Why should Christians meet together?
We go to church services to worship God; right? Well, some years ago, Ailsa and I did a lot of door to door evangelism using a questionnaire supplied by Woodside Church in Bedford. One of the points which people regularly made to us was directly contrary to the above position: “I don’t need to go to church to worship God.” So how does the Bible itself answer our question? The writer to the Hebrews urges this:
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together as some are doing. But let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-24)
So the purpose of meeting together is for us to encourage one another and spur one another on. Now most certainly, one of the primary ways we do this is by worshipping God together (as the preceding verses in Hebrews 10 make clear). Nevertheless, encouraging one another rather than corporate worship is, I suggest, the primary goal here.
How might we encourage one another?
In 2Corinthians 14, Paul writes at some length about this subject:
- Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. (v1)
- The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. (v3).
- The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues – unless someone interprets so that the church may be edified. (v5)
- When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. (v26)
When he talks about ‘prophesying’ here, Paul would appear to mean any sort of intelligible godly verbal utterance. So this might include things like Scripture reading, praise, prayer, preaching, ‘speaking the word of God boldly’ (Acts 4:31), as well as anything we might introduce with words like, “I feel that God would say to us …”. Paul himself gives his own list in verse 26. But this would seem to be by way of example rather than him seeking to give us an exclusive list.
What might help here?
So here’s the thing. Are we familiar with what Paul says about everybody having an upbuilding contribution to bring when the church meets together? And if so, are we intentional about asking God whether there is a contribution that he wants us to bring? In the same way as a preacher or worship leader might need to prepare the contribution they bring, shouldn’t we all find 5 or 10 minutes within our private prayer time to ask God ‘how are you speaking to me,’ and then ‘ is there anything you want me to contribute and share in the church meeting today?’ This might be something private for an individual, or it might be a picture, a scripture or an encouragement for the whole church.
In my own experience, it’s so easy to go around with the false notion that prepared and spontaneous contributions are somehow alternatives, whereas in fact they are clearly complementary. I know that personally the more intentional I am about preparing, the more spontaneous I’m able to be in the moment. I might come with several verses of Scripture ready to share and they might not be used, but it’s surprising that often the way opens up for me to share something spontaneous.
Let’s spur one another on, and encourage one another. Over to you.
Robert Lampard
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