From the Second Chair
Do We Need Lincoln Community Church?
In the year 2021 we are just coming out of the recent pandemic and believers were used to watching church on TV, the question has been asked, “Do we need the local church?”
After all, we seem to have survived just fine without putting a foot in the sanctuary or singing a hymn in the company of a hundred people.
Derek Brown writes, “Do I really need the local church in my Christian life, or can I sustain my walk with Christ through computer-generated churches and Bible studies while keeping my distance from other believers?”
I do not think so.
We need Lincoln Community Church to grow in spiritual maturity. While we can be faithful in our Bible reading, it is the church where we hear the Word of God preached. Listening to the Word of God in person we are able to thrive and not just survive like we did in 2020.
The local church has always been the foremost tool which God uses for His saints to become more than we were. We can listen to a thousand preachers from around the world, but it is the local church that feeds our faith.
It is your Pastor who knows your history, and the names of your children. It is your Pastor that tailors the sermon from the Word of God to meet you where you are. It is your Pastor that calls you his friend.
It is the elders who know your situation because they are living in the same circumstance. It is your elders who have been where you are now. It is your elders who are working to make your church as good as it possibly can be.
It is the volunteers who give of their time and talent to make the church a better place to stay. It is the volunteers who work side by side with you on the needs of the believers in our church.
There are excellent Bible teachers online, but I can boldly say with confidence that they are not your shepherd, and you are not their sheep. They are not responsible to God for our spiritual well-being.
Watching online preachers and teachers are a great resource for education, but it can never match the value in the local church.
That is what I think anyway.
Jody <><
Hebrews 10:24 – “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, and let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”
