Why Do We Gather?

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25).

Why do we need to come together on a weekly basis? There’s only so much weekend, and to be honest people can get kind of annoying. Why can’t we learn about Jesus from books or by listening to sermons online? There are several reasons why the church needs to meet together in the same place.

The first is worship. It’s odd, but I can’t put my finger on a verse that says the church should worship. It’s simply assumed. All throughout the scriptures God’s people worship because that is the natural response to believing what we believe — that a holy God took on flesh and died to save us from the consequences of our own sin. That God is worthy of praise. So we gather together to worship God “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). It’s not enough to sing at home alone (or with our families) for two reasons: First, worship is corporate. Whenever we see God’s people worshipping, they are doing it together, and as it has been, so it shall always be (cf, Rev 4). Second, when we worship we encourage each other and “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Col 3:16). So worship is both for God and for us.

The second reason we come together is for discipleship. Jesus commanded us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them ... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). The mission of the Church is to take the gospel to all nations, but the work doesn’t stop there. We’re to make disciples, not just converts, and that takes time. So we bring converts to the church where they become disciples. It’s done a little at a time, week after week. We can quit going to church when we’re just like Jesus. Of course, Jesus probably wouldn’t miss church.

And, thirdly, that discipleship is best done by the church body, not just one person, because the Spirit has given different believers different gifts “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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” (Eph 4:12-13). We are to build each other up, not just sit and listen to one person doing all the work. As important as good sermons are, that is not all of discipleship. Discipleship happens when we learn from each other, encourage each other, and, yes, irritate each other. Learning to love your brother or sister in Christ even when it’s hard is an important part of discipleship.

The fourth reason we come together is for fellowship, to support each other. We’re not just in church to learn about the Bible. Living for Christ in a fallen world is difficult. Living as “aliens and strangers” (1Pet 2:11), trying to be “in the world but not of the world” (John 17:14-19) is hard, confusing, and perplexing. And life in this world is harder on some than on others. So we come together in order to “encourage one another and build each other up” (1Thes 5:11) and to meet each other’s material needs (cf, 1John 3:17, Acts 4:32-37, 11:29). Paul says, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1Cor 12:26). “While hurt is reduced, joy is increased by being shared. We are to encourage and sympathize with each other.”¹

We are the Church wherever we are, but the body needs to come together to be what it was meant to be. So “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25).


I am only able to barely scratch the surface on the topic of worship. I recommend the chapter “Worship” in Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

1 Millard Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine

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Part of Christianity 101