Point: A Christian is a Christian without the Local Church
Posted in Once I Was a Kansas Girl and tagged with Bible, Christianity, Church, Jesus Christ, Point/Counterpoint on July 22, 2008I’m loving the questions you all posed to me on the last post! If you haven’t done so yet (or if you want to again) feel free to leave a question or two there. I’ll be getting around to posting the answers soon!
Wondering what’s up with this post? Check here to see my explanation of the point/counterpoint, or just wait a couple of days and see what my conclusion will be!
Point: I can be a Christian without the local church.
For the sake of discussion, I will use the term “Christian” to indicate a follower of Christ, someone who has made the choice to repent of their sins, trusting in Christ alone (and His work on the cross) for salvation from a just eternal death in hell, and seeks to live their life in accordance to the commands found in God’s Word, the Bible, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Did you see anything in that definition that mentions the local church? No. A Christian is not a Christian because they are a member of a local church. They are a Christian because of the reasons mentioned above. In fact, a Christian doesn’t even have to attend a local church. This is an option available to them, and most certainly encouraged, but not necessary.
Finding a local church that is worth attending is hard. Most don’t practice what they preach. Others turn out to be mere social gatherings. Some ask for money all the time.
Even Jesus didn’t attend a church. He didn’t ask his followers to, either. He’s famous for saying, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, He must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34, NASU) He told the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and follow Him. These things are required of a believer, attending a local church is not.
Update: Claification on the way I’m using “local church.” I define this term to mean a physical gathering of believers into a congregation that calls themselves a church. While there is much more that could go into the definition, that’s good enough for this discussion.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 8:26 am
Ah, and you tread into controversial territory – good girl! Congrats on being on the SITS blogroll :-)
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I pray my email didn’t offend you. I’m interested to read your counter point and conclusion.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Lynda, thanks! I don’t want to be afraid to tackle the hard things, though I always want to do so with humility and grace.
Iva, your email didn’t offend me at all! (I already replied to you, but I’m putting this hear for others to read). I always enjoy discussing these types of issues and will be posting the other two parts of this series soon!
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
for the sake of clarifying this discussion can you define the ‘local church’?
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Thanks, Erin. I added a definition of the way I’m using the term at the end of the post.