Why do Christians have to go to church?
This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘Finding Truth in our Modern Age’.
- Because the Bible says that Christians are not to forsake the assembling of themselves together.
I had a friend when I went to lodge in a certain city in England. He had been a stark atheist and he got converted one night. I think he heard Billy Graham preaching over the radio and was overwhelmed by a sense that God was offering him something that he must accept, and if he didn't it could be fatal. There and then, atheist though he was, he got down on his knees and accepted Christ as the Saviour.
He said, 'When I woke up the next morning I said to myself, "Now, is this real? Will it last?" Then I said to myself, "I don't need to go to church, I can be a Christian all by myself."'
And so he proceeded until, reading through his Bible, he came to that particular verse, 'not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near' (Hebrews 10:25). 'Oh,' he said, 'I do have to go to church then.'
- There's a deeper sense, isn't there? When we are converted, the New Testament explains, it's not merely that we are personally saved and forgiven, but 'we were all baptized into one body . . . and all were made to drink of one Spirit' (1 Corinthians 12:13). In giving us the Holy Spirit when we trust Christ, Christ joins us first to himself, and then to every believer to form the Body of Christ, and Christ's intention for that Body is that it should work together as a body. Therefore, if we refuse to follow the instruction of the New Testament, we are to that extent defeating the purpose of Christ in forming the Body of Christ.
