I’ve decided to temporarily retreat from my battle with the moles in my yard and sit down to respond to your last letter. I call it a battle because they certainly have made my lawn look like a war zone! I’ve tried a variety of battle tactics including mole traps, poison, flooding them out of their tunnel, you name it. Please resist giving me the surefire method for eradicating moles that someone told you about. I think I’ve heard them all, including the use of human hair and rolled up sticks of chewing gum. If you value our friendship you’ll express empathy, even sympathy, but not solutions.

You were wondering about the need to go to church. I wouldn’t use the phrase "go to church" as the best way to describe what a Christian should be doing. "Going to church" is not quite the same as going to the grocery store or going to a movie. Church is not so much a place to go to as it is a group of people to be with. That’s why I like to refer to a church as a family. We’re the family of God. What makes us a family is the fact that God is our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ is like a big brother to us. That makes us brothers and sisters in Christ.

You reminded me that there are a great many followers of Jesus -- Christians -- who aren’t active in a local church. That’s certainly true. I suspect it’s due in large part to our deep streak of independence. We don’t want to be dependent on anyone nor do we want to feel responsible to anyone. But my reading of the New Testament makes it clear that the Lord doesn’t want us to be Lone Ranger Christians. Jesus gathered 12 men together to follow Him. You might call it the first Christian small group. It’s obvious by reading the New Testament that Christians clustered together to form churches all over the place.

I realize that some people resist becoming part of a local church because it can be a hassle. You don’t attend a church very long before you start to see that it’s filled with very imperfect people. It seems much easier to do some religious reading on your own at home, watch a TV preacher or two, and go to an occasional Christian concert. But easier is not necessarily better! Sure, there are difficult people in any church, and we’ll likely be someone else’s difficult person! If you and I could find the perfect church and join it, that church would no longer be perfect.

A local church is not a religious private club for saints; it’s a hospital for sinners. The genius of God’s plan is that we be part of a church family where we learn to accept, love, forgive, and work together. It all helps us become more the people He wants us to be, like Jesus. I’ve often said that it’s the difficult people in the church, not those I more easily get along with, who help me grow the most in being Christ-like.

You see, we experience God in essentially four ways: through reading His Word the Bible, observing His creative handiwork in nature, the direct working of His Holy Spirit in us, and Christian fellowship. If we don’t become a part of a Christian fellowship we cut ourselves off from one of the four means by which God makes Himself real to us. No wonder the Bible says we shouldn’t neglect the gathering of ourselves together!

Behind our house is a woods. I enjoy walking through that cathedral of God’s all four seasons of the year. God outdoes Michelangelo’s artistic efforts by painting an ever-changing ceiling of moving greens in spring and summer to shifting shades of reds, yellows and browns in the fall. In the winter the intricate lacework of branches lets you see through to the true, blue ceiling of sky. This cathedral of the woods is supported by a vast array of pillars anchored by foundations of roots. It’s a strong cathedral, withstanding storms throughout the year. But if all the trees were removed except for one, that one tree would fall in the next big storm. Trees clustered together into what we call a woods provide a windbreak for each other, and their intertwined roots keep them well anchored together in the soil; they stand strong. The Lord’s people need each other as do those trees. In the Christian walk there’s strength and success in numbers. I encourage you to find a local church family and count yourself among their numbers!

A fellow seeker after truth,
Dave