S9.6 | Why Church Connection Matters: The Importance of Congregating Together
Today, we're diving deep into the importance of church community. Carla shares her recent experience of missing a church service and leading her to reflect on the critical role that church and congregational fellowship play in our spiritual lives.
She challenges us to reconsider relying solely on online services and emphasizes the necessity of physically assembling with fellow believers. Carla reminds us of the biblical mandate to gather together, support one another, and actively participate in the local church, using our spiritual gifts for the benefit of the whole body.
Whether you've been hurt by the church, become complacent, or have other reasons for staying away, this episode offers encouragement and a call to reconnect with your church family.
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Key Takeaways
The Significance of Church Attendance:
Carla discusses why attending church in person is crucial, backed by Hebrews 10:25, which urges believers not to forsake assembling together.
Spiritual Gifts and Community:
Discover why your spiritual gifts are essential for the edification of the church community and how they can't be fully utilized if you're only consuming sermons online.
Protection and Accountability:
Learn how being part of a church community offers protection from spiritual attacks and provides the accountability needed to maintain and deepen your faith.
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Resources:
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Who You Say I Am Biblical Affirmation Cards
TRANSCRIPT
Carla Arges [00:00:08]:
Hey friends, welcome to affirming truths. I'm your friend and host, Carla Arges. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith, and root our identity in Christ. My hope is that you will leave each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode and it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review. I am so glad. Here, let's get started. Hey friends, welcome to this episode of the show.
Carla Arges [00:00:38]:
I am so thankful you are joining me here and giving me your time. I do not take this for granted and I just appreciate you so much. So if you don't know, well, if you follow me on instagram, you know. But if you don't know, I'm in the process of getting certified as an integrated trauma practitioner. I'm really excited about it, but my classes are on Saturday and Sundays so I have had to set my alarm extra early every Sunday and go to the 08:30 a.m. service at church. Now guys, I normally go to the 1130 service so this was a stretch for me. But church is too important for me to miss and so that was just a non negotiable.
Carla Arges [00:01:27]:
However, this past Sunday at the time of this recording, I forgot to set my alarm. I slept in and I missed church and oh my goodness, guys, it impacted me and it really got me thinking about the importance of church and church community. Before I dive further into that though, I just want you to know that reclaim your power, my twelve week program that is going to help you take back what trauma stole from you, help you take back what the enemy stole from you and become empowered in walking and God confidence. Where he is leading you is going to launch so soon before we know it. So you want to get on the waitlist now, the link to do that is in the show notes. If you're on the waitlist, you're going to get early access to enrolling and you're going to get a discount. This is going to be live taught by me and it's going to be an incredible, life changing program you want to be a part of. Okay.
Carla Arges [00:02:33]:
The importance of church community. I missed church and I considered, okay, maybe I'll do online church. And frankly, online church is just not the same thing now. I am so thankful that online church existed during COVID I'm so grateful that it was a tether to my church family at a time and place where we couldn't gather together in person. But I really want to challenge some of you today to say that online church is not the way we are meant to do church. And I know that this is going to ruffle some feathers. I know this is going to sting some of you, and it may even make some of you mad if you are set in your ways of doing church online. Now, I want to preface this that we all go through seasons.
Carla Arges [00:03:24]:
Maybe you're in a new motherhood season, and getting the kids to church is so overwhelming and so hard for you to do that right now. Online church is a gift in your season, and I want to honor that. And I want to honor the season you're in. And maybe your season isn't about motherhood, but maybe you're in a season where online church is actually a saving grace for you. And I want to honor that. But I also want to encourage you, if you're in one of those seasons, to pray to God to deliver you from that season as quickly as possible. Here's the thing. I know some people have gotten into the rhythm of watching church on tv.
Carla Arges [00:04:08]:
Maybe you go to the same online church all the time. Maybe you mix it up. Maybe you watch YouTube, Serbians. And this is the way that you're doing church. And I want to challenge you that you are missing the point of church if all you're doing is consuming it online, you have become a consumer of sermons versus an active participant in a local church. And by doing that, you are doing yourself and the local church a disservice. In Hebrews 1025 it says, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of psammis, but exhorting one another and so much more. As you see the day approaching, we are not to forsake the assembling together.
Carla Arges [00:05:11]:
And I know a big argument is church is not a building. Church is the people. You're absolutely right. The body of God, the body of Christ. The church is the people. However, the church building, the corporate church structure, allows for us to meet in a way that is impactful and meaningful and gets the heart of God. Okay. There is a reason why in the early church they actually set up churches.
