Do You Need to Go to Church to Be a Christian?

In our day and age, does the church really matter? Several years ago, there was a video making the rounds on social media that claimed Jesus is greater than religion. The whole premise of the popular video was that believing in Jesus was something higher than the church: a personal faith that exists in and unto itself. Though the video didn’t quite phrase it that way, this was the message it conveyed. The video resonated well with many people because it made them think that in the end, the church doesn’t matter. What matters is simply what you believe and that you are in the driver’s seat in this whole Christianity thing because after all, Jesus is greater than religion. 

Humanity Doesn’t Define the Christian Faith: God Does

Though it shouldn’t surprise us, we err when we fall into this line of thinking. Our old sinful nature, the devil, and the world want nothing more than for us to separate ourselves from Christ. If we can appear godly in the process, all the better. Indeed, our faith in Christ is personal. It is a gift of God through the means of grace. Yet the thing is, Christianity is a religion. That is the very nature of God’s Word. The Holy Scriptures reveal God and what He says about Himself to us. We don’t define the Christian faith; God reveals and gives it to us and teaches us what He would have us know. 

Along those same lines is another sentiment pastors will often hear from people: “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.” Usually this is a response given by someone when confronted about not coming to church. It expresses the same line of thinking as the previous example from the popular video. The sentiment is that there’s a disconnect in the world between Jesus and the Christian Church. In the minds of many in the public, it’s as if the two are not inherently related. If this is so, the question, then, is, “Does the church matter?”

The Lutheran Confessions and Church

The Lutheran Confessions have a fair amount to say about the church. Maybe that’s not surprising to you, or maybe it is. The Augsburg Confession was significant in church history, as it defined what the church is and how it is known. Melanchthon wrote, “Our churches teach that one holy Church is to remain forever. The Church is the congregation of saints [Psalm 149:1] in which the Gospel is purely taught, and the Sacraments are correctly administered.” That’s something important to think about as we consider the church and if it matters. The church is not a club or just an assembly of like-minded individuals. The church is the Bride of Christ. 

God has given His church, this Bride of Christ, to us. Ephesians 5:25–30 gives us this beautiful image of the church. God inspired Paul to write,

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body. 

Now, imagine if a bride, on her wedding day, made the claim that she doesn’t need or want her husband. How would we respond to that line of thinking? It would seem preposterous to us! So it is when we claim that the church and Jesus do not need each other. 

The Church Is Given to Us by the Lord

A document in the Lutheran Confessions that speaks a great deal about what the church is, and one that is often overlooked or lumped into another, is the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. It addresses exactly what it says it does as it speaks to the issues and problems of the papacy. At its core, the Treatise shows how the church is not defined by a head in Rome (the pope), who claims to attach the power of salvation to his office. The Treatise also extols the truth of what the church is and why the Lord has given it to us. It admonishes us to guard what Scripture teaches about the church and not let false teachings tear us away from Christ. 

A right understanding of false teaching is important to think about amid any discussion about the church. At one point in the Treatise, Melanchthon speaks bluntly and warns us what happens when a false understanding of the church is promoted. “So they hide Christ’s glory and rob consciences of firm consolation. They abolish true divine services.” Think about what is confessed here. Our consciences are robbed of consolation when false doctrine is being taught and preached. The church matters because doctrine matters. True and faithful teaching, delivered through the church, delivers the consolation of Christ as only He can give. Independent and apart from the community of believers, individuals so easily fall into a false understanding of God’s Word. 

The church matters in this world, and it matters for us, the people of God who are members of the Body of Christ. The church is where Christ and salvation are given out through the means of grace. The church is where Christ is found and gives His consolation of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Where Christ is, there are the means of grace. The church matters because Christ and His Word matter. 

Read more about how the Lutheran Confessions are at play in your life and find answers to fundamental questions about Christianity by reading Faithfully Formed. 

Blog post adapted from Faithfully Formed: The Lutheran Confessions in Daily Life,  © 2024 Andy Wright, published by Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.