Roman Catholic dogma says, extra ecclesiam nulla salus, meaning ‘outside the church there is no salvation.’ This is considered to be an infallible doctrine and is therefore not up for debate among Catholics.
But the New Testament is clear that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Attending church is therefore a work that can contribute nothing to our status as children of God. So, do you have to go to church to be a Christian? If being a Christian were dependent on going to church, people who came to faith on a desert island or in solitary confinement could not strictly be considered as genuine believers. And the terminally ill would be cut off from Christ on account of being housebound. That can’t be right.
Most people who ask this question though, I suspect, are physically able to be part of a church but just prefer not to be. Perhaps they find church boring. “I didn’t get anything out of it” is no doubt a complaint repeated on the journey home from many a church service up and down the land. Very possibly, people might point to experiences in the past that have put them off church. At one extreme, consider those who have been victims of safeguarding failures; crime and cover up, or abusive leadership. You can understand why the pain they carry will result in disgust for any church, even if their faith somehow survived the trauma.
Who has not heard complaints that Christians are hypocrites? Some Christians are, and that’s a problem, because Jesus reserved his strongest rebukes for religious frauds. But, as someone once said, ‘not going to church because of all the hypocrites is a bit like not going to the gym because of all the out-of-shape people.’ I’ve belonged to some pretty uninspiring churches in my life. But I’ve been part of some great ones too. If you can’t find a perfect church in your area, why not find an imperfect one and make it better?
Actually, in the New Testament, church is never a building you go to, or even an organisation you join. It’s a family you belong to. Not once is it said of the earliest Christians that ‘they went to church’. They were the church. It was just assumed from the day of Pentecost onwards that Christians would form community. Thus, ‘An unchurched Christian is a grotesque anomaly,’ wrote John Stott. ‘The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very centre of eternal purpose of God.’
Do you have to go to church to be a Christian? That’s a bit like asking if men have to go home every night to their wives in order to be married? Technically, no. But if I were to spend every night in the pub with my mates until 2 o’clock in the morning before crashing down in someone’s spare bedroom, I would be a bad husband and something would be obviously wrong with our marriage.
It is tempting, when church is uninspiring or dysfunctional or draining or worse, to say, “I’m done with church, I’m just going to focus on my personal relationship with Jesus. But that doesn’t work. Remember when Jesus restored Peter and asked him three times, “Do you love me?” When Peter replied that he did, Jesus told him to show it through his commitment to the local church; “feed my lambs, look after my sheep.”
What should we be looking for and aiming for in every church? It says in Acts that the early church’s generosity shaped the culture. It changed lives. It actually eradicated poverty. In chapter 2 the Christians gave to anyone who had a need in their community. By chapter 4 it says there were no needy people amongst them!
The many “one anothers” in the Bible only make sense in community. Love one another. Build one another up. Admonish one another. Forgive one another. Pray for one another. Confess your sins to one another. Bear one another’s burdens. Encourage one another… Our Sunday gatherings, midweek meetings and Christian friendships are vital for all these reasons.
Another reason being an unchurched Christian is bad for your spiritual health is increased vulnerability to spiritual attack. Lions stalk their prey for hours, observing herds of zebras or antelopes, waiting for one to get distracted and become separated from the rest. Once a lion selects its victim, it approaches silently and patiently, until suddenly it springs and eats its prey alive, severing its jugular artery and feasting on the still-warm meat. That hunter is what our enemy is like (1 Peter 5.8).
But being part of a church is not just good for you. Being part of a church is good for others as well. In fact, vital. Every Christian, including you, has at least one spiritual gift for the express purpose of building others up. 1 Corinthians 12 explains that, just as a human body is impaired by blindness, deafness, loss of a limb or organ failure, the local church is weakened and impoverished by Christians who stay home.
Finally, Jesus said to his followers that the world will know we belong to him by the love we have for one another. Jesus intended the local church to be a shop window displaying his love and grace to the world. That doesn’t work if we live in isolation from other Christians.
There’s an African proverb that says, “If you want to go quickly, go alone, but if you want to go a long way then go together.” When Jesus said, “I will build my church” he envisaged his project going a long way.
So, do you have to go to church to be a Christian? No. But yes. Sort of. It's the wrong question. Here’s a better one: why would a healthy, growing follower of Jesus reject that which Jesus loved and gave his life for?