You probably saw over a hundred people on your drive to work (or the grocery store) this morning—people in their cars, people on the sidewalk, people handing you a morning latte through the drive-through window.
And every one of those people should be in a local church. Why? Here are 5 reasons.
1. Destination for Christians
People need a right relationship with God. And God is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). So, what every person needs most is to gain a new life in Christ—what we might call becoming a Christian.
But where do Christians go? Do they just figure out their spiritual lives by themselves? Do they just cobble together whatever friends and mentors they can? Do they allow Google to be their pastor and social media to be their small group? No! Christians enter a local church.
Don’t believe me? When the early Church exploded onto the scene, it was during a powerful display of preaching at Pentecost and lots of people immediately becoming Christians (see Acts 2). But where does it say those first brand-new Christians immediately went? They formed a regular, local group of Christian worshipers: what we would call a church (or churches)!
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. . . . And day by day, attending the temple together [large group worship] and breaking bread in their homes [small group community], they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Since that day, all Christians throughout church history have promoted gathering together in local churches as the destination for Christians.
2. Love
When you think of church, the first word you think of may not be “love.” And that is a shame.
Many of us have had lots of unloving experiences and relationships that have taken place within a church or with other churchgoers.
But what is the local church supposed to be characterized by? Really smart people who have the Bible memorized? Everyone becoming rockstar leaders who know how to influence others?
Jesus gives us his answer when he offers the twelve disciples a new commandment. What does Jesus say is the new marker for the watching world to know who we are? Love.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
So, where should anyone be able to go to experience love? The church. The place where those loved by God express their love to one another.
3. Accountability
If you think you can’t make big mistakes, you haven’t lived long enough. We are all capable of things we’d regret. And many of us already have a pile of these things behind us.
So, what do we all need to help us walk in God’s ways that lead us to flourishing? We need God’s people to chase after us.
The Apostle Paul pushes us to chase after one another, no matter what level of sin we might struggle with:
“[I]f anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).
Accountability brings life. Our twisted desires will destroy us (see James 1:13-15), but helping each other lets us be restored—both to each other and to God.
The reason we commit to a church isn’t just so that we can get access to some sort of physical or financial benefit—like membership at a gym or meal subscription service.
We commit to a church because we want accountability. We want to keep getting restored to others and help others be restored to us and God. We all need restoration every day.
4. Leadership
Leaders have failed us. We feel like every institution has broken down, including the church. There are too many examples of pastors who have abused authority instead of tenderly shepherding. Too many predators and not enough protectors.
But that’s not God’s picture of spiritual leadership.
Leadership is good. We need it. And it, in fact, causes us to flourish. Authors like Jonathan Leeman and Michael Kruger have recently offered book-length treatments on how, instead of becoming power abusers, church leaders can lead rightly and how that brings blessing on those they lead.
It’s like David says in the Psalms: Good leaders are “like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth” (Psalm 72:6).
And that’s actually been my own experience in my church. I have seen godly pastors love, care for, and lead men and women in a way that looks like Jesus. And guess what? That’s helped me become a better follower (of Jesus and those leaders) and a better leader too.
We need to be known, led, cared for, and especially taught by godly pastors.
Of course, we should address unhealthy leaders. But we are built to be led. And perhaps the most critical place we get and follow spiritual leadership is in the local church (see Hebrews 13:17).
5. Being Like Christ
Finally, everyone needs to become like Jesus. He alone is the model of human flourishing.
But we don’t become like Jesus solo.
No, instead Jesus himself established the Church (capital “C”)—which is made up of local churches (small “c”)—to help us together look like him in the world.
We all have different gifts given to use by God’s Spirit. And when we use them together, we show how each of us as the body’s parts truly operate like “the body of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-20).
Often, I only think I can become like Jesus individually: “How do I need to be bold or kind or loving like Jesus today?” But I forget that so many of the commands and exhortations of the New Testament are written in the plural to us as Christians together!
Here’s one example: When Paul invites us to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1-2)—he is speaking to “all of you,” or as our Southern friends say, “all y’all”! We become like Jesus together—in the local church.
Is Church Membership a Big Deal?
So, if you want to become a Christian, be loved, have healthy accountability, flourish under spiritual leaders, and be like Christ—you find that in a local church. Not on your own, not in a stack of books, not on the internet. In a church.
So, how do I fully commit and start tasting what the church is meant to be? Join in membership. Membership is how you say “I’m all in here.”
It’s how you say “I’m committed to follow these leaders just as much as they are committed to lead me.” And it’s how you say “I’m committed to love these other brothers and sisters as much as they are committed to loving me.”
Not everyone you see on your commute to work will become part of a church. In fact, maybe some of them won’t even step foot in one. But they should. That’s where they’ll find what they’re really looking for.
Learn more about membership at College Park Church.
