Why Should I Join a Church? (Crucial Questions)

by R.C. Sproul

I’ve heard countless people say: “Look, I’m a Christian. I’m a religious person, but I am not a member of any institutional church; I don’t need to be a member of an institutional church. I worship privately; my religion is personal and private. I don’t need to go to church to have a personal relationship with God.” Have you heard that? Maybe you’ve even said it. If you say that, then it is possible that you are a Christian, but it’s not very likely. Why? Because when we look at the New Testament, even a cursory reading tells us that when Christ redeems an individual, He never leaves that individual in isolation.

The individual parts never lose their individuality or their distinctive characteristics. We don’t submerge our personality into an organization when we join the church. We retain our individuality, but that individuality makes its own contribution to the whole. The honor accorded to one part does not detract from the honor due to another part. We all need each other.

Jesus indicated that it is possible for people to make a profession of faith and do all the things that are required by the visible church to enter into membership. A person can go through a membership class, give a credible profession of faith, receive the sign of baptism, and do all of those things that are required for church membership. He may even be a scrupulous tither, be involved in the life of the church, attend the services regularly and punctually—all this while holding to a false profession of faith. Jesus said of such false converts, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Matt. 15:8).

Rather, Calvin said, the task of the invisible church is to make itself visible. Those who have true faith are to be a light to the world, to make their faith manifest, that we may bear witness to the Lord whose church we are.

Luther believed that if he didn’t defy the church authorities, he would be acting in defiance to God.

The first mark, the Reformers determined, was that the gospel is preached. A true church preaches the gospel.

baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The third mark is discipline.

spiritual censures, including admonition, suspension from the sacraments, and excommunication. It is designed to reclaim the wayward, safeguard the purity of the church, and protect the honor of Christ’s name.

when an institution denies or rejects something that is essential to the gospel, then that church ceases to be a church.

there are all kinds of ways by which the church is called to bear witness to the kingdom of God and to the lordship of Christ. One of the most important is clearly the preaching of the gospel, the work of evangelism. That’s a vital form of witness, but when the church ministers to the poor, feeds the hungry, gives water to the thirsty and clothes to the naked, or visits prisoners in jail, then the church is making visible the reign of Christ.