Currently virus numbers are trending down and some in the church have received their first or second dose of the vaccine. With that in mind, over the next few weeks, our staff will be providing a series of articles to help you think through when you should return to the church building. It is our goal to encourage you to prayerfully consider when you should return and not to make you feel guilty for watching from home (unless God has shown you that you should return, and you have not done so yet).
The Gathering of God’s People for Discipleship - From Pastor Jacob
Should the church start physically re-gathering? Is the gathering of the local church really important for discipleship? These are two questions many Christians are currently asking themselves and the way they are answered will determine what the local church will look like in the future. The answers to these two questions will have implications that will ripple through time. The goal of this article is to help us think through these two questions as we begin to consider when it is the right time to start gathering again physically together with the local church.
Should the church start physically re-gathering? I believe the majority of Christians still will answer this question with an emphatic YES! Hebrews tells us, “Consider how to stir up one another… [by] not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some (Heb. 10:25). Many Christians during this season of COVID-19 have rightly noted, “The church is not the building, it is the people.” They are correct; however, many still neglect to recognize the church is not just a people, but it is a gathered people. The Greek term for church, ἐκκλησία, literally means an assembly or congregation, meaning the church is a body of believers who gathers together for a specific purpose. God designed the local church to be a physical picture of the spiritual reality that will one day take place when “his bride has made herself ready” at the marriage of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7). The local church displays this picture by gathering together physically.
However, many are asking the question, “Is it safe?” This article is not for the high-risk individuals who would end up in the hospital on oxygen just to stay alive. Instead, it is for those who are living by a double standard. If we are willing to gather with others indoors, we should also be willing to gather with your local church. The answer to the question, “Is it safe?” is different for everyone. God has called us to be wise and to think critically through serious questions and to not allow fear to dictate our decisions. At the same time, Christ tells Satan, while being tempted in the wilderness, to not foolishly put God to the test by making ill-informed decisions that could cause bodily harm (Luke 4:9-13). Some need to start coming back to the physical gathering of believers at church and some still need to stay home and not put God to the test by seriously putting themselves at risk.
Is the gathering of the local church really important for discipleship? I believe the majority of Christians underemphasize the importance of the local church in forming disciples. Before Christ ascended back into heaven after his resurrection he gives the mission and purpose of the church in Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.’” As the first churches started to gather in the book of Acts, they did so to accomplish the mission set out by Christ, to make disciples. The local church is designed to be a physical picture of a spiritual reality where disciples are to be shaped and grown. Disciples are shaped and grown in the corporate gathering of believers for worship because this is the primary time and place disciples are baptized and taught. Remember, baptizing and teaching are the two primary ways to make disciples according to Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20.
However, some may ask, “Can you be shaped and grown as a disciple of Christ outside the corporate gathering of believers?” The short answer to this question is yes, but with limitations. The answer is partly yes for several reasons. (1) God created parents to be the main disciple makers for their children (Prov. 22:6). (2) The local church develops smaller groups such as Sunday School classes or community groups to cultivate discipleship. (3) You can still grow immensely in your faith through your own faithful spiritual disciplines. However, the other part of the answer notes the limitations because of the lack of corporate accountability, lack of being with your spiritual family, and ultimately the lack of physically displaying the spiritual reality of God’s people when administering the ordinances and hearing the Word of God preached.
Virtual worship services and platforms, like Zoom, are great tools to help the church stay connected while it remains unsafe to gather. So, continue to grow as disciples of Christ through watching the worship service online, participating in Zoom Sunday School classes, and your own personal spiritual disciplines. However, when the time comes, gather physically to worship God again. Rejoin the assembly established for growth in Christlikeness to physically display the spiritual reality, and to evidence the greatness of our God to a watching world.