Carla Arges [00:05:47]:
They set up past, they set up deacons and elders. They had a system for caring for the orphans and the widows. They set up a structure. Now, it may have started off being home churches because they couldn't do this in the synagogue and they didn't have their own buildings yet. But the point was that they were assembling together in an organized fashion to learn, to grow and to exhort one another. To exhort one another. See how that is said not forsaking the assembly of ourselves, exhorting one another. The purpose of coming together in church is not just about being fed by your pastor.
Carla Arges [00:06:35]:
A sermon, which is important. We need to be shepherd. There's a reason why God instituted pastors and apostles and teachers and evangelists. There's a reason for that system. We need to be fed by a shepherd, but we also need to assemble together to exhort one another, to encourage one another, to lift each other up, to bless one another, to sharpen one another. Iron sharpens iron. That means they need to come in contact with each other. If you are not regularly attending church, other than like a specific season for a specific reason, then you are not gifting the local church your gift the way you should.
Carla Arges [00:07:25]:
See, we have all been spiritually gifted, right? First corinthians twelve tells us that there are diverse gifts. Gifts are given to all, and they are for the profit of all. The gifts are given to everyone in the church. To profit everyone in the church. Do you understand? The gifts are given to extol and exhort and the building up of the church. The reason why we are given spiritual gifts is to extort one another and to build the church up. If you are a consumer Christian, consuming your sermons, you are not actively using your spiritual gift in the way that it was intended to build the church. If you are not part of a church body, a local church body, you are in danger.
Carla Arges [00:08:20]:
Do you hear me? I'm using strong language for a reason. You are in danger of being attacked by the predator who is out to seek to steal, kill and destroy. You see, a sheep on its own is easy prey. A sheep with the protection of the flock, led by a healthy shepherd, is protected from the attacks of the predators. If you are not in local church, you are at risk of greater attack and of falling away from the Lord. And I know some of you will say, but the church hurt me. Guys, listen, I'm going to say this not out of a lack of empathy. I empathize with you.
Carla Arges [00:09:13]:
I have compassion for you. I have been hurt by the church system. Right? But listen, church is a family. We are a family. And whether we like it or not, on this side of heaven, our family is made up of broken people. And broken people hurt each other. Just like in your family of origin. You've been hurt in your family of origin, some more than others.
Carla Arges [00:09:42]:
That happens in family. We are a family. We are bound to be hurt in the family because we are broken people. That is not a reason to leave the fold. Now maybe you were in an unhealthy church that wasn't spiritually sound, that wasn't led by the spirit. Maybe you had unhealthy leadership, and maybe you do need to change the local church in which you are involved. Absolutely. That can be true.
Carla Arges [00:10:14]:
Absolutely. There has been an abuse of power in the church. Absolutely. We have seen church leaders fall. Absolutely. Your hurt is real. But the solution to the pain is not to abandon assembling together. The solution to the pain is not to forsake the congregating together.
Carla Arges [00:10:40]:
The solution to the pain is to take it to Christ, who is the head of the church, by the way. Your pastor is not the head of the church. The congregants are not the head of the church. Christ is the head of the church. And he calls you to assembly with the church. You take your pain to him and you let him bind up your wounds, and you let him put healing balm over them. You let him help you and equip you to glean into forgiveness where you need to forgive. And by the Holy Spirit, you seek his wisdom and discernment for where he would have you go next.
Carla Arges [00:11:19]:
The solution is not to become just a consumer of sermons. You are needed in the church. The gifts God has given you is needed in the church. And how that is expressed throughout the week is anchored in the Sunday gathering together. Is anchored in the Sunday gathering together. The fact that we have small groups, the fact that we have women's Bible study, the fact that there's men's ministry, the fact that we have youth ministry, the fact that we have these offshoots where we can participate and volunteer and encourage each other is a beautiful way that we bring our gifting and supporting of the church into the week. But the heartbeat of it is on Sunday. The heartbeat of it is on Sunday.
Carla Arges [00:12:18]:
Jesus did not forsake fellowship. The church hurt Jesus. The Pharisees, they wanted the head of the church, the head of the synagogue. At that time, they wanted to kill him. They were always trying to trap him. They hurt him. And yet Jesus did not forsake fellowship. He was often found in the synagogue teaching.
Carla Arges [00:12:46]:
He came for Passover. He did not stop congregating and meeting in assembly because of church hurt. He continued on to glorify his father. We are to be like Jesus, not forsaking the fellowship of the assembly because of hurts from our brothers and sisters. Wow. When we really think Jesus kept going to the synagogue, why? Because he had gifts to bring there, to exhort, to point them to the true, the truth of his father. You have gifts that are needed in the church, and you are in a dangerous place when you are a lone sheet trying to navigate this world. Matthew, 1820, say, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them.
