Do you need to go to church?

On the back of my post about giving teens additional opportunities to get into their bibles, here is the hand out i gave out last week dealing with church. Remember: The answers aren't designed to be complete... i only have the equivalent of one A5 page (especially once i remove some of the additional study questions).

Do you need to go to church to be a Christian?

Technically? No.

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian. Proximity to a building doesn't make you saved. If it did then sitting in a stable would make you a horse and hanging in a garage would make you a car!

So... Why church?

In short, no follower of Jesus is meant to do it alone. We are a part of something larger and are both meant to receive and contribute to it. In fact, the New Testament goes to of its way to include how we are to interact with "one another's" that also go to church.

We are to encourage, love, serve, honour, accept, bear with, support, admonish one another in the church family (plus a heap more).

But we also should also BE encouraged, loved, served, honoured, accepted, borne with, supported and admonished.

Church is a meant to be a good thing! It is designed to help a believer follow Jesus closer. Just as a soccer player is strengthened by going and participating in training, the same thing should happen with a Christian.

Finally, the bible tells Christians to meet together and not to give up the habit of doing so (Hebrews 10:25).