We are living in an age where people are losing the sense of need for christian fellowship. In some parts of the U.S, church attendances are dropping. Our youths are leaving the church one after the other.

Even when souls are being won to join the church, we cannot help but cry at the souls who have not just left the church, but have left the sheepfold. But as I wrote in one of my previous posts, The Bible has something to say about instances like this.

Let us see what it has to say:

Hebrews 10:25 (TLB) "Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do"

Even in the days of Paul, athere were persons who neglected church meetings. But the Apostle spoke vehemently against such.

Is there a power that is hidden underneath Church meetings? What makes it so powerful that it must not be neglected?

1) COMMUNAL FELLOWSHIP IS THE FASTEST MACHINERY FOR GLOBAL REVIVAL!

Every great revival that ever took place in history, took place while God’s people congregated together in worship to God.

Acts 1:13-14

¹³ When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴ They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Jesus had left His disciples. But He left with an instruction; He instructed them to remain in Jerusalem until they had received the promise of the Holy Spirit. Jesus could have told them to be dispersed across the nation of Israel.

But He knew the importance of communal living and togetherness if the Holy Spirit must be poured out in His fullness.

The disciples obeyed His instruction. They did not just wait idly for the promise of the Spirit, they prayed constantly. They had prayer time at different sections of the day.

In Acts 2, we are told that while they were together, observing the feast of the Pentecost, in piety, the Holy Spirit descended upon them and set their hearts ablaze for the Gospel. There is nothing that prompts the move of the Spirit faster than corporate worship and prayer meetings by believers.

One of the ways Satan uses to get a Christian out of faith is to get him out of the church. The moment that believer stops going to the church, is the moment he is exposed to the prowling of the enemy.

Ninety per-cent of genuine conversions that ever happened in Christendom, happened in church gatherings.

2) THERE IS PROTECTION IN THE SHEEPFOLD

In Matthew 18, Jesus told a parable of how a Sheep left the 99 sheep, in a shepherd’s sheepfold, and wandered about in the wilderness.

Although that passage is used as a salvation message for sinners, it is also very applicable to believers.

The sheepfold represents the communal body of Christ. It signifies the congregation of Christians.

The sheep that left signifies those believers who leave their various churches, for worldly living. It refers to those Christians, who feel too proud to identify with other saints in the church.

So they rather live their lives the way they want it, in the world, than to be governed by the counsel and doctrines of the Body of Christ.

The Shepherd in the parable ran after the sheep, and providentially found it. The shepherd was concerned about that sheep that wandered out, because he knew outside the sheepfold, that sheep is the most vulnerable creature in the forest.

No matter how smart you think you are. No matter how strong you think you are, as long as you choose to believe in God, to be God’s sheep, you cannot afford to ignore church meetings. Do not decline to belong to a church where God’s word is taught with soundness and purity.

Every saint who’d ever backslid first got tired of the church, before he got tired of God. He first got tired of worshipping in the church, before he got tired of worshipping God.

But there is protection, when we identify with one another in our various denominations and assemblies. There is a sense of belonging and identification that it creates within us. We are protected from several dangers; because we are in a place, where everyone prays for everyone.

3) THERE IS STRENGTHENING IN THE SHEEPFOLD

1 Thessalonians 5:11 : “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

Romans 1:12 “That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”

It was Watchman Nee who said, ‘Fellowship means among other things that we are ready to receive of Christ from others. Other believers minister Christ to me, and I am ready to receive.’

In fellowship, we are gingered up to serve more with more fervency. Seeing the passion with which the pastor preaches the Gospel, and the accuracy of the pianist’s fingers, as well as the sincere worship from the lips of the congregation, has a way of challenging a believer to serve God better.

How about when you see a poor widow in your neighborhood, serving God in joy within and outside the church,

Or you sight that poor family, seated together at the front pew, in sincere, corporate worship, certainly, your heart will be touched.

And if you are wise, you will say within yourself, “If this poor widow, can serve God in her poverty and loneliness, then what excuse do I have not to serve God”.

4) EDIFICATION

Ephesians 4:11 to 14

11. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

12. to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

13. until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

15. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

God knew there would be a rise of wrong and deceitful doctrine, to lead believers astray from the true doctrine as taught in God’s word.

So in every generation, God raises men who would be custodians of the true doctrine of Christ. These men belong to what we know as the five-fold ministry.

But they do not work independently. They work with God, in ministering life and sound doctrine to believers. If you do not belong to a church, how can you hear sound doctrine? And if you do not hear the sound doctrine of Christ, how can you grow?

It’s time to keep your sentiments aside, humble yourself, and identify with a Church, where the undiluted word of God is taught. Receive that word with meekness; fellowship with the saints there, and you will be amazed at the great change you will witness in your Christian life.