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What is the primary purpose and function of the church?
What is the primary purpose and function of the church?
Why does the church exist?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Colby,
Excellent comments here as well. Thanks for sharing. I do hope others will chime in as well on this subject.
Lord Bless,
LT
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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Many people who are truly saved feel like giving up when it comes to church. They give up meeting together. Or they give up hoping they can ever fit into the social clubs that many churches have become.
I am not the type of person who would join a social club ... but I would like to be part of a group that is interested in making disciples of all ages and is not just focused on one specific age group, nor is a group that is trying to stay saved with their good works.
The longer you stay away from church, the more difficult it is to return. But being a Christian and walking in the Spirit seem to be about church membership.
It is said of the ones who fall away ... that their falling away first begins with giving up meeting together. As people spend less time with believers, the world gets the best of them. I think the Spirit nudges people toward having healthy relationships with like believers and with God, too.
Yet, I know many people quit church but are truly saved. I wish it could go easier for them to be able to acclimate themselves into the social atmosphere but I also wish more emphasis was placed on churches not being so social but instead being more like family and also more like a hospital for the sick and injured as someone else mentioned in another reply. Many times the members are very busy making runs into the community to meet a need but one among their own number is ignored. This is not to say we should not leave the safety of the 99 to find the ones who are wandering. Of course that is necessary.
What I am finding while I am searching for a place to meet together is that I need help making the transition from my old beliefs and denomination into the new setting. I need direction and guidance from the ones in the church for how to adjust and how to "fit." I don't want to feel pressured to conform. They are already a whole body and I often feel they don't need any extra members.
I don't know if this is the type of response you're looking for. If not, just delete it.
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Amanda,
Two things about quitting church that come to mind from my experience over the years.
1) Many people quit church because they did not find what they were looking for (worded differently by them, but the basic meaning of their comment). I usually follow them up by asking what it was they were looking for. I will usually get a varied list in response, but seldom do I hear one say they were looking for Christ. They talk about the music, the children/youth program, the attitudes of people, etc. When I ask them do you go there looking for Jesus they usually look at me like I am from Mars. I mentioned in another forum that I can worship practically anywhere and with any style. The reason is that I go looking for Jesus and my desire is to worship Him.
2) I also have heard countless times that I do not have to go to church to worship, pray or read my Bible. This is true, and in fact we should be doing these things daily on our own or in small groups along with gatherng together with the larger part of the body. When I hear this comment that they don't have to go because they can do these things on their own I usually follow that up with a quick "Do you?" After they look at me funny I ask do you read the Bible, pray and worship regularly? The answer is most often "no, they do not." It is God's design for the body of believers to gather and one should never give up looking for a church where they find Jesus in their midst and a group that is loving Him and one another. For those who give up it is their great loss. There are no good reasons for giving up on gathering as the church long term.
Now, to be clear I understand you have not given up. You are searching, but struggling to find a church to call home. That is different than just giving up as you have describe above. Keep in mind that in your search you will not find a perfect church, but you can find one that loves Jesus and others. They do exist.
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Michelle,
It pleases me to know that what has been shared has been of help to you and I trust others. Thank you for responding.
Lord Bless,
LT
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I agree with Michelle. The questions are good ways of witnessing to and helping others sort through this. However, personally I've always gone seeking the Lord. I seek Him in the teaching and in the singing and in the sermon, which are all part of the worship of God IMO, and also I seek Him in others since they are supposed to be His eyes and hands and feet and Christ is living out His life through them. But maybe that's where I go wrong -- I look at others TOO much. But they are supposed to be the Body. I am, too. I've narrowed my search quite a bit now though down to just looking for a church family, regardless of teaching and the other things. You said you can worship anywhere but I assume you wouldn't go somewhere that didn't worship the real Jesus. But since God is omnipresent, if you did, Jesus would be there. Paul spent most of his ministry in literal chains in jail, writing letters and asking others to do what his bonds were keeping him from doing and Jesus was there with him. I imagine that the ones who do read the Bible and pray and worship God everyday on their own may not need to go to church for those things. But we are still told not to give up meeting together.
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We may not want to seek Him in others, but will see Him in others, but always must remember that we and others will always be a less than perfect representation fo Christ. No matter how mature we become in this life there is always room for growth.
You basically got the gist of my comment that i can worship almost anywhere. I can worship the Lord alone in a crowd that doesn't even know Him or in a group that is very different in style and fous than I am. I may choose not to make that my church home and family, but I can still love and respect brothers and sisters in CHrist who are different from me.
