And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Acts 2:42

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.
Colossians 3:15

All my life I’ve heard people say, “I can be a Christian without going to church. I have my own relationship with God, and I don’t need organized religion.”

I’s certainly true that you can be a lone-wolf follower of Jesus without going to church. It’s not church membership or church attendance that counts with God, but your personal life of faith, that real relationship with Him, that matters.

Many are surprised to hear me say that I’m not a big fan of organized religion. Too often becomes a way of accumulating money and power: politics, hidden behind a veneer of religion. That’s something very different than what we’re talking about here.

God invented the local gathering of believers that we call a church, and in His wisdom He organized His Kingdom on earth in this way. He forms a body, closely knit together, and calls each one of us to be a member. He gathers us, connecting us together to nurture, strengthen, and bring about the proper healthy growth of each member through its connection to the rest of the body.

You won’t grow spiritually strong and mature without being part of a local body of believers, any more than your hand would remain healthy and grow without being connected to the rest of your body.

You’ll occasionally be disappointed, offended or frustrated by other members of that body. You’ll have to forgive and accept being forgiven; you’ll be a source of blessing to others and the recipient of God’s grace through others, too. You’ll be alternately encouraged and humbled, built up and crushed, praised and corrected as a member of that body, as the “teaching of the Apostles” is applied in your life. And all the while, the peace of Christ will rule and govern your heart in that context. You’ll learn to thank God for that fellowship. It’s well worth being a part of it!

Lord, thank You for inventing the local church. Lead me to my place in this body of believers; the place where You call and connect me to nurture and be nurtured, to grow and mature. Let Your peace rule in my heart, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Dan Giles