There are many who contend that the Christian Church is obsolete and irrelevant in today’s post modern world. Yet I believe it would be a great tragedy to discard or deny the influence the Church has had over the centuries. Hospitals, schools, universities, the abolition of slavery, our judicial system have all been established upon Christian values. The development of many 3rd world countries began through missionaries. Many of the pioneers in medical research and science were Christian. Many of the great political statesmen were Christian. While it is true that the politicisation of the church by some for ulterior motives has produced some terrible historical moments, there is no denying that the world is a better place because of our Christian influence.

However, we do not gather as the Church to satisfy some nostalgic sense of pride at what the Church may have achieved. Certainly the first century Church did not gather with a sense of past history but rather with an anticipation of making history. We are not to be casual observers of history but rather to be history makers. I do not attend “church” because I have to or because I may be paid to. I belong because God has called me to belong, as he has every follower of Jesus. Belonging to a local Church therefore is not an option, it is not a decision based on convenience, it is a conscious decision based on scripture and motivated by a love for God’s people. The first Church in Jerusalem were devoted and committed to each other, they were faithful and trustworthy. They saw themselves as part of an effective community given to show the world a better way to live, in love empowered by God’s grace, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Church is Family. There are times when getting together as family is fun, there can be other times when it feels mundane and boring, yet we don’t attend family functions purely for what we can get out of it personally, we attend because we are part of the family. A modern day error that some in the Church have embraced is the idea that Church is all about the individual, it’s not! Church is about the family, about our Father, our Brother, our siblings. We don’t or shouldn’t quit on our family and we shouldn’t quit on our Church. As odd and sometimes dysfunctional the Church may appear it is God’s chosen method for Christian growth, development and fulfillment. It is the channel through which the world can be reached and ministered too. All of the Apostles were part of a local church, even though some like Paul traveled extensively they were always linked into a local Church community. They never “progressed” out of family Church involvement. It is the Church Jesus died for, it is the Church Jesus is building, it is the Church that He has been appointed head of, it is the Church that He will one day return for. It is in the Church that we learn to love people of all backgrounds, without our common bond as believers we would simply opt out of Jesus command to love, but the church provides an environment where we can reflect the kind of community that Jesus had in mind. I am privileged to be a part of a force for good – called the local Church. My Church – this Church.