PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- OCTOBER 27, 2008

A pastor says I have to attend his church -- is that what the Bible says?

Q. You have been so helpful to me before and I am so grateful that you take the time to help us through our tough questions about life and God.

I am confused by what a pastor has said to me regarding my church attendance. I am hurting and feeling overwhelmed by my circumstances, but I am taken aback by a reply I got from this pastor. I wonder if this is a wake up call from God or merely how this pastor leads his congregation. I need to be free from the guilt that is so heavy upon me. I hope you can help me.

I met this pastor through meetings I attended following my divorce. I know he cares deeply for us separated/divorced people. I went through the course and was counseled to start attending church as per Hebrews 10:24-25. Of course I don't want to offend God and forsake being with others yet my current circumstances are difficult. After attending the pastor's services, I felt that they were not for me. I was also in ill health and just taking care of my little one was hard enough.

I emailed the pastor for some encouragement with another situation, hoping he would help heal my wounds. The reply I got was not what I wanted to hear and it hurt. Is this from God? Is the pastor right -- have I refused to listen or failed to do something -- am I not pushing myself enough?

I don't want to back bite or cause any harm. I just want to know if the pastor's response is what God wants me to hear. Maybe I need this "meat." Here is a brief snippet of what the pastor sent me in reply:

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Prayerfully and in love, I tenderly tell you that you seem to have rejected my counsel. God's Word to us in Hebrews 10:24-25 says; "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

Let me break it down for you. We need to be with one another on a regular, continuing basis, to share the joy and comfort of God's Word, to share our joys and sorrows. You seem to want to do this all on your own [wise in your own opinion]. It is as if you are telling God that you are a special case and that He should bend Himself to you and care for you on your terms. God wants very much to care for you, but you must submit yourself to Him and accept the care He has provided for you on HIS TERMS, NOT YOURS. He has provided the church for you but you seem to want to stay out there by yourself. He has provided the help and healing, you reject it because it is hard, or you don't understand, or you have been hurt by someone in the church.

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some" -- that speaks for itself. You have allowed Satan to pull you into the vortex of physical and emotional pain to the point that you deny yourself and your daughter the fellowship and help of the Body of Christ. You want to know God, you want to feel God, but you separate yourself from HIS BODY! You remove yourself from Him, you have declared a separation from HIM. You are lonely, so you stay away from Church, the Body of Christ on earth. That doesn't make sense.

My message to you today has most probably taken on a much different tone than you had hoped for. However, before God please know that I love you and your daughter in the Lord and want God's best for you. I must tell you not what you want to hear, but what is true and what is needful. Straight out -- God has provided HIS CHURCH for you. Get the help you so desperately need.

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Greg, please let me know what you feel I need to hear. I appreciate your time and the work you do for all. Rich blessings on you and your ministry.

A. I am sure that the pastor to whom you have reference is really trying to help you. No doubt he really believes that your regular physical presence in a building is a biblical absolute, and even though your circumstances make it difficult, and even though you have attended those specific services and have determined that they are not for you -- he still believes that you need to attend. Of course, what he believes and what your relationship is with God, and what you actually need, may be two different things.

Have you ever heard a pastor say that they really want the best for those who attend "their" church, even if it means that some of those people will stop attending "their" church -- and maybe stop attending any church at all?

I am not, in any way, demeaning this pastor -- for I know exactly how this line of counsel goes. Decades ago it was the kind of advice I gave. I know that some pastors feel that the very thing that people don't want to hear is what they need to hear. And, in many instances, this is true. But, just because people will often not want to hear what they really need to is no excuse for subjecting people to any sort of counsel or advice -- in the name of "this advice will hurt you but it's exactly what you need." Some pastors really believe that Hebrews 10:25 demands that people go to church. But it doesn't!

I consider much of the teaching about this verse to be an abuse. Churches and pastors have used this passage, and some still do, as a "proof" that members must attend a specific church, "their" church, on a regular basis, every week, or twice a week, or every day, etc. -- as often as the congregation/church/pastor says so. I disagree. This verse cannot and should not be used as a club to threaten people about attending church. This message is not a club that God has given so that churches can get people into the pews every Sunday morning -- or even more often than that!

