Living as a Christian
Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, and it doesn’t earn God’s love. But the Bible never pictures a Christian living the faith alone. Church is where you are taught, encouraged and looked after.
Church is people, not a building
In the Bible “church” means the people who belong to Jesus, gathered together. When you become a Christian you become part of that family, and families spend time together. Paul’s picture is of a body, in which every part needs the others.
Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
What the first Christians did
They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.
Those four things, teaching, fellowship, sharing bread and prayer, are still what churches meet to do. A later writer urged Christians not to drift away from meeting:
Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.
“Can’t I just watch online?”
Online services are a real help if you are ill, housebound or finding out what a church is like. They cannot replace being there. You can’t share a meal through a screen, notice that someone is struggling, be baptised or be missed when you are away.
“Churches are full of hypocrites”
Churches are full of people who know they are not what they should be. That is rather the point. A church is more like a hospital than a showroom, and you will find the same faults there as everywhere else, in people who are being slowly changed.
“I’ve been hurt by a church”
Some people have been badly let down, or worse, by churches and those who lead them. If that has happened to you, it was wrong, and it was not what Jesus is like. It may take time before you can trust a church again. When you are ready, look for one that is open about how it keeps people safe and whose leaders are accountable to others.
What to expect
Churches vary a lot in style, but most Sunday services include singing, prayers, a reading from the Bible and a talk explaining it. You can simply turn up. Nobody will expect you to know what to do.
Going to church for the first time