I believe that the Lord will move/convict a person who reads their Bible and prays everyday regarding being a part of a local body. They may be withdrawn for a season, but I doubt they can stay that way for a lifetime without the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit calling them into fellowship.
Lord Bless,
LT
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Then that's where I go wrong ... I seek Christ in others to some degree. I've been going through a time where God seems far away and out of reach.
Since Christmas, I've been occasionally visiting a church that is of no denomination. I saw an ad in the weekly advertiser for a Christmas candlelight service to be held on December 23rd, and I just showed up for it. It is a small church that averages about 70 people on Sundays and it has a Bible study group that meets on Wednesday evenings for an hour.
My needs from church are for the strengthening of my faith and spiritual encouragement, and yet I understand that I should not go with an attitude of what I will receive from it. I am not looking to be entertained. I want to feel accepted and welcomed.
I don't want to be part of an audience. Isn't God the audience? We are to bring glory to Him. So far I feel pretty good about this particular church. I plan to go in the morning. I don't know if I'll make it to Sunday school but I hope to go to worship. This may sound bad to you, but I know if I don't go I'll beat myself up all day long mentally with how pathetic I am and useless, etc ... So part of going is about not having to feel bad about myself for not going.
Right now, the message is very important to me but I'm almost afraid to hear any sermon. I'm afraid of hearing messages because for many years I've been exposed to messages every Sunday that were only weakening me more by putting more and more responsibility on my shoulders to keep myself saved and to not bring God's judgment down on myself anymore than I already have.
I don't want to feel pressured right now. Maybe I'm being selfish. I wish to be able to just go somewhere for awhile without any pressure from them and without any expectations from them, if they would just let me go for worship and not pressure me to come to Sunday school or to help with youth group or to join the church membership or to get involved right now in anyway other than just to participate in worship service as far as singing with the congregation, taking communion when or if they serve it and hearing the word preached ...
Over the course of the last two years, I've visited five congregations and even tried to return to my former church twice.
There seems to be so much pressure.
I visited a church for six weeks in the spring of 2011 and it was a very small congregation, a new church, and they were trying to grow their numbers and I was being pressured to join, pressured to attend all services, to help out with all activities. It was at Easter and I did bring the 100 filled eggs that each member was asked to bring for the egg hunt they were planning in order to reach more families and pull them into this church. But I wasn't even a member and they wanted me to get involved, too, with their other projects ... and I was told in so many words that the only way to stop avoiding people was to make myself do these things.
I just can't be what others want me to be right now.
I am learning a few things as I go along. The less you say, the better. Trust has to be earned.
I attended one church for three Sundays last spring and was asked to fill out the little visitor's card and where it asks to check the box if you want a visit from the pastor I didn't check the box ... The pastor was adamant about visiting (stated it was God's will) and even brought three other men with him. The visit went very well but my preferences and needs were not acknowledged -- they placed what they wanted above what I would have been more comfortable with. A phone call is fine. When you don't know someone, it's hard to trust them knowing where you live and being in your home ... At least I have trouble with it.
I guess I'm hard to get along with.
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Amanda,
To summarize the above in a honest, but positive, light.
You know where you need to be and for the right reason to be there, you want to be there and are taking steps to getting there ... even if they are small steps. You are not willing to get trapped by the teaching that held you entrapped before and thus you are cautious. You don't want to be pressured, you want to make the choice, and you should.
Keep taking those steps and one day, soon I hope, you will be running :-)
Lord Bless,
LT
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Running, not away I hope :)
Thanks for the positive viewpoint. I was seeing it mostly in the negative.
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Permalink Reply by Colby on
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Is the Church the hallowed sanctuary of the saints? Hardly. We're a motley group, far from perfect. Is it about being good--about high-minded and clean thoughts, obeying the rules? Not really. Merit doesn't earn us a spot in heaven.
As strange as this might sound, the Church is about the brokenness of human life. It's about our repeated failure to be the people God intended us to be. It's about how everything about us - even our best intentions and motives - can become an avenue for sin.
So then, what's the Church about if it's not about what we do? It's about what God has done. In spite of everything, God has breathed into us new life. In spite of everything, God does love us no matter what we do or don't do.
As Paul writes in Romans: "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us." The Church must tell that truth of God's unconditional love. God knows and we know the Church isn't perfect. Yet the Spirit keeps breathing life into us, calling us into community with one another.
The Bible says you can persecute the Church; you can pray for the Church; you can greet the Church; you can ravage the Church; you can gather the Church; you can meet with the Church; you can strengthen the Church; you can belong to the Church; and, you can care for the Church. The Church is a people not a place; a people who are learning how to breathe with God.
The Spirit continues to draw us into this messy, imperfect, crazy group called Church.
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