Being created for love means we were also designed to belong. We were not made to live isolated lives but to live in community.
KEY VERSE
“So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5 NIV
God created Eve because He saw it wasn’t good for Adam to live alone (Genesis 2:18) and it is the same for us. God designed us to live in community and every believer is connected and belongs together for eternity through Christ.
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?” 1 Corinthians 6:15 NIV
We can lead isolated lives but if we do, we are more vulnerable and not living the way God intended. God created the church so we could live in community with other believers. A Christian without a church is like an organ without a body – incomplete.
CHURCH EXISTS FOR A REASON
Why do we need church? It is everything we need in one place. God’s purpose for church aligns with His purposes for our lives. It meets all our needs.
Worship helps us focus on God. Fellowship helps us face whatever life throws at us. Discipleship strengthens our faith. Ministry leads us to discover our gifts and evangelism helps us to fulfil our mission.
All these things can be done outside of church too, but in church, it is easier.
“And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.” 2 Corinthians 8:5 NIV
A perfect church doesn’t exist because we are all flawed but a good church brings us the family we need and we do need it even if we may not want it.
WHY WE NEED A CHURCH FAMILY
We need a church family for a few reasons. The first is that being in a church family helps us love others more. We won’t like everyone and not everyone will like us even other believers and being in a church family will help us love despite this, it makes us less selfish.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16 NIV
God wants us to develop sacrificial love and being in a church family helps us do that. Every believer is connected, we are all one body so if one person suffers so does the rest, likewise if one person celebrates we all do (1 Corinthians 12:25-26).
Being in a church family helps us grow, it helps us progress towards spiritual maturity. Of course, simply being a spectator won’t help us grow. Growth comes from the relationships we form and their quality, it comes from being involved.
Being around fellow Christians sharpens us, we grow faster and stronger because we learn from each other. We grow because we hold each other accountable.
The accountability we find in the church helps keep us from backsliding (James 5:19). Isolated believers are more vulnerable to the attacks of Satan and more powerless against them. That’s why we need to be in church because together we are stronger.
“But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.” Hebrews 3:13 CSB
Being in a church family also offers us spiritual protection as it is filled with people who pray over us (Hebrews 13:17).
But as much as we need a church family, the church family also needs us. Each of us has a unique role in the church, it may be that it is where we discover our gifts, or it could be that our gifts are developed and used in the church.
“The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.” 1 Corinthians 12:7 CEV
With the church as an individual and a body, we are God’s instrument in this world to fulfil His mission. God’s mission for us lies in the five purposes of life – worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism.
We were made to love God and each other, designed to live in community and work individually and together for our shared goal of fulfilling the purposes God has given us.
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Wholeheartedly Faithul 
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