I recall once asking my Scripture Class students: “How does someone become a Christian?”  Several young people responded: “By going to church!”

“Well, that’s not a bad answer in as far as it goes.  It’s certainly a much better answer than that of many people today who say, “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian!”  And of course there are many other people who would never go so far as to actually say that, but they do live that out in their weekly routine – they believe in Jesus but church rarely comes onto their radar.

So on the one hand here were my groups of young people who were saying that to be a Christian you need the church and on the other hand you have others, often older folk, who say that you don’t need the church to be a Christian.

You don’t need to be particularly bright to realise that these two positions are rather contradictory.  Both positions need some clarification, so let me address each in turn.

My response to the young people in my Scripture Class was to say to them, “A friend once said to me, ‘Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going into a garage makes you a motor car.’”  It’s only by responding in faith and repentance to the claims of Jesus that someone becomes a Christian.  It’s not the actual act of going to church that makes someone a Christian.  But isn’t the church important in that process?  Absolutely!  In Acts chapter 16 we read the story of Lydia.  She “went to church” and God opened her heart to the message about Jesus.  Since the time of Lydia many people have gone to church, just as she did and they became Christians as a result, just as she did.  Church didn’t make them Christians – God did, by opening their eyes to the power and the glory of Jesus.  But the church was the means that God used.  Going into a garage will never result in you becoming a motor car but going to church may just result in someone becoming a believer.

What then about those who claim that you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian?  And their number is increasing.  There are folks who I don’t see in church for weeks on end... sometimes months... and we all know those who put in an appearance only at Christmas and Easter.  Are they right?  Yes, in a sense.  The thief on the cross was assured by Jesus that on that day he would be with Him in Paradise – but that thief on cross never set foot inside a church.  However the big question is whether you can be a healthy and mature Christian without the church.  God doesn’t seem to think so because in Hebrews chapter 10 He warns believers not to neglect meeting together.  And because already in those days there were people who said, “You don’t need to go to church to be a Christian”, the writer added: “... as some are in the habit of doing!”

And that’s part of the problem isn’t?  Habit!  For example, during the Covid-Pandemic people stopped going to church.  Some did continue to participate on-line, via live streaming of worship services.  Others just took a break from church and I’ve noticed that after all this time some have still not come back.  They got out of the habit.

Perhaps I can explain the importance of the church in this way.  I have a motor car and I have a special room in my house that is reserved for my vehicle.  I prefer to park it in the garage rather than leave it stand on my driveway.  Why?  Because it’s better for my car!  The garage offers my car a measure of protection from the elements.  And using the word garage in a broader sense, a garage is also a place where repairs are undertaken for my motor vehicle.  In the same way the church, God’s worshipping community, is a great blessing to me as a believer.  Through it God equips us for handling life in a broken world and through it God helps us grow into Christian maturity.  Every Christian needs the “garage” of church and worship.

Someone this past week compared it to a well-known Aussie breakfast cereal.  He said, “All Bran and church can sometimes both become a little bland; but I take both because I know they are good for me.

John Westendorp