The Importance of Fellowship on the horizontal plane

I have for a while been pondering on the idea of “church” and why we meet every Sunday. I had many questions circulating in my mind about whether it is important for us to keep meeting and running services like this at a regular basis or not.

For me, a person who has pretty much been attending church "religiously" all my life, it is quite easy to just go through the routine without thinking twice or questioning why i'm doing what i'm doing.

If someone were to ask me about 4 years ago why I go to church, I’m pretty sure I would’ve said something naïve like “to meet with God, of course”, without thinking anything of the absurd statement I just made. First of all it would’ve been a completely dishonest thing for me to say, and secondly, why can’t we meet with God outside of church? Does God only dwell in the closed up space of this fellowship we call church?

The way a church service is run, it is designed in a way so that we are able to put God in the focal point – Singing songs to GOD, having someone share a testimony about GOD’s work in their life, and hear the word being preached about what we think GOD is saying to the church etc. This is the place where we are taught about the wondrous being of God and how we are able to take part in His ultimate plan, and the interaction with one another connects us to the greater body of Christ.

The constant exposure to God’s revelation of the Word and the unity that is achieved in taking part in the corporate worship, exaltation and adoration of God should fill us up to the point where our hearts are overflowing with compassion and love. When the community feels dry and unfulfilling, maybe it’s time we re-examined what our personal purposes are in going to church. Because I think that church is a place where we build each other up, edify and encourage one other.

Fellowship is not just being together but doing together. It is not just doing anything together but it is working together to accomplish God’s will.

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

- Acts 2:42-47 - The Fellowship of Believers.