Hello, I don't think anyone is more committed to online chatroom ministry then I am and I am so excited what God is doing. However there is a growing and biblically wrong belief that the christian chat rooms are either church or replace it. This is completely wrong! The word church in the greek is ekklesia and is used 77 times in the new testament.
It means a gathering of people, and it means literally together. We are not physically together online. We are commanded to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together in Hebrews 10:25 and again we arent asembled togther online.
I do know the church is a group of people and not a building but the local body also assembled together and often in a house as they did in Colossians 4:15. God not only commands us to go to a church meeting but we are also commanded to serve within the local body, 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 plus other verses speak on that.
We are commanded to support the work of the church and in 1 Corinthians 16:2 the money was instructed to be given upon the first day of the week (Sunday) and the context there, it was to be given to a local church.
I wonder how many who just go online faithfully give. In Ephesians 5:20 husbands are commanded to love their wives even as Christ loved the church.
We cannot love Jesus and not love the church, again refering to a local called out group of believers. So many of the new testament letters were written to a local church, Romans to the church at Rome, Corinthians to the church at Corinth, Ephesians to the church at Ephesus, Philippians to the church at Phillipi, Colossians to the church at Colossae, Thessalonians to the church at Thessalonica, Galatians was written to a group of local churches in the province of Galatia.
The Bible says a pastor should be ordained to each local body and supported. If we love the Lord, we will follow the teachings of the Bible. Many quit going to a church cause they had a bad experience in one. This is just an excuse, pray and seek where the Lord would have you attend. There are good loving bible churches and I'm glad to be in one. Let's serve and worship the Lord within a local church and let's serve Him online also. He is worthy!
When people gather together...yes ON THE INTERNET, from all corners of the earth, when they gather together in His name, they are indeed very much "the Church". And He is with them.
ReplyDeleteUniversally, there is but One Church, though many local assemblies. And a local assembly doesn't necessarily require a brick and mortar building with a fancy sign out front and a cross on the door or up high on a lighted steeple to be considered "a church".
"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:24 Where you find this, there also you find His Church.
Buddee