Do I Have to Go to Church?

There are many questions I have often found myself struggling with and many more I see being tossed around throughout the community of believers, at large. One of the biggest hot-button questions regarding Christianity that I once made a habit of asking has been pushed to the fore recently among the people in my circle. Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?

When that question is posed, there always seems to be one of two motivations at play. It's either an attempt to justify not attending a church or it's an honest question from someone who is genuinely trying to find their place in the faith and figure out how to make things work. In a sadly large number of cases, in my experience, the former is the real reason for the question. As was the case for me, many who ask with that motivation already have the answer they want determined in their minds.

As I've written a bit about in previous blog posts and in my book, Nothing Worth Doing Is Easy, I spent something like five or six years asking and answering that question in my own head. I grew up in what can only be fairly called a spiritually abusive environment in church. For my entire childhood, I had false accusations, attempts at thought control and threats of eternal damnation for things beyond my control thrown at me pretty regularly from those around me in church and it didn't take me very long after I was given the freedom to make my own choices with regard to church attendance to leave.

After I left my first church, I bounced around a bit before giving up on organized religion entirely. I had come to the conclusion that I didn't need church to continue in my walk with Jesus Christ, but boy, was I wrong. That ultimately sent me down a path that had no good ending to it and before I knew it, I was more lost than ever.

As is the case for everyone, I ultimately knew God had never moved, but I found myself further away from Him than I ever thought I would be. Ever since I found myself a new church home, though, that all changed. I almost immediately started growing in my faith more than ever before and that growth hasn't stopped in the nine years since my sister talked me into going to the church I now call home.

My story has several all too common notes in it, thus making the answer to the question I answered with an unequivocal "no" for so many years quite a surprise to many people. Despite the events of my own life, my answer was the right one. No, no one is required to attend church to be a Christian.

Yes, we are given many recommendations in favor of going to church, Hebrews 10:25 being arguably the most famous and direct, but there is no direct command to attend church found anywhere in the Bible. In fact, according to the Bible, we are the church. You see, church is not merely a place, but the body of believers.

Anyone can read the Bible in their own time, pray by themselves and even worship in solitude, but is that really enough? I would argue the answer to that question is definitely no, and I don't think I'm alone in that. Yes, we can look at the New Testament and read all about the power of Jesus Christ and the work He did during His work here on Earth, but if we're not gathering with fellow believers, how will we see that power at work today?

I'm a very visual person, so that's an important part of the equation for me. A lot of times, until I see things, I have trouble really gaining a true understanding of certain concepts. When we gather with other believers, it's almost impossible to not see, up close and personal, the power of prayer and the miraculous things God continues to do in the lives of people today.

Not only that, but how can we genuinely expect to grown in our faith and relationship with God if we're trying to do it all on our own? If no one else sees you or knows your struggles, how can your fellow believers help you work through them and pray for you when other forms of help are out of our hands? The short answer is we can't, and I'm living proof that such fellowship can be one of the most important steps toward spiritual growth.

So, no, believer, you do not have to go to church to be a Christian, regardless of what anyone might tell you. I would contend, though, that you'll be doing nothing but setting yourself up for lots of hardship and failure you don't have to endure if you decide to stay home and keep yourself separated from the rest of the body.