Some Assembly Required

I recently saw one of those cheesy, mildly humorous church signs: “The church is an incredible gift from God - some assembly required” it read. I chuckled a little and then paused... sadly, the church today seems to be drifting further and further away from the assembling of ourselves together. The times around us are changing in many ways. Churches are eliminating Sunday evening services, switching from mid-week prayer meetings to home groups, and in some cases churches are flat out closing their doors. While not all change is bad, these trends seem to reflect a larger movement amongst those bearing the name of Christ - a move away from church: less services, less fellowship gatherings, and less assembling of ourselves together. But church isn’t the only thing changing - the world is tearing down the road of destruction at a terrific speed and needs the salt and light the church provides more than ever.

The Apostle Paul seemed to have anticipated this time in history as he wrote under inspiration “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. - (Hebrews 10:23-25)

So let’s gather Church. Let’s meet for coffee. Let’s invite one another over for dinner. Let’s attend as many services as we are physically able to attend. Let’s reach out and bring the lost in to our community of love and gospel-grace. Because, as it is written “they will know us by our love” (1John 4:7-10) Let’s strive to mimic the early church as described In Acts 2:42  “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”