Is having a church always necessary?

Going to church is important for several reasons:

* 1st...the church is something God wanted and extablished on earth. It's a place He's made for His people to come together and learn about Him and serve Him and worship Him.

* 2nd...it's a place for you to find Christian fellowship and people who can help disciple you.

* 3rd...it's a place for you to get to know God and His Word and a place where you can be encouraged.

 

Heb. 10:25
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another,

we are to join together for worship, learning, encouraging each other.
You have to learn to get along with other christians. I guarantee it isn't all them.

 

Yes and I concur with what J Wayne and Donna have said.:godisgood:

 

Yes, you should have expected this answer, it's the same answer you got last time you asked this.
What you need to do is pray God will help you be able to go to a church and learn to be comfortable. You will not suddenly get comfortable and brave and them go to a church. It will happen gradually once you start going. If you want spiritual growth, obedience, and be a part of the community of God your going to have to got to church. Your going to have to get over it and simply go. Go because of God, because He is worth you feel uncomfortable for a while till you get used to it, because you desire obedience. And stop judging people you don't even know haven't even met, simply because someone christian has in the past let you down or hurt you. No one is perfect, not even you, no gets it 100% right 100% of the time, even you, we all mess up, even you. How do you want to be treated when you mess up, when you fail? Well, treat others the same way. Right now your full of hurt, unforgiveness, and pride that your the only one right, and you shouldn't need to go around other christians. Do some praying, deal with it and get over it and go on to obedience and growth.

 

I don't think it sounds dumb at all. When we've been hurt, and apparently you were hurt bad, then it's natural for us to be scared of a repeat. But in Christ you can over come this and be able to move forward. As you are, your stuck in one place, in reality you are allowing those who hurt you to control your life.
I agree, when going to a new church I'd rather be anonymous too, untill I decide I might want to be a part of that church. Don't join any church until your ready. And don't be pressured to join. Pary, just go to one, visit a few times, with lots prayer, try several, with prayer. Give God a chance to show you love through His people.
No your not going to hell for not having a church yet. Anyone who is saved, born again is not going to hell. Even christians can be disobedient, but it grieves the heart of God, think about it, so you want to continue to grieve the heart of God with disobedience, I don't think you do.
Spend time in prayer about how you feel, and go out and be obedient, even though it might be scary. God will give you the strength you need, after you act, not before. Do you think it is always easy to obey God, or that He only asks us to do things that are easy, that no one else is ever scared to obey God becasue of where or what He gives them to do. No, I think everyone is scared at one time or another.
Just do it. How long have you been teling us about this? A long time. It's time you did something about it. And becasue fo the way you feel right now, give a church more then one try, give them a chance to show you not all christians are like the ones who've hurt you in the past.
I'll be praying for you, you do it by the end of March. then you come and tell us about it.

 

I don't like being in crowded room either so church can be difficult for me at times. I hear you.

Maybe getting invovled in a smaller church, or joining a small group within the church would be eaiser. Less people.

 

You have some good points. A church without sound doctrine, a female pastor, or a homosexual pastor wouldn't be good to attend.

So, what type of church are you looking for?

 

I almost agree. Let me explain. Although it has become part of our language, the phrase "going to church" is unscriptural. (I don't just mean that the particular phrase is not found in the bible - there are plenty of phrases that are not in the bible we use to describe Christian things. "Missionary outreach", "Sunday School", "sound preaching", "door-to-door evangelism" to give just a few examples). Christians don't go to church. Christians are the church. It is a great pity that our language tends to use the word "church" for a building in which Christians meet for worship. Nowhere does the bible do this.

 

I voted no. Most of you have a free society in mind, where having church is not a problem. However, there are brothers and sisters in Christ just across the border from me who have no such freedom. They can not come together as a church lest they be reported to the government and be thrown into a gulog.
I'm referring to North Korea.

 

The church is a WHO (the believers) not a what (place)!
Where does it say in the bible that the church is a place?
I had thought the we (Born again, Holy Ghost filled, blood bought believers) are the church and this means that we (the church) are the one's that Jesus died for, He did not die for a "place".

 

I have not been inside a a Church in a really long time. There are two reasons why.
1. They always want to know where my Husband is. Somehow that is my problem not his. And they seem so taken aback when I tell them the truth that he is in bed.
2. I have a low immune system and someone always thinks that they have to be there even when they are sick. I can not afford to get sick.
So I watch a preacher on TV.

 

Psalm 122
A song of ascents. Of David. 1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD." 2 Our feet are standing
in your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
4 That is where the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
to praise the name of the LORD
according to the statute given to Israel.
5 There the thrones for judgment stand,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."
8 For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.




Psalm 26:8
8 I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells.


John 2:17 17His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me.

Acts 2:46,47 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.


Hebrews 10:25
25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.




Church is most definitely a place, and to say other wise is refutation of God's Word. It is a place where two or more gather to worship and praise God, be it where ever, in one's home, in a building constructed for that purpose, or a mere speck of ground on which those stand together.



Isaiah 14:25

25 I will crush the Assyrian in my land;
on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people,
and his burden removed from their shoulders."

God's plan for us to be a part of a group of people who love Him and want to see things so His way. And if there is no place to gather then God simply wasted His time, according to those who claim church is not a place.

Romans 12:4-5

Ephesians 5:23

I Corinthians 12:12-14 "For in fact the body is not one member but many"