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Aquafina1

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Is Church Necessary?

I was talking to a few of my friends today that profess Christ, live a moral life, but never go to church. It somewhat bothers me.

I dont think Church is salvation and I dont think it is a requirement, but I do think it is necessary for growth. When one abandons church he takes a huge risk.

any thoughts on how I could get them back in church?
 

Josephus

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The aim of church is fellowship: "the breaking of bread together" with other believers.

Fellowship is not necessary for personal growth with the Lord (though it is helpful), but it is necessary if the church wants to fulfill its purpose. This is why the apostles told us not "to forsake the comming together." We are a body of believers, and each of us has unique gifts that identify us as a part of the body of Christ. We are not individual Lone Rangers. It is only together that we as a church can realize and fulfill our purpose.

Now then, church needs to be defined. Church is not the four walls of a building, but rather a community of believers strengthening and encouraging one another - provoking one another to good deeds and towards His purpose for our lives.

We have regulated church to be a Sunday morning repetitive action rather than what it was truly meant to be: relationship, living together, eating together, being with each other to encourage us to grow in our faith.

To your friends, I would ask them if they regularly fellowship with other Christians - like sharing a meal together, or spending time together studying the word, or worshipping together. This is what the church is, and if they are doing this, then their spiritual needs as being a part of the Body is definatly fulfilled.

What remains ultimatly is what is in your heart: that one should not think of themselves highly than they ought - prideful in their spirituality that they would never even consider visiting a church or congregation; because if this happens, then they cut off an opportunity from God to share what they have with others who definatly need to see the relationship aspect that goes with being member of the Body of Christ.
 
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filosofer

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Good question, but not the right one. Why? Because the Church is because Jesus Christ has established it. The Church is the Body of Christ. As Josephus noted above, we find many descriptions of the church - never a physical building though. See the following:


So, the question is really is: What is my role and responsibility in the Church? The following are very helpful in fleshing this out - even though none of them use the word "church."
Acts 2:42-47
Ephesians 2:19-22
1 Corinthians 12-14
The Acts 2 reference sets the foundation for the gathering activity of Christians as church: Apostles' Teaching (Word), Breaking of Bread (Lord's Supper), Fellowship, and Prayer.

Notice too that if you are talking about is it necessary for Christians to gather together, consider Hebrews 10:24-25.
 
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Aquafina1

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Well no as far as I know they are not around any believers. Like I said they live fairly loose lives, but they live very high morally.

Jesus said you will know a christian by the fruit he bears. Im not the judge on what fruit they should bear or what standard they should be living. I dont believe that and I do not enforce that on anyone. The church is in my opinion one of the greatest assets we as Christians have. To forsake it is like walking into war naked. If people do not have the initiative to make it to a sunday morning service than I do not think they will take their own initiative and study the Bible.

I do agree with what Josephus said, that the church has been confined to the four walls. Very true and that is something that discourages me. We are supposed to dress a certain way when we walk into a church because God is in our midst. Isn't God everywhere? We confine God to the church building sometimes. But I do believe in the necessity of church, because I believe in a very real devil. Some may disagree with me on this and that is ok, it is just an opinion of mine.

I know when Im not doing great spiritually when I have a lack of desire to grow spiritually. When I do not want to go to church once a week (or 3 times) and read my Bible I am drifting away. I do not think that has anything to do with my salvation, but it is necessary for me to grow. Satan cant do a thing when im saved, he cant pull me out of from under God's grace. But he can hurt my testimony or just make my life miserable. The more time I spend away from spiritual matters the more I grow accustomed to things of the flesh. Movies appear a bit less offensive, swear words seem to be just fine, and other convictions I have get questioned. While I believe that the church shouldnt confine God, I do believe that it is necessary for a person to stay in god's will by going to church. (Unless your schedule hinders you) The only reason I hold that opinion is due to my own personal experience, and personal experiences tend to make a us biased on certain issues.
 
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Athlon4all

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Good q, and I think the issue lies in what is the church? And I think that it isn't just showing up to church on Sunday morning, or even church related activities, but just fellowship with fellow believers. I do disagree though Aquafina1 about the necessitiy of church. Truthfully, I prefer the Bible Study type of "church" in that it isn't simply everyone takes (most of the time) what the Pastor says and then just goes on, but in a Bible Study there is room for discussion and it's not that 1 person is in control, everyone gives what the Lord is telling them. I guess, simply I think that you should rely only on the Bible and the Lord for growth, but fellow believes helps.
 
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Thunderchild

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Well said Athlon. The standard service of most churches doesn't even begin to meet the requirements of churching. Met a street preacher last night who told me that "Nicolaitans" translates as "rule the laity" ... a possibility I'll have to check into later, but at first glance it seems possible.
 
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lisa03wilson

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I was one of those people who didn't go to church for a long time. I had just come to God and my family was very lax in our attendance (maybe once a month if we could fit it in) and they didn't understand why I wanted to go all of a sudden. So I just kinda gave up on it and said that I could have God with out church and it wasn't that big a deal.

Well now that I can drive on my own I visited a church a friend recommended and I loved it! Just the chance to get together with so many people with the sole purpose of learning about and praising God was amazing to me. And still sometimes I find the sermons long and hard to get through, but they I will notice that sometimes something will happen in my life and a sermon from a long time ago will come to mind and I will know what to do.

I think going to church is giving God the opportunity to plant something, a thought maybe, in you that will be useful later in life. it is also a great way to praise God, but I think the biggest thing is the opportunity. They more you focus on God, reading or studying or praying or praising, then the more it will show through in your life. Church is a great way to add to your spiritual life.
 
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