The following is a note I placed in our "Monday's Briefs" dated today. It is directed at those who are members of our church yet have chosen not to attend our worship services on a persistent basis (other than for health reasons).
The visible church (the local church) is to be an earthly model of the true, invisible church of God (referred to as the universal church). True believers only and ALL true believers are members of that one universal church. Obviously, true believers only and ALL living true believers are to be members of a local church. I will not take the time or space here to support my statements with Scripture but Scripture does support them.
Therefore, I want to share with some of you who read this newsletter, are members of Bethesda Baptist Church, yet regularly do not attend our Sunday morning worship service. How can that be, my brother or sister? How can the true follower of Christ refuse to meet with their fellow members and worship together (apart from health issues)? You certainly will not skip worship services in the universal church! To be honest and frank with you, your absence causes me to question your relationship with Christ. I know that may sound harsh but I challenge you to ask yourself: Does Christ support me in avoiding worshiping with the church in which I am a member? No, He does not. So I exhort and encourage you to repent of your lack of commitment and return to our fellowship to worship and serve with us.
As the pastor of this church, I am VERY concerned with your souls. I will be contacting you in the coming weeks to determine why you, as a church member, refuse to worship with fellow believers and see if I might be able to help in some way.
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