The Importance of a Good Local Church
If you want to keep walking in victory, you need to be part of a good local church where healing and faith are taught accurately. Sadly, too many Christians who DO believe in healing fail to attend a church that believes in healing. They pay a price for that. Unbelief is insidious. I know people who used to attend good churches that preached that healing is provided for everyone because of what Jesus did. They went elsewhere (for different reasons) and listened to unbelief from the pulpit. They said that they knew how to separate the wheat from the chaff, and that they wouldn’t get caught up in unbelief. But they did! They’d make statements that would make me cringe and would have made THEM cringe in times past. If you hang around people who don’t believe in healing and make them your closest friends, you are not going to walk in much healing yourself.
When you’re in a good church, you get inspired and built up by the messages every service. The songs don’t promote worn-out traditions of men. The other people in the church encourage you to believe God and receive all that He has for you, and you encourage other people. You also learn to walk in love because there will inevitably be someone that rubs you the wrong way (especially an unbeliever or a new believer). You can’t learn that at home watching Christian TV! There is a good corporate anointing where there is an atmosphere of faith. The testimonies of others inspire you and your testimonies inspire others.
I remember being at a church Christmas party where they assigned seats. To my horror, I found myself next to one of the most loquacious, self-centered people I’d ever met, whose kids were little terrors. My immediate thought was, “No, Lord, ANYONE but HIM! This won’t be a merry Christmas for me tonight!” I gritted my teeth and FORCED myself to walk in love toward that man. I listened when I didn’t want to listen and smiled when I didn’t want to smile. But you know, maybe that man hadn’t really known much love in his life, but he found it at that church. He began to change. He ended up totally on fire for Jesus, was promoted to an important position and became a precious brother with whom I looked forward to chatting! You just can’t have that kind of thing go on (on either end) if you just stay at home listening to TV preaching and reading books (even this one).
One study claimed that 90% of churchgoers choose their church for reasons other than the quality of the teaching. To me, that means that 10% have the right approach. Apparently, more people choose church based on its “cool music” (or lack thereof) than based on its teaching, and some even choose one based on its basketball opportunities. But having the most modern basketball court does not mean that you should travel there – if all you get is dribbles of the Word, there is no net benefit.
It used to be hard to find good churches, but it’s a lot easier now. God has raised up pastors all over the place who preach His Word and love His people. No one today has a reasonable excuse not to go to a solid faith-teaching church. But there are plenty of unreasonable excuses:
Excuse #1: With Today’s Technology, I Can Just Get Built Up Watching Christian TV and Videos and Reading Good Books
Yes, you can get built up, but Brother Faithbuilder on TV cannot come lay hands on you or counsel you. Sister Revelator will not be in the Emergency Room with you at midnight the way a real pastor would. (When I started pastoring, I became quite familiar with the local hospital, though I was never a patient there. It was a privilege to believe God and get people out of there.) Also, you can’t learn to relate to people properly sitting in a chair in front of a television. You’ll never have to learn to deal graciously with Rude Evan the Motor-Mouth who just got saved and started attending your church. Most importantly, you can’t build up the body if you just stay at home. This life isn’t all about you – it’s more blessed to give than to receive. God has given EVERYONE a gift to share with His Body, but you can’t do that if you won’t be AROUND His Body! Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
Excuse #2: There Are No Good Churches in My Area
Then MOVE! I’ve done it solely for that reason and if you’re smart, you will, too. Also, if “your area” consists of several blocks, I would urge you to consider the saying, “A church alive is worth the drive.” I’ve driven a long distance back and forth to go to a good church, and if that’s what it takes, you should, too. On the other hand, I’ve seen people pay a price for going to a conveniently-located dead little local church when if they drove half an hour to an hour, they could go do a really good church where the works of Jesus are done. Later, when they need to walk in victory, they end up firing blanks at the devil because the crummy place they attend isn’t teaching anything useful and probably teaches against good faith teaching.
If can’t find what you consider a good church anywhere, be assured that the problem is YOU! You won’t find a perfect church anywhere because all churches consist of imperfect people like you who are at various stages of their Christian growth. Consider that a “perfect” church would become imperfect if you walked in.
Excuse #3: The Romantic Pickings Are Better at a Certain Non-Faith Church
I’ve been shocked how often this becomes the motivating factor behind church selection. What you will find, as others have (sadly), is that you can find a sweet romantic interest who doesn’t believe the Word any more than her pastor does. If things go anywhere with her, guess where she will insist that you go to church! You’ll get to raise your kids in an environment of unbelief. You should pick a church mainly based on the quality of the teaching (other factors, like whether the people are loving, matter also). Trust God that He’s able to find you a mate (if that’s what you want) while you’re going to a GOOD church!
Excuse #4: The Church Is No Longer Relevant; the Action Is on the Street
A lot of churches do manage to be irrelevant because they don’t present Jesus properly (or at all) to outsiders. But there are plenty of good ones. God has given pastors until we all become a “perfect man,” which means that there will be a need for pastors and their churches until Jesus returns. The church can never be irrelevant to God. God would rather move through a strong local church than have to do everything outside of church because the churches won’t hear what the Holy Spirit has to say.
Excuse #5: I’m Too Busy – The Kids Have Soccer Games on Sunday!
If you want your kids to become backsliding buffoons, teach them by your bad example to seek first the things of the world and only seek the kingdom of God in their nearly nonexistent “spare time.” They will learn from your actions that God and His people are really not important in the grand scheme of things. If you have any wisdom, you will take the kids with you to church despite the fact that they might not get to play in soccer matches. And as for you saying you’re too busy, well to quote Jesus, “YOU have said it!” If you’re too busy for church, you’re too busy. So get less busy and start honoring God instead of violating Hebrews 10:25 every week.
Excuse #6: God Has Me in This Currently Dead Church to Be Its Great Revival-Bringer
No, Satan has convinced you to stay in your currently dead church to waste your time and energy spinning your wheels for nothing. I’ve met so many Christians who think God called them to overhaul some pathetic church. It NEVER works, so stop kidding yourself and get out of pride and out of that church. If the pastor doesn’t want a move of God, there will be no move of God. PERIOD. Your faith and prayers cannot override the pastor’s free will. No church will ever rise above its pastor. Besides, you’re an idiot to go somewhere where YOU have to tell the PASTOR what’s what. That pastor cannot possibly pastor you if you think that you have to pastor the pastor. Are you going to tell the pastor how to counsel you when you need help? (“You need to tell me this now, Pastor.”) You won’t grow, except in unbelief, which is being preached with the help of your tithes, offerings and attendance. If you want a revived church, start attending one that is already revived! If there isn’t one in your area, see the answer to Excuse #2 above.
Excuse #7: I Am Part of the Universal Church
Yes, you are, and you also are commanded (Hebrews 10:25 again) to be part of a local expression of the Universal Church.
Excuse #8: I Obey Hebrews 10:25 by Getting Together with Believing Friends Around My Kitchen Table
Who is the pastor of your little bunch? Who is spiritually accountable before God for what goes on there? We all need a pastor. Is there a God-called pastor at your kitchen table? Some church plants start as house meetings, and that’s fine, but real churches have a vision to outgrow that kind of setting! If all you have is believers who have fun little get-togethers when they feel like it, you do not have a church – you merely have a collection of unchurched people who happen to be in the same place at the same time. Real churches have God-given pastors and God-given vision; they aren’t just friends who sit around a table prophesying great things to each other, usually getting wackier by the month because they have no shepherd to lead them away from trouble and from every wind of flaky “new revelations,” which such groups are notorious for!