Have you ever heard a pastor say that there are many ways in which Christians can receive spiritual nourishment, and if their church is not the right place, for any number of reasons, that they understand if people don't attend "their" church? Have you ever heard a pastor say that they really want the best for those who attend "their" church, even if it means that some of those people will stop attending "their" church -- and maybe stop attending any church at all? I have a good friend, Pastor Ken Armstrong, who shares this very advice in a video we recommend as a part of this response. For some Christ-centered advice, watch his brief message.

After listening to his message, consider this: Pastors and their congregations have to pay the bills -- and how will they do that if people don't attend? But, pastors and congregations need to come back to an important question -- "Is paying the bills, making sure the mortgage is paid on that new addition to the church, etc. a Christ-centered reason for insisting that people not only attend church all the time (and, by the way, giving at the very least 10 percent of your income to the church so that it can pay the bills) but attend that specific church and no other? Is that the real reason people should attend a brick and mortar church?"

My wife was just speaking to a friend this morning, who was not asking for advice, simply communicating. This neighborhood friend knows I am involved in a Christian ministry, and passed on the fact that they have a new pastor (actually a priest) in their church, and that he had reinstituted morning services. So now, instead of going to church only once a week, this couple feels that God wants them to go every day of the week -- as well as Sunday. They have started to attend church every morning at 7 am. As I understand this new imperative, it is a return to original principles and practices of this particular congregation, if not denomination -- so it is couched as a "reform" -- "getting back to" the faith once delivered, etc.

It is possible to go to one doctor who will give you specific advice, and then go to another who will counter the opinion, usually in a diplomatic way, of the other. I had this very thing happen last month. It is possible to have one plumber come to your house and prescribe certain work for a certain price -- and have another who will give you an altogether different estimate (this happened to one of my adult children -- the most expensive, outrageous estimate was almost seven times as much as the more reasonable!).

So I am going to share with you a very different take on this passage in Hebrews. This passage says that Christians should not "give up meeting together . . . ." Is this passage teaching that a face to face meeting, without any meeting of the minds, is more important than two Christ-followers meeting, and sharing the gospel of Christ, even if they do not see each other? Were people in the first century able to "meet together" by emailing each other, by using the internet, by cell (mobile) phones, by Fedex, FAX, texting, etc?

No, there were no modern methods of communication available in the first century -- via electronics, that we have available today. The only way that they could meet together and share their faith was by actually being in the same geographical place, in a building on a piece of real estate. It's one of the ways we can still meet together today -- face to face. The writer of Hebrews 10:25 was urging Christians to stay in physical contact with the physical church. But we must remember they were not being urged to regularly attend a church building -- for they did not have buildings designated as "a church" as we do.

Of course, as a part of the body of Christ, the original recipients of the book of Hebrews were, just as we are, the church. The church is not primarily something we go to, in terms of going to a building and meeting other people who think and believe as we do -- the church is primarily something we are. We don't only become the church when we are in contact with others who think and believe as we do -- though that can be part of being the church. Being the church is all that we are. Church is who we are -- not necessarily places we go. We take the church to places we go, for we are the church. You, as the church, take the church to the market with you when you shop -- to McDonald's if you go there -- to your child's school, when you meet with a teacher. Part of being a Christian is to share what one is -- part of being the church is to share who we are with others. Who are we? As Christians we are part of the body of Christ -- each one of us -- we are members of the universal church, a church that defies denominational boundaries and corporate limitations. In addition to our "membership" in a large fraternity, being a very part of God's own spiritual family, we may, if we wish, join ourselves together in denominational entities and groups. Part of sharing ourselves as part of the church can be to meet/communicate/discuss/read/listen/talk (as we are doing right now -- we are being the church) with others who think and believe as we do -- fellow Christians. How can we do that? We can communicate ("commune" with, have "community" with) Christians who may not share our exact beliefs -- who may not belong to the precise, exact form of Christian denomination we do, but who are part of the universal body of Christ. We can do this in an official place, a building that calls itself a church, or we can do this in a place that does not call itself a church. We can do this at a particular time in the week, or we can do this at any and all times of the week. We need not go to a specific and precise place with a specific and precise group of people to share our faith and beliefs with fellow Christians. When we do so, we usually do so with our specific and limited group or church that itself is merely one small part of the body of Christ. Here at PTM, we offer such a
meeting" at -- Christianity Without the Religion (CWR).

