How necessary is church?
This Sunday just gone I missed church for the ‘n’th time. It’s not that I owe that congregation anything. I don’t lead it and I don’t contribute to it’s organisation and/or running at all. But for some reason I felt strange about not being there. Why wasn’t I there? Well, I wanted to go to an all day Ska gig initially. But then, as it turned out I went out with my wife for food and then the cinema (the film “Black Sheep” incidentally, comes as highly recommended by me) because it had been a while since we’d properly seen each other (well, a few days – that’s a while for us). So the question is, “How much does going to church matter?”
Technorati Tags: church, emerging, faith
This is of course a question that’s been asked upteen times and been refuted even more. You can of course be a Christian without going to church on a Sunday.What also makes me think about this is that as of about March next year (when we go traveling) it’s unlikely that I’ll be in one spot for long for the next several years (at current reckoning). So that means that going to one church on a regular basis can no longer be a integral part of my Christian identity and faith. I have to explore a faith that functions outside of that. Of course, I am not by myself – Bernice is there to pray with and talk about Jesus with. I would also seek out fellowship where possible in the places that I visit. But ultimately, I won’t be a regular part of one community for any length of time.I thought that I would be perfectly fine with that, but instead it kind of disturbs me slightly. Conventional church thinking (as it were) says that you will go cold and lose the plot without all those people around you. On the flip side, I’m excited about finding that new faith where perhaps I just have to rely on Jesus more than other people or a church. After all, that’s why the Celtic Christian hermits went to live by themselves.We could get into a semantic debate about what the word ‘church’ means, but that’s boring and just like, so passé man!
that old story about the coal going cold out of the fire, about not being in church is a pile of poo, we have a fount or well spring in us, the life comes from inside of us, not the outside, we add to the fire when we come together, if all are out of fire then there is no fire….maybe you feel odd or disconnected cos your part of the body of christ, and therefore connected with any believers whereever you are whether you know them or not, as you travel fellowship will become more important than meetings, as it probably already is, its about walking with people, whether in a travelling context or local community…