Do Christians have to go to Church?

You don't have to go to Church to be a Christian:

If you remember the thief on the cross next to Jesus (Luke 23:39-43), Jesus promises this man that he will be with him in paradise. This man never got to go to church, and yet he is a Christian because he trusts in Jesus. So in that sense it is true to say that you don’t have to be a church goer to be a Christian. In fact as soon as you say you “have to do something” to be a Christian you are in danger of getting the gospel message wrong!

Christianity is not a solo sport

The Bible has no concept of individual spirituality. That is a very modern way of thinking. When someone joins Jesus, and joins his kingdom, he joins a group of people, a family – those ruled by Jesus the king. In the Bible, God's family is known as his church.

If you are a Christian, then you are a member of God’s church. The church is now your family, and they are God’s gift to us in living Christian lives. We see this in Romans 8:28-30. Those who are saved are saved so that Jesus would be the big brother of many brothers. God is in the business of making a family (have a read of Romans 8).

Christians should serve each other in love:

God has gifted each member of his church to serve one another - you can’t do that solo. It is near impossible to live a Christian life alone, it runs counter to everything God has done for us. However, some people can’t help but live alone. The thief on the cross could not join a church, he had no choice; but where we have a choice, we really should become a part of God’s church.

It’s like someone who gets married, but never moves in with their spouse. A real marriage involves relationship. Becoming a Christian means being a part of God’s family.

Finding a church:

If there is some reason why you really cannot get to or go to a church then I encourage you to still meet regularly with other christians to read the bible and pray (after all this is what the essence of church is).

While various elements of church such as music are important, the most important thing to find out is whether the church teaches from the Bible.

For more on attending church, check out this article: "Why I love Church"

This article was orginally a Q&A. Thanks to Christianity.net.au.

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