Do I Have to Go to Church?

Can you follow Jesus on your own, without a local church? Plenty of voices today say yes. The New Testament says otherwise. You are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. But from the very first day, following Him has been a shared life, and the Bible never pictures a believer growing alone.

Did the first Christians go to church?

Yes, and they gathered constantly. The church was born in Acts 2. After the Holy Spirit was poured out, Peter preached. More than 3,000 people came to faith. On Beyond Sunday, Pastor Sean Sloan likes to point out that the first church was a megachurch. It started with about 120 people and grew to thousands in a single day. They likely met in the temple courts because nowhere else was big enough.

Look at what those new believers did next.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:42

"They devoted themselves" is plural. Day by day they met in the temple courts and broke bread in their homes. Even at home, they met as households gathered together. From the start, faith in Christ was a shared experience.

What does the word "church" actually mean?

The Greek word for church, ekklesia, simply means a gathering. The study of the church is called ecclesiology. When we say "church" today, we often picture a building, an organization, or a set of programs. In the New Testament, the word is about people. It means a gathered group, a movement of God's people.

That changes the question. "Do I have to go to church?" can sound like "Do I have to visit a building?" The better question is whether you can belong to Jesus without belonging to His people.

Isn't faith a personal thing?

Faith is personal, but the Bible never treats it as private. The weekend message put it strongly: the Bible knows nothing of a purely individual experience of faith.

His guest, Kirk Matthews, tried to find an exception in Philemon, a short letter Paul wrote to one man. But read the opening. Paul writes with Timothy, to Philemon, to Apphia and Archippus, "and to the church that meets in your home." Even the most personal letter in the New Testament was written to be read to a congregation. Paul's letters to Timothy are the same. They teach a young leader how to lead a church.

English hides this. Greek has a plural "you," and very often when the New Testament says "you," it means "you all." We read "you will" and hear "I will." Pastor Sean and Kirk joke that Southern English translates the Greek better: "y'all." Christ in y'all. Christ with y'all.

Paul pictures the church as a body. You are an individual member, but a member only means something when it's attached to the rest.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"

1 Corinthians 12:21

What does church give you that you can't get alone?

Church gives you family and accountability. Philemon shows both. The letter is about Onesimus, a runaway slave who came to faith through Paul and was now returning to his master. Paul asks Philemon to receive him as a brother.

Many people in slavery then were working off a debt. You don't usually hold a debt over a brother. Calling Onesimus family moves the relationship out of transaction and into family. The letter was also read to the whole church, so everyone knew what Paul had asked. Accountability is letting people who know you see what you have promised and help you keep it. The same community that could hold Onesimus accountable was the place of his restoration.

Church also shows you what is really growing in you. Kirk says he never thought he struggled with patience until he had a toddler. The fruit of the Spirit is the character God grows in believers, such as love, patience, and kindness. Most of it only gets tested around other people. How do you practice love by yourself?

What if church has hurt you?

Church hurt is real, and it comes from sin. The church is made of humans, and humans let each other down. As the weekend message put it, if you find a perfect church, don't go there. You'll mess it up.

The church is an imperfect picture of Christ, but it is still the place where His Spirit dwells. The hosts note that the pull toward isolation isn't from God. Jesus came to bring us back to Himself and then to one another. What divides us is not of Him, and what draws us together is.

From the beginning, the first thing God called "not good" was being alone.

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 2:18

The writer of Hebrews tells believers to keep gathering for exactly this reason.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24 to 25

In the hosts' words, there is no coming to Christ apart from coming to His church.

Common questions

Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?

You are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, not by attendance. But the New Testament never pictures faith lived alone. From Acts 2 on, believers devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, meals, and prayer together.

What does the word church mean in the Bible?

The Greek word ekklesia means a gathering. In Scripture, the church is the people of God, not a building or a program.

What if I've been hurt by a church?

Church hurt is real and comes from the sin and brokenness of people. The church is imperfect, yet it is still where God's Spirit dwells, and He uses community to bring healing and growth.

Can I grow spiritually on my own?

Personal prayer and Bible reading matter. But much of the fruit of the Spirit, like love and patience, only gets tested and grows in relationship with other believers.

Read the blog postGrowth Requires Roots: Why You Need a Local Church, From Psalm 1Can you grow in your faith without a local church? Psalm 1 says the person who flourishes is planted. Pastor Marty Sloan explains why growth requires roots.Read the post