We need church because we’re designed as relational beings. Spiritual growth occurs in the context of relationships that we’ll find in a fellowship of Christians. A Christian lifestyle is best practiced when it is lived out in community. Only in relationships can we learn what it means to be patient, loving, giving, or sacrificial. Even God’s gifts to us are meant to function in relation to others: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10).
God wants a personal relationship with His children, and He wants His children to experience that relationship with other Christians. He has always centered our spiritual worship, training, and religious celebration in the heart of community. The people of Israel practiced their devotion as a nation. Modern-day Christians practice theirs in the collective body of the church.
It’s easy for us to think that religion is strictly a personal matter. It’s true that God calls each of us individually and uniquely to our spiritual journeys. But that’s only one aspect of Christian living. After our individual commitment to Christ, what come next is a growing need to both find and give support, direction, and interaction in a community of believers. What begins as “I” finds its completion in “we.” Continue Reading…
