{"id":1024,"date":"2011-11-20T09:56:24","date_gmt":"2011-11-20T14:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2011-11-20T09:56:24","modified_gmt":"2011-11-20T14:56:24","slug":"can-you-be-a-good-christian-and-not-attend-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/11\/can-you-be-a-good-christian-and-not-attend-church.html","title":{"rendered":"Can You Be a Good Christian and Not Attend Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cGoing to church has nothing to do with being a Christian,\u201d a rather indignant friend said. \u201cI can be just as good a Christian at home or at the lake as sitting in a church. Better maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2011\/11\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1025\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/261\/2011\/11\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n10-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Some things never change. Charles Spurgeon, known as \u201cThe Prince of Preachers\u201d talked about a similar run-in with a friend back in the 1800\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>His answer?\u00a0 A brick by itself is made up of the same substance as a brick in a building.\u00a0 You could say it is just as good as any of the bricks forming the walls.\u00a0 But it isn\u2019t much use all alone.\u00a0 Only when it is cemented together with other bricks does it fulfill the purpose for which it is made. Otherwise it is just a worthless object cluttering the landscape &#8212; ready to do nothing more productive than to stub someone\u2019s toe.<\/p>\n<p>You can be a Christian and not go to church &#8212; and certainly church attendance doesn\u2019t make\u00a0 you automatically right with God.\u00a0 However, God has chosen to use His church as a means for showing His glory and for His service in the world.\u00a0 To fulfill the purpose for which we are made, we need to be cemented together, working together, with other Christians.<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t up to us individual bricks to decide how or if we will be used, anyway.\u00a0 He made us, He called us, and He has the right to use us how and where He pleases.<\/p>\n<p>No church is perfect.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been a pastor\u2019s wife for 38 years so I can assure you that I am aware of the diversity of faults church members can have.\u00a0 But we imperfect bricks need each.\u00a0 It\u2019s together that we can glorify and serve Him best.<\/p>\n<p>Eating to live and living for Christ,<\/p>\n<p>Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cGoing to church has nothing to do with being a Christian,\u201d a rather indignant friend said. \u201cI can be just as good a Christian at home or at the lake as sitting in a church. Better maybe.\u201d Some things never change. Charles Spurgeon, known as \u201cThe Prince of Preachers\u201d talked about a similar run-in with&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[289,288],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-special-messages","tag-bricks","tag-church-attendance"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can You Be a Good Christian and Not Attend Church? - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/11\/can-you-be-a-good-christian-and-not-attend-church.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can You Be a Good Christian and Not Attend Church? - Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cGoing to church has nothing to do with being a Christian,\u201d a rather indignant friend said. \u201cI can be just as good a Christian at home or at the lake as sitting in a church. 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