Just like our daily life practices and structures, the church exists to serve many functions that are beneficial to the believer. One of these functions is to serve as God's life-support system for believer's. This is because, God never designed growth in life to be a single-handed phase. A baby definitely needs his father, mother, siblings, family and people around him to effectively grow. If a child is left in isolation, there is every tendency that such child will die in no time.
This is how it is in the body of Christ. Just as nobody expects a baby to grow on its own, God never meant for us to grow and develop spiritually in isolation. Spiritual growth is a group project and no one can do it all alone. There is a need to be surrounded by spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who can help a believer to grow properly in Christ.
After creating man in Genesis 2:18, God discovered the only thing that was NOT GOOD. The fact that man was independent and needed no help was not a good idea. This was where the need for partners, family, friends and people was birthed. The universal church itself is made of believers around the world while the local church is only made of believers joined by location. In Hebrews 10:24-25, the need for the church was properly explained, much more in an instruction that the believer should not forsake the assembly of the brethren.
The ultimate reason why we need the church is to serve as a body of support, prayer and encouragement. As an individual, you may not always need help, but then what happens when you do? Who do you run to? Definitely not an unbeliever (2nd Corinthians 6:14). Besides this, other people in the body of Christ will definitely need help and encouragement and when they do, who should they run to?
The body of Christ is one that prays for members of the body. The body that when others laugh and say that you're not enough, or that you're building castles in the air, they remind you that God can call things that be not as though they were (Romans 4:17). The church also exists to ensure that the relationship with God is personal as well as collective for every believer. This is best done by ensuring that the hunger for God is not quenched and that believers long to remain connected to God.
By explanations in Biology, there are different types of growth. One of these is Symbiotic growth wherein two organisms benefit from a relationship. Another is Parasitic growth where one organism feeds off the other without giving anything back. The best form that describes the church is the symbiotic growth where there is a mutual exchange of benefits aimed towards collective growth. These benefits cover Bible study, prayers for one another, communion, deep fellowship, breaking and eating bread and much more.
Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:19 -22 aptly describes the church as God's household in which the members grow by being fitted together and built together for a dwelling place of God. The church of God which is the body of Christ is something bigger than every believer and every part of it is important for full functionality. As such, we can not grow individually without growing collectively. At the same time, we cannot grow collectively without growing individually. We only grow as we connect, relate, contribute, receive, pray and encourage one another.
Well written - and timely for me at this season.
ReplyDeleteWell done.
Glad it came timely for you. Thanks for coming around.
DeleteSuch a great points about the importance of church. It also reminds us how we should not destroy the body knowing its significance. Nice one
ReplyDeleteVery true, Victory. Thanks for coming around
DeleteThe church remains ever relevant.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this.
You are welcome, Ifeoluwa.
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