Not a church goer.

[Neighbor]

7 hours ago, Hidden In Him said:

I certainly hope so, cuz I'm sunk if not, LoL.

In my opinion, a church that is not operating in a full array of genuine spiritual gifts is not manifesting true New Testament Christianity (1 Corinthians 12:8–10, 1 Corinthians 12:28).

Does that mean the people in that church do not belong to God? No, of course not. But trying to hold believers accountable to church attendance while ignoring far more weightier matters has a way of making me not all that concerned about people's judgments as to what believers are and are not supposed to be doing.
  

 Too bad. So much is missed by not gathering with the local body of Christ.  

 

[Wayne222]

The bible is pretty clear we are to meet togther for worship under a leadership of a pastor and elders. Thst is how God is working. Even in heaven the angels meet togther for worship. 

[Hidden In Him]

58 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

 Too bad. So much is missed by not gathering with the local body of Christ.  

 

Don't get me wrong, Neighbor. I fully believe that having a good group of brothers and sisters in Christ to be in fellowship with is a tremendous blessing, even if they don't necessarily move in gifts as they should (provided they are at least alive in Spirit, and in love with one another and with Christ).

I'm simply saying that taking the position that it is a law we should hold over believers gets into an area of spiritual oppression if we are not careful, where the Spirit is no longer free to lead believers as He should. I currently have no church, the reason being that most of the churches in my area would actually slow me down rather than bless me at present. And since I would not be in a position of leadership going in, it would be an serious investment of my time before they trusted me with a position (or positions) of leadership in the church to begin being a blessing to them. And that's IF their leadership honored my authority in Christ, which is always questionable. Some feel threatened by me, and are only comfortable with me if I sit in a pew and shut up, LoL.

But you are correct. Much can indeed be missed by not gathering together with a local body. 

[Realist]

10 hours ago, p.rehbein said:

My statement about the Church setting was simply showing ONE way people can be saved and sanctified at the same time.  A person can sanctified in any setting as long as Sanctified Believers "lay hands on and pray over them" in my opinion.

Oh, I see, you mean like being baptized. I understand.  Thanks

Edited April 4, 2018 by Realist

[Debp]

I always attended worship services all of my life but the past several years had to leave some churches...one church's last pastor led them to become a More Light (gay) church!   The next church I thankfully found kept getting rid of good pastors and finally got an extremely liberal one....he even said a Bible verse was wrong in a sermon and said even worse to me when I asked him about saying that!

So there are sometimes reasons why people are currently not attending a church building's services.   Health reasons and also if you live in a country where you could be killed for becoming a Christian.

 

[Guest Butero]

2 minutes ago, Debp said:

I always attended worship services all of my life but the past several years had to leave some churches...one church's last pastor led them to become a More Light (gay) church!   The next church I thankfully found kept getting rid of good pastors and finally got an extremely liberal one....he even said a Bible verse was wrong in a sermon and said even worse to me when I asked him about saying that!

So there are sometimes reasons why people are currently not attending a church building's services.   Health reasons and also if you live in a country where you could be killed for becoming a Christian.

 

It is very hard to find good churches nowadays.  

[Realist]

32 minutes ago, Debp said:

one church's last pastor led them to become a More Light (gay) church!

Wow ! that’s a new group I've never heard of.  Imagine being new to the community and walking in unawares.

[walla299]

7 hours ago, Neighbor said:

 Too bad. So much is missed by not gathering with the local body of Christ.  

Amen. So many do not realize what they're missing by not attending where the Lord would have them go. (There are valid reasons that folks cannot go, such as health issues and the like.) The process of figuring out where the Lord wants you can be difficult. It took me a year and a half to find the church I go to now. It was last on my list in fact. I planned on giving up if it turned out to be another "seeker friendly" place, etc.

[p.rehbein]

I believe God has a place for all His children, and if they will get out of the way, He will lead them to where He wants them.  They just have to be ready to accept it may not be where they thought they wanted to be. 

 

[ytLiJC]

On 4/4/2018 at 1:49 AM, Berean said:

Do you believe that a person who does not go to church can still be a Christian and be saved?

 

millions of people have called themselves "church" and committed spiritual lawlessness thus bringing stumbling blocks, defilements, temptations, stymies, corruptions, anguish, etc. for many humans, while there have been thousands of irreligious and non-occult people to be good out of good conscience (this is well represented in the parable of the "rich" pharisee and the "poor" man Lazarus - Luke 16:19-31)

Blessings