Langata Rd, Opposite Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi, Kenya.
“The love in the local church is the paint that makes the invisible Christ visible to our community.”
So, to begin, let’s talk about the importance of the local church in God’s purposes. That love shows itself primarily in two ways:
Luke 6:27-28
“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”
Romans 13:8-10
“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
When we have a love characterized by loving those who can’t pay us back, we show that He is at work among us. When we take in foster children, love prisoners, serve refugees, and befriend political enemies—that’s when we make Jesus visible.
John 13:34-35
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
When we lose our unity in the church, it’s because something has become more important to us than Jesus.
When we express our perspective, we should do so with a spirit of love and unity that declares that what we have in Jesus is greater than any opinions we have about secondary or tertiary matters. We need to give space and show grace.
I am convinced that if we lived this way—in loving unity, with the Spirit of Jesus—our evangelism efforts would get a whole lot more effective.
There are three overarching reasons why the local church is important:
Personal Edification
Edifying the Body Through Gifts Given by God
It’s Commanded by God
Every New Testament letter that we read was a letter written to a local church, or to groups of churches. In letter after letter, we find Paul and the apostles writing instructions to the churches on how to conduct themselves and to live rightly, even instructing them not to forsake gathering together.
The local church is God’s means by which to build us up and encourage us.
Hebrews 10:24-25
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
When we consider the above passage, we can clearly see multiple ways the local church edifies us personally, while also emphasizing the need to continue meeting together.
Hebrews 3:13
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
“If you forsake meeting together, you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
The local church is where we find edification; we are able to sit under the Word and communion as commanded in the Holy Scriptures. We are able to enjoy the benefits of the spiritual gifts manifested and receive spiritual covering by our pastors.
We are also able to submit to leaders and in our submission, we learn how to submit to Christ. Yes, you can find an accountability partner, but that accountability doesn’t necessarily match that which the local church holistically carries.
God’s army does not enlist Privates. In other words, He gave us spiritual gifts not to keep to ourselves, but to take and give back to the body of Christ in order that it might be edified.
1 Peter 4:10
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
If someone has the gift of teaching, it is good for them to meet one on one with a person, but it is far more beneficial to the church if they speak and teach the body as a whole.
God did not give us gifts to be greedy with; we need to be actively giving and receiving in the church. If your gift is the gift of hospitality, administration, serving, healing, intercession—whatever it is—these gifts should be poured out and received for the sake of the edification of others.
The idea of being a Christian while not part of the local church is a foreign concept in the New Testament. You may see individual followers for a moment, but that is only because they were amongst unreached people groups. But you quickly find that they plant local churches.
Hebrews 13:17
“Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.”
As Christians, we are called to love our neighbors and this can be done on a day-to-day basis, unconnected to the local church. But we find that loving others is best carried out in the local church.
We think of things like submitting to church leadership as stated in Hebrews 13—some are on the defense about submitting to leadership because they think it’s selfish for leadership to ask for submission. But the reality is, this scripture is showing the gravity and responsibility of leadership.
Church leadership is there to keep watch over the church body’s souls, and if Christians are not committed to a local church, how can they even answer this command?
The idea of having someone stop you in your sin, calling you out so that you don’t fall off the path, is such an incredible concept and should excite us! We should always long to have serious followers of Christ, church elders, and/or leadership in our lives who are willing to admonish us if we fall into sin.
As a result of these disciplines from church leadership, we are given the opportunity to repent and turn back to Christ.
We need each other. We cannot, nor are we meant to, do this Christian walk alone. While we may meet with friends outside of the local church and spur one another on in that way, the local church is so deeply important and powerful.
It is exceedingly important to understand the importance of the local church because today, we have many very prominent people teaching that the local church is not important.
We wouldn’t have to invite people to come to our church. They’d be beating the doors down to come and see what’s going on. Who is this powerful, invisible superhero that fills and empowers your church? And then we’d tell them about Jesus.
John 13:35
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Encouragement – We need encouragement to keep going and the church needs to be a center of encouragement. Our experience of gathering together to worship, learn, and fellowship should lift us higher and higher!
Comfort – Life has difficult moments and seasons. During these times we receive active comfort directly from others in the church and passive comfort through the simple practice of the ministry of presence. Knowing someone is there that cares about us brings great comfort as we go through the dark valleys of life.
Love – If there is a supreme descriptor of the church, it is love. We are called to love one another. When we all answer that call, we receive far more love than we give! This unconditional love is a source of strength and peace for every moment of our lives.
Spirit Life and Power – Living in the power of the Spirit is transformational. God’s presence through His Holy Spirit allows us to do something we could never do in our own strength. This makes us extraordinarily efficient at producing dramatic change in the life of the church and the world we live in.
Affection – When thinking about this word, think about the compassion of Jesus. That is our best example of what we are to experience in the church. We have the freedom to be vulnerable, knowing we are surrounded by affectionate people.
Sympathy – This is closely related to affection but brings the quality of mercy to the front. Again, we think about the life of Jesus and the sympathy He demonstrated to the hurting people He encountered. Our wounds and failures and struggles are met with sympathy in the church. This has a profound effect on us in our day-to-day lives.