In addition, part of being a Christian is to share who and what we are -- the universal church of Jesus Christ -- his body -- with others who are not Christians. If, for example, the only time we "do church" is when we go to a particular place at a particular time and meet with others who are in our religious club, then how, exactly are we letting our light shine to the world? Are we not simply retreating into a "holy huddle" and assuring/encouraging each other? Isn't that somewhat like taking a talent or pound that the Master gives and placing it inside a protective place, burying it in the ground, and then, upon the Master's return, presenting it to him -- a safe and sound, unblemished, unchallenged church? Can't we "have" or "do" church with people who don't believe as we do -- isn't that just as much church as formal meetings/gatherings? How we as Christians stay in contact with others -- how we "do" church -- is our decision. It is not a decision that any group, any denomination, any pastor or priest, any physical entity, can demand of us.

If we choose to attend formal or informal gatherings, and in so doing receive help, inspiration, direction, exhortation -- fine. If we choose to "do" church or "have" church in less traditional ways, nothing is present here in Hebrews -- or any place in the New Testament for that matter, that condemns us for not "going to" church a specific number of times in a given period of time. This pastor is not within the boundaries of the gospel of Jesus Christ in telling you that you are wise in your own opinion by not attending the building within which he conducts his church services. He suggests that you are separating yourself from the body of Christ by not being in a specific place at a specific time (which just happens to be the church he pastors).

The Greek word that is used for "meeting together" in Hebrews 10:25 does not mean what Christians often think of when they think of "going to church" today. There is only one other place in the entire New Testament that uses this word -- 2 Thessalonians 2:1. This is a word that may suggest a meeting that was over and beyond attending synagogue -- for given the context of Hebrews, the writer is showing the superiority of Christ over Moses, the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. Religious attendance at synagogue worship was considered mandatory by the rabbis. The audience to which this book of Hebrews is addressed are -- well, they are Hebrews -- Hebrew Christians. They are coming out of the synagogue, out of Judaism into Christ -- many perhaps still feeling a duty to attend regular synagogue services.

Given the context of the book of Hebrews, it seems to me that people are not being urged to make sure they religiously attend any "place" on a regular place, but that they, as Revelation counsels, "come out of her, my people" (Revelation 18:4). The emphasis here in Hebrews 10:25 is that they leave the assumption that they must attend their old religious/cultural place of worship, for being in such a place only causes them to stagnate -- and instead they should "meet together" with a Christ-centered focus, with an emphasis on God's grace. So, again, I believe it is abusing this text for anyone to say that this verse teaches 21st century Christians that they must attend their denominational church as often as their denomination rules to be necessary/required. Attendance at and in a church building is not the main focus here. The focus is on being the church -- not being the synagogue. The focus is on being a Christian -- not in being at some half way religious destination, half way between Moses and Jesus.

We are the church -- free in Christ. We are not chained down by religion, but we are free in Christ, free for Christ, free that we might be the church in the way that he calls us do, which may mean in ways that differ from, or may be in addition to, once a week, at a particular time, within the four walls of a specific building. That might be fine for some, as long as they feel free to do so as they determine, not because they are under compunction -- but it might not be fine for others. That's, in brief, my understanding of Hebrews 10:25 and how it relates to Christians today -- the church today.

There are many ways for you to be with people who share your faith in Christ -- and one of them is to congregate in a building. You are free to choose how you will "meet together" with others -- you may choose, for whatever reason, to do so electronically or by the printed word. Your relationship with God is what is the issue here -- and how that relationship is experienced and shared with other people. You may choose to do so on a more selective way -- with dear friends and family alone. Or you may widen that circle -- so that you have a larger group with whom you "meet together." You can attend an organized church with 10,000 members -- or a little church with 25 members. You may choose not to attend any church -- you may meet with others in a weekly Bible study. And you might, depending on your circumstances, and your friends, ask those whom you trust, and who know you, for advice about the best way in which you might "meet together." Hopefully, they will give you advice, but they will also know that they are not free in Christ to place demands on you. What you choose, how you "meet together" with others is your choice -- do not let anyone make demands of you, in terms of the choice you make. In Christ,

In Christ
Greg Albrecht

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