What if its the wrong one & I am viewed as complicit by the company I keep? In other words, can a Christian man compromise his beliefs & his understand of what is right & good for belonging to today's modern church? Brother I cant belong to that.....I can visit with, smile & sing songs with that but belonging to apostasy....well???
If we look at it as in terms of the right fellowship and the wrong fellowship, then we might as well give up marriage as well. In marriage it is not finding the right one...it is being the right one, lol.
Obviously we would not want to join a fellowship that is blatantly heretical or unorthodox, but the truth is that there is no fellowship that is 100% correct in doctrine. If most of us joined a denomination we tend to look askance at, chances are, when we come to understand why those people embrace the doctrine they, while we might not ourselves embrace it (because of course we know better), we might be less inclined to question their salvation.
And if what others think of you comes before your obligation to the Lord, then it is your motives for going to "church" you might question. And we do have, I believe, an obligation to the Lord to have somewhere we consider a meeting place for his people. It could be a home group, for instance, but, personally I am grateful to have a facility where I can go to worship, and not have a lot of people coming to my house. My grandfather's faith did that, and chances are I would, if it were not for their doctrine, attend such an assembly. As far as taking on the responsibility for what that would entail, well, call me lazy, lol. Maybe I would change my view if I were actually in such a setting, I don't know.
While I credit most who go on forums and meet with other Christians to stand a bit above the average believer, because I think they show they are concerned about learning about the Lord and do enjoy the fellowship of other believers, I would reiterate that this type of interaction should not be confused with personal and face to face interaction with the people of God. It is, as I said before, what I believe to be a training ground for us in regards to interaction among believers. There are some negative aspects that can arise, of course, but when we set our goal as learning to interact with others, when it comes time to interact with the world we are less likely to be like the world.
There is also an accountability that arises that we do not have when we go it alone. I have had several periods in my walk where I was disenchanted with fellowships, but the consequences of not having a home church became very apparent to me. It's a little difficult to explain, or perhaps I am just hesitant to explain, but I can see a difference between my life when I do and when I don't.
As I said before, the "Dones" are, I think, a dangerous concept to what Scripture describes concerning believers and how they fellowshipped. I think we are a little pampered here in the states, and if we lived in a country where the liberty to openly and publicly meet with other believers is taken for granted, IF we were to lose that, then the old saying "Don't know what you got until it is gone" would take on a cutting meaning for us.
And what would we tell those we witness to? Where would we direct them? To a forum? That is another aspect of having a home church, in that we are not promoting ourselves, in the sense it is kind of like, "Don't take my word for it, come on down and hear the word preached." If those we witnessed to did embrace the Gospel, and begin to read the Bible, one of the first things they may ask is "Well, how come you don't fellowship like I see it described in Scripture?"
It may be, my friend, that for some attendance may not be their thing. But, I have a hard time reconciling that mentality with a traditional view. And maybe that's my problem, too traditional. But I think for the most part, we do need to have a base of operations that we can direct converts and prospective converts to. It takes the focus off of us, I feel. A Pastor establishes an authority that perhaps many, particularly those who know us, might be more inclined to listen to. My brother was a nominal Catholic for years, because...we are Irish, and we had relatives that were Catholic. For years I witnessed to him, gave him tracts, and talked to him about what I saw as error in Catholic Doctrine. It was not until he came, mostly of necessity (we were putting his Kids through a Christian School at my church), and heard my Pastor preach that he began to regularly attend a fellowship which was Baptist, rather than Catholic. He said, "He's the first one that made any sense to me." Now we both know that it was not a matter of the other preachers I dragged him to listen to didn't make sense, it was a matter of his heart responding. The point is that while he would not listen to me, nor open his heart to what I had to say, at the right time the Lord placed someone in his path that correlated to the work the Lord was doing in his heart. That doesn't mean I think that is the end of the story, or that I think attendance is going to radically change his life, but...it's a good start.
Sorry for going on so long, hadn't intended to do so. Just hope to encourage you not to give up on fellowship, I think there is a fellowship out there for you, and everyone, which in my view compliments the work the Lord is doing in our lives. My history of church-hopping ended when the Lord, I feel, spoke to my heart about the pride which contributed to that hopping. I too was looking for the perfect church, and they had better conform to my expectations. I have since learned that I simply asked too much out of people who were just as fallible as myself. I learned that my opinion of myself was over-exaggerated, lol.
So while I can understand fully why some drop out, as a general issue I see it as dangerous, and detrimental to the cause of Christ. We can criticize "modern worship," but as long as the doctrine is sound and there is sound leadership, I think we can benefit from corporate worship, if only to learn a lesson in humility.
God bless.
