Why Is It Important to be Part of a Church?

If I were to ask you, “Why do you go to school? - we may have different answers.

I go to school to make friends.

I go to school to learn how to socialize.

I go to school because my parents make me go.

However, the real reason we go to school is very simple.

We go to school to “LEARN”.

We learn how to read and write.

We learn how to do simple and complex math.

We learn how to write a persuasive argument.

We learn to be trained in very specific / technical skills so that we can prepare for a career in either a trade or profession.

Have you ever considered why is it important to be part of a church?

This is a very important question to consider.

It is estimated that there are 800,000 people in the Treasure Valley.

Out of those 800,000 people only about 50,000 people attend a church that preaches believes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So if you go to church on Sundays, you are a minority of the population in the Treasure Valley.

The overwhelming majority of people in the Treasure Valley do not attend church on Sundays.

This is very odd since a recent survey says that 40% of the people in the Treasure Valley say they are Christian.

We would expect 320,000 people to attend church in the Treasure Valley.

This means that most of the people in the Treasure Valley who say they are Christian do not believe it is necessary to be part of a local church.

They may be the type of people that believe that it is not important to be a committed member of the local church.

In today’s sermon we come to a passage in the Bible where the followers of Jesus Christ were called “christian” for the first time.

Before that, they were called disciples.

Others were called the people that follow the way.

But in the city of Antioch, followers of Jesus were called Christians for the first time.

Hechos de los Apóstoles 11:19–21 NIV

19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Hechos de los Apóstoles 11:25–26 NIV

25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Christian believers in Antioch started telling their neighbors and friends about Jesus Christ.

God was using them so that non-believers could hear about Jesus.

God was saving many people in Antioch.

The church started to grow and in a short time they were called Christians because they were following Jesus Christ.

Consider verse 26 - because it will help us understand why it is important to be part of a church.

There are many things that people enjoy about church…

Singing

Fellowship and friendship

Helps build a support network

But in this verse, God himself gives us an important reason why it is important to be part of a local church.

Notice how Barnabas and Saul spent an entire year with these disciples…with the local Christians in Antioch.

What did they do during this extended time - 365 days?

They taught them about the word of God.

I strongly believe:

Christians are people who believe in the message of Jesus Christ and have committed their lives to serve him.

…but I also believe that Christians are people that have committed their lives to a local church.

Christians commit their lives to a local church - to worship God, to serve one another, but also to be taught God’s word.

This is why we believe the teaching of God’s word (Sunday School and the message during the service) is a very special moment because we fulfill one aspect of God’s design for the local church - the teaching of God’s word to Christian believers.

There are many church buildings where God’s word is not taught.

There are many other church buildings where God’s word is twisted and false doctrine is taught.

There are many congregations who do not have someone who teach them God’s word.

…we are blessed to be in a congregation where we have various opportunities to be taught God’s word.