In a thread which I am entitling More on the unchurched shall probably fall....... Mac Swift, I and others have been discussing the issue of whether church is essential to Christianity. Mac has most recently claimed that he thanks God daily he is not in a church, and that meeting together informally and I guess randomly could satisfy what the bible means when it says we should not give up the habit of meeting together.

First of all, can I say that I have a lot of respect for Mac and others like him. I can understand why many people feel like giving up on the church. I would have liked to have given up on it myself many a time. Churches can be horrible places. I thank God tho that there are good churches out there and more of them.

TO aknowledge that there are aweful churches out there is one thing, to decide to never attend a church again is another, which I do not believe is a valid option for a Christian.

Can I suggest that you do what I just did and pop to the ESV website and read every mention of the word church in the bible? You will see that local churches are crucial, that there are leaders who are told to care for the church, that there are rules about who can be in and out, and that Paul loves the churches. There is also a strong theme, especially taken up in Ephesians that it is through the church that God's glory is to be revealed. It is my view that the church needs to change, and I give my all to seeing that happen in my own local setting. I believe that God has not finished with the church yet.

Christianity is a community faith, and church is a community with leadership- yes it can meet anywhere- ours meets in a school. But church is essential to your spiritual health (although clearly some churches can actually endanger Spiritual health I will grant you that!). MAybe church needs to look very different in the future, but it will still be church.

Lets take this discussion further, I believe its important.