The longer I walk with God the more convinced I am that it is just not possible to be a Christian and not be part of a local church. True there are people who cannot attend because of physical reasons but more often than not these people ache in their hearts to attend church again.
But believers who call themselves followers of Christ but shun His body are in a world of their own creation. Isolating one or two Scriptures and building a doctrine on them is the stuff of fantasy and dreams and yet people out of fellowship do it all the time.
Where two or more are gathered there shall I be...not where two or more are scattered. Wake up church!
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4 comments:
The Longer my walk is with God the more i am convinced that i can not attend a church too often... I have a physical disability with does prevent me (along with my husband) to be able to sit in horrible plastic chairs..
But i find the main thing that keeps me out of church is the garbage from so called christians...
I also i may be attacked by this post but if you know me yo uwill also know i dont give 2 hoots and most of you will probably be thinking bout the very same thing..
I have been to many a church and have been abused by every single one.. Now i know that i must not use this as an excuse my past experiences,, but hey once bitten twice shy..
i find that the church these days are full of mans ways and not Gods... Steve you know im talking bout you.. the churches always have people in them who abuse their christianity to obtain power over the congregation.. Twisting scriptures to suit their own ways..Brand new christians walking into church and getting bullied by the worst kind of people..Not to mention the religous christians trying to spread the religous rot..
Personally i dont tolerate this kind of rot in anyway so i dont attend church often due to all these reasons and i know that the church wont change for me and i wont comprimise my salvation for it.....
The picture of church you describe is foreign to my thinking. I don't deny things go wrong, God in His wisdom called us together to worship but left us with our humanity to overcome. Some do that better than others.
Leading in churches is all about empowering the people you lead. Jesus never got off on a power trip He came to serve, so His followers are called to do the same. I get my kicks watching people overcome that which holds them back. If that is a power trip then "mea culpa".
I can't change anyone's perception of church...you will see what you will see. But I remain convinced that we are called to be church together. Convinced there is no denying our love for Him is proved by our love for one another. After all that is what Jesus was on about in Matt 25 when He said whatever you did for the least of my brothers...referring to believers. Interesting that He does not separate on the basis of what they said they believed but on what they did.
Church is where we work through our love for one another.
Watch our website for the upcoming series on what makes a church different from a body of believers at www.coastlands.info in the pdf downloads.
Steve G
Oh oh... I don't blog so I will keep out of this one, however, Jesus totally rocks. Fight about that.
Hmmm...to go or not to go that is the question....
I have been hurt by churches over the years too, including this one that I am in. It can be painful and yes I sometimes think 'Forget this whole church thing. It's too hard.' Yet I still hope. Where would we be without hope?
darkempress mentioned mans ways have entered the church and not God's. Yes that can happen but again I still hope.
The bible talks about not forsaking the gathering together. It can be argued possibly that this could be done in small home groups where christains can gather for fellowship. It is said there is strength in numbers. Imagine the strength of all these little groups gathering together in unity.
I just know in my heart of hearts that I am one of the ones that not long ago could say, 'I ache in my heart to be at church', even in spite of all my hurts. I think slowly I am suceeding in this. There will always be personality clashes I believe and that is just how God made us all different. We need to soldier on look past all the different ideals and thinking we all have as individuals and look at the bigger picture.
If we gave up hope on the church then well what's the point...
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