Carla Arges [00:13:46]:
The presence of God is so palpable in a congregation, worshiping and praying together in a spirit filled church. You can worship in home. You can turn on worship music and worship and experience the presence of God in that individual relationship sense. Yes. But there is a corporate presence of God that happens when the congregation is together worshiping and praising and praying together. There is a different presence of God when the congregation comes to contend for prayer requests before the father. There's a difference. And we are meant to have both.
Carla Arges [00:14:32]:
We are meant to have that personal, quiet relationship with God, but we are also meant to corporately come together in assembly to worship and have that corporate relationship to God. When you look at the model of the Old Testament, the Israelites were often called in congregation to hear from God. Not separately, not separately. They came in congregation. And just because technology has allowed you to avoid that doesn't mean that that's God's heart or God's will. We heal in community. I say this all the time. Part of the reason of being a coach is I offer a safe space of community for my clients.
Carla Arges [00:15:30]:
Because we heal in community. You don't heal in isolation. And when you have church hurt, the best place to heal from that church hurt is in a community of believers, believe it or not. Mm hmm. We heal in community. We serve in community. We are members of a body. Right? We each have a different function.
Carla Arges [00:15:59]:
A hand cannot say that I. I have no use for you. We need the whole body to function together. When you remove yourself from a local church, you are cutting off a hand. You are cutting off a hand. We are meant to come together. It is for your own spiritual protection. Like I said, a sheep out there on their own is unprotected.
Carla Arges [00:16:30]:
And listen, and I'm going to use tough love here. I don't care if you have a beautiful online community. I have a beautiful online community on Instagram. I use a lot of my spiritual gifts on Instagram and on this podcast. But this is not congregating together. This does not count as coming together as the body of Christ in person, to assemble, to congregate, to worship and praise the Lord together. That's not what this is. God is using me in this way.
Carla Arges [00:17:08]:
Absolutely. God uses us outside of the church. Absolutely. But he calls us to congregate. He calls us into fellowship. He calls us into assembly. That's how the early church started. Not in individual homes.
Carla Arges [00:17:25]:
Passing notes along? No. Is that the equivalent of tv today? Just passing notes along? I don't know. They didn't stay in their own houses. They came together. We've forsaken that a lot in North America. And I know part of that has been disillusionment with the church. I know part of that has been distrust of leaders. As we see.
Carla Arges [00:17:53]:
Even recently, we've seen leaders fall in some of these mega churches. So don't go to a megachurch. Go to a small church. Measure the preaching by the word of God. Test the spirit in the church. You don't have to jump in to volunteer right away. If you're hesitant because you have hurt in your heart, God, understand your hesitancy. You can toe dip, go sit in the back pew, leave right before it ends so you're not forced into conversation in the foyer.
Carla Arges [00:18:33]:
You can start that way. I don't want you to stay that way, but you can start that way. But we need to assemble. I kind of feel like the Avengers now. Avengers, assemble. Yes, Christians, assemble. That's how we are going to take down the enemy. In unity.
Carla Arges [00:18:55]:
In unity. In oneness and bringing our voices together. God wants you in a local church, so pray to him if you haven't been to one. Lord, Lord, this is your heart for me. I'm afraid to go. Lead me by your spirit. Or maybe it's, Lord, forgive me for being lazy and falling into complacency. Right? Because maybe that happened to you after Covid.
Carla Arges [00:19:29]:
You got so used to building a routine around online that it became easier. You didn't have to dress up. You didn't have to go out. You didn't have to find parking. It's time to go back. The longer you're out of the gym, the harder it is to go back. The longer you're out of the church. Yes, the harder it is to go back.
Carla Arges [00:19:50]:
But you got to go back. The time is now. The time is now. Not later. Now. God's calling you into fellowship now. God's calling you into congregation now. And I want your affirming truth to be, I will not forsake the church and the regular gathering together as is God's desire for me.
Carla Arges [00:20:18]:
Hebrews 1025. Not forsaking the assembly. Not forsaking the assembly. If you're having challenge with this, if you're having challenge with why you're not going. If you're having challenge in seeing God's heart for you to go. Let's have a conversation. Send me an email. Send me a DM.
Carla Arges [00:20:41]:
We can talk about it. But I promise you, God's heart is for you to be in congregation. I know it is. The Bible reveals that to be true. And the Bible is the standard. Not what we hope, not what we want, not what's easier for us, not what allows us to avoid the pain. What does the word of God say? That's always what we have to come back to. I know this may have been a tough message for you, friend, but I say it in love.
Carla Arges [00:21:14]:
And I say it wanting the best for you. And I say it wanting you protected from the attacks on the enemy, which you are more susceptible to when you are not in local church. All right, friends, I love you. I'll talk to you later. Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media, but if we're not, come find me on instagram at Carla Arges or at affirming truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye, friends.