What is most important to the Christian Church?
What is most important to your Church?
- Is it the programs?
- Is it the building?
- Is it the music?
- Is it the videos?
- Is it the fellowship?
- Is it the pastor?
Are the Programs most important?
Programs are nice; they can be very helpful to the church and its members and to the community. But are they the most important thing about your church? Do we have to have all these programs in order to be a church?
Programs like Vacation Bible School, Sunday School or preprogramed and prepackaged curriculums can be helpful, but they can also take away from an individual’s experience with the worship of God. This is not a cookie cutter world and we all can’t fit into the same mold. We come in different shapes and sizes with different likes and dislikes. We come to church with different callings on our lives, talents and abilities.
One popular book, “The Purpose Driven Life” by Pastor Rick Warren is a very good read and I can appreciate much of what he has to say, but he ends his book with a strong call to get out there on the mission field. Well, I’m sorry but I don’t think it is a calling that everyone has. At least not in the way Rick means it.
My mission at this time is to write post and share with you these writings. I am not called to Africa or South America to preach the Gospel, at least not at this time.
We are each different and God has a plan for each of us, what He has for you is quite different then what He has for me. So, one type of program or course of study is NOT going to fit all.
Is the Building the most important thing?
Whether you come to worship God in a private home or an ancient Cathedral, a mud hut or a modern shopping mall, it’s the worship of God that’s important. But is the building the most important, I don’t think so.
A place of worship is just that, a place. We worship God in our hearts, not in a building.
Don’t get me wrong, a wonderful structure that is inspiring and helps us get a sense of God’s presents is fine, but it is certainly not necessary to our faith or to our salvation. It’s just a building.
While it is nice to have a great building to facilitate all those programs we talked about, we have already learned that those programs, good as they maybe, are not necessarily the most important part of the church.
Is the music the most important thing?
In the Bible we are told to worship the Lord in song and with all kinds of musical instruments, the trumpet, drum, timbrel, harp, flute, lyre and the like. We are told to raise our voices in song to the Lord. What we are not told is whether we need an organ or whether we can use electric guitars or if we have to sing only songs written over 100 years ago.
The music that is used and the songs that are sung in our church services are not all that important. They should praise the Lord and lift us up as well as lift up the name of God, but even if we are completely silent while we sit in our church pews, the music is certainly not the most important thing about our church. It’s nice and it is right to use music, but we can worship God even if we never hear a note.
Are the videos the most important part of the service to you?
It wasn’t too long ago that we would not have had the ability to use videos in our church services and somehow, we managed to worship God just fine. I am not saying that we shouldn’t use video in our services; it can be very inspiring or instructive. A good video can be a very effective way to bring home a point.
But we can worship God without them if we have to?
Of course we can.
Is the fellowship we have with other members the most important part of your church?
Fellowship is a very important part of the life of a church, whether it’s in small groups or in sharing a meal or coffee and donuts after the service, or home visits to shut-ins. Sharing with other Christians and being a part of a church family is very helpful. We hear about each other’s needs and hurts. It helps us to know what to pray for regarding our fellow church members and it can also put into perspective what is going on in our own lives.
I would have to say that fellowship of one kind or another is a very important part of a church. But is it the most important part?
Is it the pastor who is most important in your church?
There is no doubt that a good pastor/teacher can make or break a church. I love sitting under the teaching of a godly preacher. But sad to say, pastors don’t stay, they retire or pass-on, move to another church or get calling from the Lord to do something else with their lives and talents.
You simply cannot count on a pastor to always be the pastor at your church. They move on in one way or another. But I must say, a good pastor is important to the church. But are they the most important part?
What is the most important part of a Christian church?
The first thing we must define is what is meant by the world “church?”
First off, we must understand that the church does NOT, in the Biblical sense, mean the building.
The word we read in the New Testament as “church” comes from a Greek word, ekklesia, which can be defined as “an assembly” or “called-out ones.”
I like the term “called-out ones” because that is what we as believers in Christ are, we are called out of the world as it is, and into a new creation that is Christ the Lord. We are set apart from the world because we are not of the world.
Jesus tells us this in John 17:14-15.
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
We as Christians are indeed “called out ones.”
Now that we know what the word “church” means we need to discover what is most important to us as “called out ones.”
To me, that is an easy thing to answer.
The most important thing about the Christian church or about the individual Christian for that matter is Jesus Christ.
He is MOST IMPORTANT.
Jesus is the reason for the church, the reason we come together as believers. He and the study of His word is why we are at church, or at least it should be.
All the programs, buildings, music, videos, fellowship or pastors in the world would be NOTHING without JESUS.
We as Christians NEED to make Jesus the most important person in our lives.
Do you want to know God?
Study the life and teachings of Jesus.
Do you want to know what God’s will is for your life?
Study His word, read your Bible.
If your church does not have Jesus as the center of its worship, and the study of His word, then it should be.
If your church is not centered on Jesus, then either work to change that or find another church where the Lord of lords and King of kings is worshiped and studied.