Going to Church

  [345 words] Many reasonably good people seldom, if ever, “go to church.” Meeting with others to study the Bible, God’s word, and to publicly worship Him is something easily ignored in our busy world. To these, church is where you go for a wedding or a funeral, but little more.  The early Christians didn’t just “go to church”—they were the church. They were the ekklesia, the “called-out-ones,” called out of the world by the gospel of Christ to be a light to the world. They were a community of believers, commonly referred to as “the body of Christ” and even “the bride of Christ.” In Christ, they were bound together in “one body. And one Spirit…one hope…one Lord, one faith, one baptism” and “one God.” (Ephesians 4:4-6). As such, to not meet with other Christians to encourage one another and jointly express their devotion to the Lord was not…