Is the local church still relevant in today’s world? Share your thoughts as to why or why not.
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It is. There will always be relevance where people come together to break bread: “do this in remembrance of me,” was what Jesus said. It’s hard to break bread via the internet.
I often find myself questioning the relevancy of most churches as they exist today. I think that Jesus did that too. His biggest “beef” was with the “religious” church-goers of his own society, the pharisees and Sadducee who were extremely “religious” but not necessarily living up to God’s true purpose.
In our society, the government, it its zeal to keep “church and state” forever separated, has largely taken over responsibility for much of what Jesus exhorted the church to be responsible for. He told the church (and Christians) to care for the poor, the widows, the sick, etc. Unfortunately, our society has shifted that responsibility to the government. So instead of being “the hands and feet of Jesus” most churches seem to have become a social gathering place for Christians.
And the larger the building, the more the congregations’ resources have to be focused toward paying the bills and less toward providing resources and ministry to those in need in the local community. Because of that and the impression that the government is already taking care of the poor, etc., there’s a huge disconnect between the church and the very people we’re supposed to be reaching out to.
I think our time and energy as Christians would be much better spent meeting in small home bible studies, as was done in the New Testament. I do believe it’s Biblical to meet with other believers, I’m just not so sure it needs to be done in a huge, expensive building.
Yet, my husband and I just joined a local church after moving to a new area. I’m not sure we’re doing God’s will with this decision, but it seemed like “the thing to do.” It seems to be an active and vital congregation, but so far, I haven’t seen many outreach ministries in this church. So, I guess that probably means I’m supposed to get something going, eh?
Hebrews 10:24-25 warns against “forsaking” the assembling of believers. The word forsake in the KJV is a strong word; the Greek word used refers to abandoning someone in need like a drowning man.
Loretta, I attended a church of over 6,000 members until last year. Homegroups are even more important in those large churches; it is impossible to build the real connections we need as people and believers in a Sunday service containing thousands of people.