WHO NEEDS CHURCH?

BY LUIS PALAU

"I don't go to any church or religious meetings," one woman told me. "My religion is being with God. I don't need any help with that."

And a college student added, "The Church is beyond hypocrisy for me. There are some great individual people inside it, but they represent about one-half of one percent of the total membership. So the Church for me is dead. God is very much alive, but God doesn't need the Church."

Who needs the Church, anyway?

I believe that we all need the Church. We need to meet together as groups of believers to devote ourselves to "teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42).

The Church, after all, is not a building or a denomination; it is people. And I believe that God is moving today among many Christians around the world.

Have you found a local church to attend? God's Word says: "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25). Seek to fellowship with a church that preaches—and practices—God's Word.

The Lord wants to pour out His blessings in a marvelous way. And He's going to do it, I believe, as each member of God's Church (His people) realizes his or her responsibilities as Christ's ambassador. Yes, you have been called to minister within the Church and to share your faith with those who still need to hear the voice of God.