Should You Join a Church?

Some people believe that the world is experiencing a religious revival. But is it really? Church attendance has been falling for years. Many people call themselves Christian even though they rarely if ever attend a church service.

What actually makes a person Christian?

Are you a Christian? Are you a churchgoer? Should you be? Does God care which church you join, or whether you join any at all? Does He lead all of them? Does He lead any of them? Are some churches false churches?

Thankfully, the Bible answers all these questions.

Jesus Christ, whom all Christians claim to follow, promised, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Not only did Jesus found a church, He said it would never die. That means the church He founded still exists today.

In addition, God instructs His true servants not to forsake the assembling of themselves together (Hebrews 10:25). He wants us meeting together in fellowship with other believers. He wants us “going to church”—for many reasons.

Consider further: The Bible says clearly and repeatedly that true Christians must “speak the same thing” and have “no divisions among you,” and that they must be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” God does not intend for His followers to be dispersed among various groups with conflicting beliefs. He requires them to be united—just as unified as God and Jesus Christ are! Read Jesus’s prayer in John 17. That is a very different picture from a “Christianity” splintered into tens of thousands of different denominations.

Here is still more truth: The Bible repeatedly warns against “false prophets,” “false Christs” and “false teachers” bringing “another gospel.” It warns that there will be many who rightly teach that Jesus is the Christ—yet at the same time deceive many. Not only does God warn about false churches, He forbids you from joining in worship with them. Do you know how to tell God’s true Church from a false church? If not, you are susceptible to making a serious mistake.

These are easily provable truths in your Bible that undermine what a great many people carelessly assume about church attendance. The fact is, most people simply do not study deeply into what the Bible says about these things. What about you?

Perhaps you want to attend God’s Church—but where is it? How can you join it?

Believe it or not, the Bible says you cannot simply decide to “join” God’s true Church!

Jesus Christ said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him …” (John 6:44). The Apostle Paul wrote, “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him” (1 Corinthians 12:18). This means it is impossible for you to choose to join the true Church of God. God the Father must specifically call you—draft you—and set you in the Body of Christ!

In fact, the very word the New Testament uses for “church” is the Greek word ekklesia, which means a group of called-out ones.

These are just a few of the most basic things you must prove to yourself—straight from your own Bible—before you start attending a church!

The question of whether to join a church, and which church is the true Church of God, is much deeper and much more important than the vast majority of Christians assume. You must prove to yourself the answers to these questions. You must use the Bible and the words of Jesus Christ to understand.

If God is calling you, then you must respond. This booklet aims to help you find and prove the answers to those questions—and to find and prove, based on the truths of the Bible, which Church is truly God’s.