Growth Requires Roots: Why You Need a Local Church, From Psalm 1

Can you follow Jesus on your own, with a podcast, a playlist, and a church service on your phone? You can do a lot alone, and you should pray and read the Bible by yourself. Spiritual growth, though, has never been a solo project. Psalm 1 pictures the person who flourishes as a tree that stays planted. Healthy spiritual growth happens when believers stay planted in biblical community, and that is what a local church gives you.

What does Psalm 1 say about spiritual growth?

Psalm 1 says growth requires roots. The psalm opens with a question you can ask yourself every day: who are you walking in step with?

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.

Psalm 1:1

That person delights in God's Word and thinks about it day and night. Then the psalm paints a picture.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:3

Pastor Marty Sloan pointed out the first thing the psalm says about the tree. It is planted. Spiritual growth requires being planted. Trees don't flourish by constantly relocating. As he put it, "You cannot flourish spiritually if you are not rooted."

Then the psalm draws a contrast. "Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away" (Psalm 1:4). Chaff goes wherever the wind sends it. Every trend, every opinion, and every mood moves it somewhere new. If the wind can blow you around, your roots are thin.

For example, think of a patio umbrella in a windstorm. The umbrella ends up in the neighbor's yard. The house stands, because the house sits on a foundation.

Why can't I just follow Jesus on my own?

You can't grow alone because God never designed faith to work that way. Our culture celebrates independence and avoids long commitments. People want spirituality without accountability and connection without covenant. Scripture pulls the other direction.

Look at how the New Testament is built. Philippians was written to the church in Philippi. Corinthians went to the church in Corinth. Thessalonians went to the church in Thessalonica. Pastor Marty said it would be like finding a book of the Bible called Calvary. The structure of the Bible itself assumes you belong to a local church.

Scripture also describes believers as a body, a bride, a building, and a field. A field doesn't move from week to week. Pastor Marty drives past the same fields near his house every day, and they are always there.

A local church is a gathered body of believers where you are taught God's Word, known by name, and sent into God's mission together. Private prayer and Bible reading still matter. Pastor Marty does both. He described them as a continuation of church life.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6 to 7

Is watching church online enough?

Online church is a gift when it is all you have, but it cannot make you rooted. Online, you can find someone to say anything about any topic, sorted by what you already like. Over time, whatever you prefer starts to become your theology.

Pastor Marty put it this way: the nature of sin is to form a god made in our image, rather than to be formed into God's image. If your theology comes from your own desires, you end up with a god who looks a lot like you.

So pick a church for the right reason. Worship styles and amenities differ from place to place. The most important question is whether God's Word is taught with clarity and consistency. In a planted life you get nourishment, stability, accountability, and encouragement, and fruit follows.

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

Acts 2:42

What does showing up give me that I can't get alone?

Showing up gives you people who spur you on. Church attendance with engagement creates spiritual encouragement. Attending and walking out never touches the best part of church. Connection is what forms you, so be known and know somebody else.

Hebrews 10:24 tells you to "consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." The next verse explains how.

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 10:25

Even in the first century, some people were drifting away from gathering. Hebrews says to gather more as the Day approaches. When you know a storm is coming, you head for shelter.

Pastor Marty admitted the church has problems, because people like him and you are in it. "If you ever find a perfect church, don't go there." Noah's ark surely smelled like animals, he said. The stink inside the ark was still better than the storm outside.

Ecclesiastes 4 adds that two are better than one. When one falls, the other helps them up. "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Paul wanted to visit Rome so that he and the believers there could be "mutually encouraged by each other's faith" (Romans 1:12). You should leave church stronger, because someone prayed with you or stood beside you. The church is a people God uses to strengthen you.

Where do I belong in God's family?

You belong to God's kingdom and to a local house. Ephesians links the two.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.

Ephesians 2:19

Calvary is a church of more than 70 nations. Pastor Marty reminded the church that citizenship in God's kingdom comes before any passport. He visits churches in Africa, Mexico, Peru, and Slovakia, and he is with his people every time.

Citizenship comes with membership in a house. Fitting together isn't always easy. Brothers poke each other, and church family can rub you the wrong way. That's where the fruit of the Spirit gets practiced, including patience. Each of us is a brick in the house God is building, and every brick is needed. God designed believers to fit together.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Ephesians 4:16

Body parts cut off from the body stop working properly. Pastor Marty said it plainly: "Disconnected believers become vulnerable believers."

Can I stay planted when life gets hard?

Yes, and staying planted is exactly what carries you through hard seasons. Psalm 1 says the planted tree yields its fruit in season. Life has seasons of family, health, money, and age, and nobody ages out of purpose in God's house.

An uprooted tree won't survive one hard winter or one scorching summer. Pastor Marty has had cold days when he felt numb and hot days when everything seemed to fail. When your roots go deep into Christ, His church, and His mission, you can say, "I know who I am, I know who I serve, and I know where I'm planted."

A soldier reports for duty. An athlete shows up to train. A farmer shows up to sow. Disciples gather to worship. Attendance doesn't save anyone, yet God uses gathered worship to shape us. For more on this, Pastor Marty recommended It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian by Tod Bolsinger and The Church and Its Vocation by Michael Goheen.

Common questions

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

You are saved by faith in Jesus, not by attendance. But the Bible never pictures a believer growing alone. Psalm 1, Hebrews 10, and the letters of the New Testament all assume you are planted in a community of believers.

Is watching church online the same as attending?

Online church helps when it is all you can do, such as during illness or travel. It cannot give you the relationships, accountability, and encouragement that come from being known in person. If you can be in church, Pastor Marty Sloan says, be in church.

What does Hebrews 10:25 mean by not giving up meeting together?

Hebrews 10:24 to 25 tells believers to keep gathering so they can encourage one another toward love and good deeds. It adds that you should gather even more as the day of Christ's return approaches, much like heading for shelter before a storm.

How do I choose a good local church?

Start with the teaching. Music styles and amenities vary, but the most important question is whether God's Word is taught clearly and consistently. Then look for a place where you can be known, serve, and grow over time.