IS THE CHURCH RELEVANT TO ME?

“And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities. Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together (as believers), as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25, Amplified Bible).

I don’t travel nearly as much as I used to. From the late sixties through to the early nineties, sometimes I was on the road as many as 150 days a year. In the years I was with David Wilkerson (sixties and seventies), I traveled more than at any other time. It was the peak of David’s public ministry; The Cross and the Switchblade book was a runaway best seller, the movie based on the book was a huge hit, and David’s crusades throughout the U.S. and Canada were drawing crowds as large as anyone except Billy Graham. We traveled hard in those days. It was not unusual for the crusade team to be on the road for ten days, home for ten days and then out again for ten days. It was exhilarating and tiring at the same time.

We lived in Dallas from 1971 to 1974 and our family attended a local church. I experienced something during this time that really helped me put a value on my personal understanding of what the local church means to me.

I would come off a crusade road trip exhausted and glad to be home with my family. My wife is the greatest and always kept our home and young children safe and in order (well mostly). Carol has always been very supportive of my ministry; she knew that I was doing what I was born to do.

The church we attended was a medium-sized congregation and we had lots of friends there. The pastor was a wonderful man with just one flaw: while he was a good pastor, I just didn’t really enjoy his preaching. I would arrive home from a trip having been in crusade services every night for sometimes ten days in a row and I found myself finding fault with the pastor’s preaching. After a while I decided that rather than become critical, I simply would not go to church that often while I was home. I told Carol that I was just too tired and I would stay home and pray and study on my own. And I did just that.

Several months went by and I rarely went to a Sunday morning service at our home church. Slowly, an awareness developed in my mind and I realized that my spiritual life was slipping. This mystified me: I was busy faithfully serving the Lord and I loved Him just as much as ever. I was not living in sin and I was participating in crusade rallies ten to fifteen nights a month…so how could this be?

As I thought and prayed about what was happening to me, I came to a startling conclusion. I realized that I needed the church far more than it needed me.

1. There is a spiritual release that comes when we submit to the authority of the local assembly. I am not talking about any kind of cultic practice where the church dominates your life and tells you what to do about everything. However, God gives pastors spiritual authority and when they are doing what they are supposed to do, the people are under that authority and it is releasing to the congregation. It really doesn’t matter if the pastor is a great preacher…God will honor his calling as a pastor, anyway. I never again gave place to that critical spirit that would try and manifest itself. I submitted myself to the ministry of the pastor leading this congregation.

2. I need the fellowship of brothers and sisters in the Lord who can encourage, help, and correct me, if necessary. I wasn’t getting that as a part of a crusade team because we were all employees and the dynamic is different. I needed to be a part of the koinonia (Greek for fellowship).

3. I need to be able to contribute of my time, talent, and treasure to the local fellowship. There is a wonderful spiritual dynamic that is released in the life of believers who are active and involved in the ministry of the local church and we are the ones doing “the work of the ministry.” In Ephesians 4:12 we are taught that leadership’s responsibility is to equip the saints (that’s you and me) for the work of the ministry. The word “equip” in classical Greek is a medical word that was most commonly used in referring to setting a broken or displaced bone back in its proper place. When the bone is put back, there is a tremendous sense of relief or “rightness” because the bone is not out of joint. When we are doing what we are supposed to be doing in the church, that same sense of “rightness” is released in our lives.

I am not legalistic about church attendance but I have found the value in being a part of and faithful to a local church. Where you fellowship is not that important as long as the church is faithful to the fundamentals of the faith. I have no time for people who run around from church to church looking for the latest “blessing” and as soon as a new church opens up with a preacher who has a hot new approach, there they are. People who run around from church to church do not value what the church is and the important part that it can play in their lives. They are children and they need to grow up!