Churches at times might be a pain to deal with, but there is no way of being a Christian without the Church. There is a growing number of people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but claim not to attend Church for various reasons. This is a product of Western individualism. It is not Biblical. Paul calls the Church the "body of Christ" (Rom12:5; 1Cor 12:12-31). Paul says when you are baptized you are baptized into Christ's body (1Cor.12:13). That means that a person through baptism not only comes to belong to Christ, but also to his body, the Church. In Acts 2:43-47, in keeping with the extended family system of that time and culture the Church is seen acting as one such extended family by having things in common. Acts 20:28 talks about God obtaining the Church with the blood of his Son and not just individuals. The Church and not individuals is also defined as the bride of Christ (Eph 5:25-26). Even while writing to a highly dysfunctional Church like the one in Corinth, Paul refers to it as "sanctified and called to be saints (1Cor 1:2)." This is the high priority and value that the Bible places on the Church. Christians need to stick with Churches and strive to make them better. But leaving the Church is not an option. You cannot follow Christ and not be a part of his dysfunctional family. After all, Christ himself became a part of our dysfunctional humanity!
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