Why Do We Need Church?
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Acts 2:42 - 47; Rom. 12:9 - 13
September 4, 2011
David C. Wright

          “Why do we need church?”  Apparently many people don’t think that they do!  A Washington Post headline describes many people today as “Believers in God, if Not Church.”  Two-thirds of “Millennials”- those born from the mid-70’s to the mid-90’s have no church involvement at all.  In recent survey about religious practice, the fastest growing category of religious affiliation is “unaffiliated!”- now 16% of the population.  Our own Presbyterian Church denomination has only half as many members as we did in the mid-60’s.
          There are lots of reasons why many people have no interest in church.  And some of those reasons have to do with the failings of the church.  We must admit that some people have had bad experiences with church and some have been deeply wounded by those experiences.  That’s why they avoid church.  This is sad, but not new.  A medieval author wrote, “The church is like Noah’s ark.  If it weren’t for the storm outside, you could not stand the smell inside!”  And that was a thousand years ago!
          So, why do we need church?  I love the description of the early church found in Acts 2.  As I read it, listen for some of things church provides that we all need.
          42  They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
          43  Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.
          44  All who believed were together and had all things in common;
          45  they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.
          46  Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts,
          47  praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
          I think most people would be attracted to a church like that!  So, based on that description, I’d like to lift out three reasons we need church.  First, they worshiped God together. They met daily in the temple to worship and pray.  When I was on vacation recently, I saw a T-shirt that read, “I’d rather be on the golf course thinking about God, than in church thinking about golf!”  If those were the only options, I would be tempted to agree, but I wonder if there might be other alternatives.  For example, couldn’t you be in church thinking about God, or on the golf course thinking about golf?
          And there are a couple other problems with this idea that we can just as easily worship God on the golf course or hiking in the woods as we can in church.  The first problem is that we often don’t get around to thinking about God in those settings!  We’re more focused on our golf swing or how our fellow players are doing, or the conversations we’re having.  Yes, it’s possible to worship God on a golf course, but does it regularly happen?  I’m not sure it does. 
          The second problem is that when you are worshipping alone in nature, you are really only thinking your own thoughts!  And that can lead to boring, unchallenging worship.  I’m not saying there is no place for private worship- there is!  But we also need the input of the congregational prayers, the Scripture, the sermon and the songs.  We ought to be learning new things about God and ourselves in worship.  Listen to this description of worship I found this past week in a devotional book by Eugene Peterson that I use, “The work of worship gathers everything in our common lives that has been dispersed by sin and brings it to attention before God; at the same time it gathers everything in God’s revelation that has been forgotten in our distracted hurrying and puts it before us so that we can offer it up in praise and obedience.  All of this does not take place merely in a single hour of worship.  But, faithfully repeated, week after week, year after year, there is an accumulation to wholeness.”
          Worship is designed to help us re-focus our lives on the One who made us for a purpose.  We are created to know God.  It is hard-wired into each one of us.  And, worship is one of the primary ways we connect with God.  In worship, we don’t just think deep thoughts about God;  we also respond and praise God with our words and songs.  And we’re challenged to commit ourselves to following God more faithfully.  Church provides worship, which we need!
          Second, church provides community, once again, providing something we were created to need.  As John Donne so memorably said, “No man is an island, entire of itself.”  We need fellowship and companionship with other people.  We’re designed that way.   A few years ago, Gina Welch, a young, agnostic Jewish reporter, decided to go undercover and participate in the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA, a huge fundamentalist church pastored at that time by Rev. Jerry Falwell.  She found much to lament there, but also much to admire.  Here’s what she said to her mother about the church, “I told her that what I most envied about Christians was not the God thing- it was having a community gathering each week, a touchstone for people who share values, a safe place to be frank about your life struggles, a place to be reminded of your moral compass.  Having a place to guard against loneliness, to feel there are others like you.  For some people I knew at Thomas Road, it seemed that without church they would have no community at all.  And without community, I told my mother, a person might risk losing a grip on the humanity of others, might look into the eyes of humans as if humans were wild animals.”  (end quote) Although not a believer in Jesus Christ, Gina saw that church provides the community we need.
          That accords well with this challenge to Christian community found in Romans 12.
          9  Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
          10  love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
          11  Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
          12  Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
          13  Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
          Notice the quality of relationships in the church described by Paul.  They are characterized by love, honor, respect, affection, and support.  And note that this is an open community- hospitality to strangers is part of it.  You can do a lot of things on your own, but you can’t have community on your own.  Now we have to admit that many churches have become ingrown in their communities- becoming clubs rather than real churches.  For real churches are meant to be inclusive, welcoming, transformative places (in the words of M. Scott Peck).  That’s why new people were joining the church each day in Acts 2.  And that’s what all churches who serve Jesus Christ are called to be- an inclusive, welcoming, transformative community.
          Third, churches provide opportunities for service and mission, opportunities to make a real difference in the world.  Together, we are able to do far more than we can do as individuals.  Here at GPC, we are involved in supporting people in need by helping at the soup kitchen, with Survivors, Habitat for Humanity, the Gleaning Project, Burden Bears, and Carpenter’s Gift.  We sent out five mission teams this year, which you saw in the slides earlier in the service.  We support missionaries in Africa and Asia and other mission work in Haiti and Mexico.  We also participate in mission trips around the country sponsored by our presbytery.  And our support of the denomination funds other missionaries around the world and advocacy for our most vulnerable citizens here in the USA.
          Christian service has the advantage of addressing both the physical and spiritual needs of people, a more holistic approach than that offered by many other service organizations.  It holds the potential to bring about real change in the lives of individuals as well as whole communities.
          So we do need church.  It provides opportunities to encounter God in worship and be nurtured and changed by that encounter.  It provides a real community in which to live.  And it provides opportunities to make a lasting difference through Christian service locally, nationally, and abroad. 
Beginning next weekend, many of us will spend Sunday afternoons watching NFL football.  And some of us have perfected the art of being spectators!  We have a comfortable chair, a big screen TV with a tricked- out sound system, and plenty of food and drink.  From our Lazy-Boy, we can analyze the action, and criticize the players and coaches.  We are mentally and emotionally involved in the victories and defeats of our team.  But we’re still spectators, not actual participants.

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