Why We Need Churches

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.—Philippians 1:9–11

The Bible tells us that one of the signs of the last days, among other things, will be false teaching. And the only way we are going to be able to detect false teaching is by knowing what the Word of God teaches.

Paul prayed for the Philippian Christians that their knowledge of God’s Word would grow. He said, “This I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent” (Philippians 1:9–10). We need an intelligent, discerning love that does the right thing. The word that Paul used here for approved could be translated “to examine, prove, and analyze.” This is an area in which we all need to grow.

I think there are a lot of Christians who haven’t really formed a proper theology, and maybe one of the reasons is because they jump from church to church. With the various ideas they expose themselves to, they can get a little confused, and they may not really know what they believe about a given subject.

I don’t think that church hopping is good for spiritual growth. But I do think that every Christian needs a church. I think they need a theology. I think they need a pastor. I think they need to be consistent. And I think they need accountability in a church.

Every believer needs to find a church and commit to it. I am not saying that we can’t ever visit a church if we go somewhere else. What I am saying is to find a church, stay there, be faithful, pray for the pastor, listen to what he says, and support that ministry. Be accountable, and develop and use your spiritual gifts in that place.