, we need to enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, as often as possible. I always like to get away into a private place, when no one else is at home so I can make a lot of noise and not be bothered, and put on some good praise and worship music and just praise and worship God. I like Michael W. Smith's "Worship" album, and Songs for Worship CD's, etc.

This is the key to knowing God. Study and memorization of His Word is important too.

But I believe church is good if it is helping you. If you have issues with going to church, then by all means, God is the only One who can judge you. Follow your conscience. That's what God gave it to you for.

 

[calgal]

Why is it essential to be at church? I like the sermons but am somewhat disconnected from the folks I see at church. It is easier to find excuses to stay home. Any ideas on how to best motivate myself to go to church and to interact with the folks around me?