Chickens and Christians

When the subject of church attendance comes up, people often tell me: "I don't need to go to church, I can worship God anywhere."  My response generally surprises them as I will say they are correct and then go further in saying: "Sitting in a church house will not make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a hen house will make you a chicken."

They typically smile or chuckle in agreement just before I add, "But you will find that chickens do gather in hen houses for the same reason that Christians gather in church houses: Other chickens are there."  Christians gather in churches, not to be saved but for the support and encouragement of other Christians.

This is, of course, a natural desire to gather with like-minded folk but, more than that, it is God directed: "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another---and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb 10:25).

The fact one can worship anywhere, with or without others, does not negate God's call to assemble to encourage each other. You can worship by yourself but you can't encourage or be encouraged by others by yourself.

God didn't intend for Christians, anymore than chickens, to go it alone. It is not just about you or me, church is about us. Specifically, it is about us helping each other to be about God's business of reaching, teaching and enriching the lives of others. God's purpose for you never includes you by yourself. Jus' Say'n.