Which Church Will You Join in 2014?

With just a quick bit of goggling it appears that there are over 300,000 protestant churches in America.  Seems like a lot, but each one of those churches would need 1,000 members to make every American a church member, and almost 2/3rds of all those churches have only 7-99 members each.   In South Carolina there are 11,685 phonebook listings for churches.  But here’s the shocker:  there are almost 800 different churches in driving distance for those of us in Lexington to choose from!

Needless to say, these churches are all very unique and can only be somewhat loosely grouped according to denominational or theological categories.  So, what determines where you will go to church?  

First, you must answer this question:  What is the difference between “a church” and “The Church?”

Here’s the answer in a nutshell: People determine the membership and location of “a church.”  But only God determines the membership of The Church and its current location is “scattered.”  (But that is scheduled to be changed soon!)

For this article suffice it to say that The Church is comprised of God’s people who He has called to follow Him in a covenant relationship of total surrender and obedience, loving Him in life and loving Him in death.  This is The Church where your membership must be--first and foremost.

But along comes this scriptural admonition in Hebrews 10:23-25 that says,  ^“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;   And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

Our Father is all about the family.  He knows that we cannot grow and mature apart from the dynamic of being in a family, and that is why we have local assemblies or churches which are necessary families for us to learn how to both feed and to be fed in our pursuit of holiness.  So, here are two considerations for local church membership:

1. You should not be a member of a church that denies the sovereignty and Biblical teachings of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

2. Your local church membership should be entered into as a covenant relationship with other Believers.   

There is no perfect family, and there is no perfect church.  We live in a society that doesn’t know or care much about covenants.  Marriage covenants are broken without much concern for the consequences. Friendships and family relationships can be broken and there just isn’t a whole lot of admonition from anywhere for reconciliation.  But there is a lot of self defense for rights that have been violated or feelings that have been hurt and a lot of, “But you don’t know what he (or she) did to me!”  Please don’t let your church membership be another casualty among the shallow covenants of convenience that are broken everyday.

If you know for certain you are a member of “The Church” the pressure is off for the high demands on any checklist for your finding “the right church.”  For every “church” is only a proving ground, a practice field, a place to “work out your salvation” in problem-solving for every kind of test imaginable in learning how to spiritually feed and be fed.  If you are in a church that lacks leadership, consider that God has you there to be a leader.  If you are in a church that has people that are hard for you to understand or relate to, perhaps God wants you to develop the ability to love others who are different from you.  If you are in a church that won’t let you have things your way, maybe God wants you to learn brokenness and submission.

If you do not first have an understanding of the preeminence of your membership into the covenant people of God through the Blood of Jesus, then all you have is your local church membership to satisfy your limited concept of what The Church is supposed to be like!   And you may end up doing “the church hop” and find yourself fitting the description in 2^nd Timothy 3:7, “Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
 
But now more than ever it is time for The Church to get completely serious about being the Body of Christ in this world.  He is coming soon and I want to be found being about my Father’s business.   Is it possible that many Believers are actually more engrossed with being the “bride of the church” than desiring to be the “Bride of Christ?”