Why Be Committed to a Local Church?

I recently had a conversation with someone who doesn't see the need to attend church. He said that he and God were getting along just fine without being a part of "organized religion." He told me that every time he had gotten involved in a church he discovered that there were people that were difficult to get along with and "hypocrites" that didn't live out what they professed.

It's funny, but as I look back over my years attending church and now pastoring a church, I have to say that one of the major benefits of being committed to a local church is the exact thing he didn't like. I have come to recognize that one of God's purposes in having us commit to being a part of the church is the relationship issues that we will be forced to deal with as we seek to follow God together.

• There have been times that I have had to learn to love someone that I wouldn't ordinarily spend time with.
• There have been times that disagreements have forced me to set aside my own opinions to seek God's insight into issues.
  
• There have been times that I have been confronted with my own selfishness.
• There have been times that I have challenged to grow in areas of servanthood and responsibility.
• There have been times that I have needed to lovingly confront someone who wasn't following God.
• There have been times that I have been called to join with others in taking a giant step of faith to see the Kingdom built for God's glory.
  
• There have been times that I have needed to learn what it really means to forgive others.
• There have been times that I have had to learn how to wade into someone's world in order to help them learn how to walk with Christ.
  
• There have been times that I have had to learn how to submit to authority, even when I disagreed with a decision that was being made.
  

Sure, my involvement in the church has allowed me to learn about the Bible, develop friends and have a warm sense of belonging to something. The joy of worshipping together can be amazing. The love expressed to me by others has astonished me. The people that God has used to mentor me and help me grow have almost always been people in a church I was a part of.

These are all good things and should be a part of our church experience.

But I am convinced that one of the most overlooked reasons God calls us to be committed to local church is so that we can knock the rough edges off of one another. This doesn't mean that you have a calling to be the church's sledgehammer. It means that as we seek to follow God together we will at times bump into one another and as we do, God wants to refine our character so we will be more like Christ.

When things start to get dicey, when I feel a relationship start to strain, I'm learning to take a step back and ask God questions like "What are you trying to teach me, God?" and "Lord, what do you want me to say or do here?" or "What is your perspective on this, Jesus?"

As I have done this, I'm finding that my rough edges are being rounded off. I've learned that these moments are times when God wants to do some transforming in our lives. I'm discovering that the Lord is at work. Maybe it is me that is being worked on, maybe it is the other person. Usually it is both.

So the next time someone or something bugs you about your church, let me encourage you to spend some alone time asking God what he is up to. I think you will be amazed by what he shows you!