There are some people who are anti-church, anti-pastors. That’s cool with me, they are free to think as they please, but please speak in knowledge rather than in ignorance. I recently heard of one of these people saying Jesus never preached in a church so that he could be the example of why church is not necessary. For the sake of not belaboring a point, I did not quote all the scriptures that talk of Jesus preaching in a temple but just a few. Here is the truth:
Mark 1:21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
Luke 4:42 At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Luke 19:47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.
NIV
Jesus was Jewish. Of course he was dedicated into his faith. He sat at the feet of temple scholars at a very early age:
Luke 2:41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
I understand people have their beliefs but if you’re going to use the bible for your argument make sure it’s really in there.
Pastor Susan 
Here! Here!
People love tangents and sidebars. Predestination? Miraculous healing? Premillennialism? Limited benevolence? We’re quick to debate the philosophy of Christianity, but following Christ is much more difficult for us.
MY GUESS, for what it’s worth, is that most of the debates are by those of us who do not exemplify service, excellence, passion or love. People are quick to forget that the printing press and “personal study time” are relatively recent inventions, since, ummm, books were expensive until the late 19th century, when lithography was revolutionized (and really, commercially, printing wasn’t revolutionized until the early 20th century). Until then, we gathered as groups around a single book and discussed, debated and wrestled with the scriptures. For generations. Sounds kinda like a church to me.
But, I realize the symptoms are the surface of deeper struggles, and I always want to look at the deeper issue. Why are the viewing church as not necessary? Accountability? Partnership? Community? Discussion?
I guess, the fact is, as a whole, the “church” is not necessary. The “church” is a building, and that building can be moved, renovated, destroyed, relocated — the gatherings will continue. But the gathering of believers, as one tribe, pulling toward a common goal and engaging society as one voice of faith in an invisible God, love manifested for those we would normally not care about, and speaking words of hope into the lives of our community — that’s a true church. That said, I always remember the first thing that God ever said disturbed him: it is not good for the [hu]man to be alone.
Guess Jesus didn’t believe in communal gathering either, huh?
And, in case I wasn’t clear enough, one last thing — Galatians 5:
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.
But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
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Enough of my soapbox. Love all of you guys!
– AM