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In My Opinion

The Church Needs Your Family; Your Family Needs the Church

Paul Terrell

Texas Home School Coalition Association REVIEW © February 2009

We Americans are independent souls. We Texans are even more so. And we home schoolers are accustomed to "going against the flow" when it comes to raising and educating our children. This fiercely independent spirit is a laudable trait when it helps us to stand for our principles in a God-rejecting culture. However, there is a place where such independence can have negative—even devastating—effects, and that place is in the local church. I would like to address the topic of home schoolers and the local church by first presenting some biblical principles and then concluding with some observations and an appeal to my fellow home schoolers.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LOCAL CHURCH

 All true believers in the Lord Jesus are spiritually united to Christ and are therefore part of what is called the "church universal," or the "invisible church," which consists of all Christians from all times and places. However, our membership in Christ's body is not just a mystical truth with no real-world manifestation. The norm in Scripture is that our place in the universal church must find its expression in a local body of believers. Consider the following passage from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians as he emphasizes that Christians—all Christians—are called to be part of a local church:

 "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body....  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." (1 Corinthians 12:12-20, 27 [NIV], emphasis added)

Paul's exhortations only make sense if he is speaking about our involvement in a local church, not the universal church. The only way I can truly "rejoice with those who rejoice {and} mourn with those who mourn" (Romans 12:15) is by being involved in the lives of other believers in a local assembly.

THE NECESSITY OF RECOGNIZED LEADERS IN THE LOCAL CHURCH

A church is more than a group of believers who gather for fellowship, prayer, and study. According to the Bible, a local church is an organized body of believers led by Spirit-gifted, recognized leaders whom God has placed in the body. If this kind of leadership does not exist in a group of Christians, then the group is not a church. (Participating in such groups can certainly be valuable, but they are no substitute for a local church.) Here are several Scriptures that clearly make this point.

"Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you." (Hebrews 13:17, emphasis added)

To the elders (church leaders) in the city of Ephesus, Paul wrote the following: "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood." (Acts 20:28, emphasis added)

QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

In light of the clear teaching of God's Word in the passages above and many others, the following are some questions that deserve your serious consideration:

1. Are you an active part of a local church? If not, why not? You might be able to make a case for a short transition time between churches, but if this time extends to many months or possibly even years, something is seriously wrong. According to God's Word, you need the body of Christ, and the body of Christ needs you! We must all be on guard against an independent spirit that would separate us from our brothers and sisters in Christ.

2. Have you made the mistake of thinking that your Bible study, fellowship group, or family gathering can take the place of a local church? If so, you should read again and ponder the Scriptures mentioned above from Hebrews 13 and Acts 20, along with other passages such as Ephesians 4, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5. If the Bible says that God has placed shepherds and overseers in His church, dare you think that you do not need them? A group of sheep might have a great time together, but without a shepherd they are in danger of falling prey to savage wolves. I would exhort you to seek a local church where you can place yourself under the sound teaching of God's Word, where you can minister and be ministered to, where you can use your spiritual gifts and benefit from the gifts of others. Anything less falls short of what we are commanded to do in Scripture (Hebrews 10:25).

 3. If you are a part of a local church, what do your church leaders think of you? Do they see you as a complainer, one who is never satisfied, one who hardly participates in the life of the church but would rather gripe from the sidelines? Sometimes we home schoolers have legitimate issues to discuss with church leaders, but this should be done with great care, graciousness, respect, and tact. We should seek to be the most supportive, thankful church members that we can possibly be. Remember that according to Hebrews 13:17, we should be a source of joy to those who have been placed in positions of spiritual leadership over us. Do you bring your pastor joy?

Many of you have wonderful relationships with your local churches and church leadership. For those of you who do, I hope this article encourages you to continue to learn, serve, grow, and be a blessing in the church where the Lord has placed you. However, all too often I hear of home schoolers who are thought of as malcontents or troublemakers in their local churches, or worse yet, who are not a part of any local church. Dear friends, these things ought not to be! We will all be called to account for how we have responded to God's Word. May the Lord help us all to take His commands seriously and to constantly strive, by His grace, to conform our lives to His will "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." (Ephesians 4:13)

Meet Paul Terrell

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