Why do we need the church?

What the Bible says

When someone asks whether we really have to go to church, the Bible first answers what the church is. In the New Testament the church is not a building but people. Paul writes to the believers in Corinth.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

1 Cor 12:27

The body is one, and it has many parts. Jew or Greek, slave or free, Paul says, "in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Cor 12:13). The eye cannot say it has no need of the hand, and "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it" (1 Cor 12:26). The church is first a fact, one body, and only then a meeting.

Paul draws the same fact as a family.

Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

Eph 2:19

Believers are not drifters but belong to God's household. That house is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone," and in Him we are being built together into "a dwelling place for God in His Spirit" (Eph 2:20-22). Jesus too called the church his own.

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Matt 16:18

"My church." It is not a club people made up but a people Christ builds and keeps.

What does this body do? Luke shows the church just after Pentecost.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:42

They learned the word, shared life, broke bread and prayed. They sold goods to meet needs and ate together with gladness, praising God (Acts 2:44-47). To keep this going, Hebrews urges believers on.

And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Heb 10:24-25

Even then, some had made not meeting a habit. Scripture teaches that the life of faith is a road walked with others who encourage us.

The church's witness

The Nicene Creed confesses belief in one holy catholic and apostolic church The Nicene Creed. The Apostles' Creed speaks of the holy catholic church and the communion of saints The Apostles' Creed. "Catholic" here means universal: not one nation or age but believers in every place and time. The visible church is divided, yet its unity in Christ, the church has said, is given, not made.

The Fathers thought hard about what the church stands on. Chrysostom reads Jesus' words this way: "That is, On this faith and confession I will build my Church" Chrysostom. Augustine says he has explained the verse in two ways and closes, "Let the reader choose whether of these two opinions seems to him the more probable" Augustine. The rock may be Peter himself or the Christ whom Peter confessed. Readings still differ. The Catholic Church reads the rock as Peter and teaches that his office continues in the bishop of Rome. Orthodox writers often stress Peter's confession and see Peter's chair continued in every bishop. Protestants have often read the rock as the confession or as Christ himself, though many Protestant scholars agree it is Peter while denying that his office passes to successors. All confess that Christ builds the church and that it is his.

Matthew Henry gathers the images of Ephesians 2. "The church is compared to a city, and every converted sinner is free of it" Matthew Henry. It is also a house and a temple, he says. On Hebrews he names the worth of meeting: "The communion of saints is a great help and privilege, and a means of stedfastness and perseverance" Matthew Henry.

In the original languages

The word translated "church" is ekklesia (ἐκκλησία). It means an assembly. It was used of a Greek city's citizens summoned to meet, and in the Greek Old Testament of God's people assembled. It does not mean a building. A word's root does not settle its meaning, but the New Testament does describe believers as "called to be holy" (1 Cor 1:2). The church is those whom God has called together, and the caller comes first.

The other word is koinonia (κοινωνία), usually "fellowship," meaning "sharing in common." In Acts 2:42 it is not only warm feeling but a table, possessions and prayer shared. In 1 Corinthians 10:16 the same word is used for "participation" in the body and blood of Christ. Church fellowship is first a shared participation in Christ, and only then friendship.

Common objections

"I can believe without going to church." At its strongest the objection runs like this. Faith is between one person and God. Some meet God more nearly walking in a forest, reading or praying alone. Church has often hindered faith with hypocrisy and quarrels. There is truth here. Nobody can believe for another, and God meets people everywhere. Yet Scripture never pictures faith as a solo act. A limb cut off from the body does not thrive. Baptism and the Supper cannot be received alone, and Scripture tells us to encourage one another and carry burdens. In church we also meet people who show us what we cannot see ourselves. Staying away from church is not the same as giving up faith, but love is tested and grown among people. Matthew Henry says that strife is "very unnatural in Christians" Matthew Henry, and the church is where that unnaturalness is slowly overcome.

"The church has hurt people: hypocrisy, abuse, division." This cannot be denied. The church has at times held power and looked away from the weak, and some leaders and members have used trust to harm others, at times with the church covering it up. The pain of those who left for such reasons should not be treated lightly, and it needs no excuse. Jesus himself rebuked hypocritical religious leaders most severely. The Bible never presents the church as a gathering of perfect people. Corinth was full of quarrels and immorality, and most of Paul's letters were written to churches like it. The church has understood itself as a gathering of forgiven sinners, not of the righteous. That does not make the hurt smaller. But the church's failure is not Christ's failure, and the church is most itself when it confesses wrong and stands with those it harmed. Wounded people need time, and they deserve a safe community.

"The church is so divided. Which one is the true church?" An honest question. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians understand the church's foundation, offices and authority differently, and they disagree about how far they can regard one another as one church. This essay cannot settle that. Yet all three confess in the Nicene Creed the triune God and Christ who became man, died and rose for us. All baptize in the triune name and read Scripture as God's word, though they differ on how it relates to tradition. Choosing a church takes care and prayer. But division is no reason to say that no church is needed.

Going further

The church is not a finished place but a body that grows. If you have been hurt in a church, that wound does not mean you must give up faith. And if you have never been, you need not be afraid. A church ought to have room for a person who sits and asks honest questions.

You might ask yourself some questions. Have I thought of faith as only my own affair? Is there a friend in faith who encourages and corrects me? What could I give to a church, and not only receive?

To read further, see What are baptism and the Lord's Supper? and Who is the Holy Spirit?. Reading Acts 2:42-47 and 1 Corinthians 12 together is a good start.