Hebrews 10:25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
FELLOWSHIP AND PASTORAL CARE.
Sometimes ago, a lady reached out to me on facebook asking for counsel on a particular issue. I decided to ask about her pastor and her commitment in church.
I asked because she needed someone that can monitor her up closely. Not some social media counsel and counseling. Her issue is such that requires proper pastoral attention.
Her response to my question shows she wasn't under pastoral oversight and care. She talked it down in a way that is repulsive. With my little experience, I know it is not so wise to counsel such a person remotely.
We live in an age where people are closing their hearts against physical fellowship with the brethren and submission to pastoral care. I will never be a party to modern ideologies that downplay the place of church and proper pastoring. Never!
Your sad experience with a church or that pastor doesn't make all churches and pastors bad. If the driving of a wreckless driver won't stop you from boarding another vehicle, being under a pastor who acted unchristianly shouldn't stop you from submitting to another.
Don't let the devil preach hate and disgust to you. Going to church and submitting to a Pastor is biblical. In fact, it is a command.
And LET US NOT neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near( Hebrews 10:25). Did you see "Let us Not"?
About submitting to Pastoral care, the writer of Hebrews said, "OBEY your leaders and SUBMIT to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you"(Hebrews 13:17).
These words aren't mine but God's. Who am I to go against what is commanded by the most high? If fellowship and pastoral care doesn't matter to God, God wouldn't have commanded it.
Online streaming of services cannot replace that atmosphere of physical services. We need contact with the brethren. The value of being edified in a physical meeting is unquantifiable.
True fellowship with one another doesn't really happen in online services. This can only happen when we meet to raise holy hands unto the Lord.
The church is God's design to edify and build the saints. Imagine buying a car and not taking it to the service station for regular servicing? You know what will happen.
Don't let the voice of modernism and new age beliefs pitch you against the church and your Pastor. If you notice a church is deviating from the basics of the faith, you're free to switch to another fellowship centre where your spiritual needs will be met.
Another common anomaly is when people attend a church but have a different person pastoring them. I have experienced this with many folks. If you don't trust your Pastor to lead and give the necessary nurturing, why are you still there?
It is never God's design that your church is different from where you're getting pastoral care. Your pastor should be in your church and your church should be where your pastor is.
And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding( Jeremiah 3:15).
Don't attend a church because it is the popular church in town. Your loyalty shouldn't be to the popularity of a church but to sound doctrine, Christlike pastoring and nurturing that you get there. Don't be lost in the crowd because you want to identify with a church.
If you don't fellowship with a church, prayerfully ask the Lord to lead you to one. Also, submit to sound pastoral care and stop seeking for pastoring on social media. True disciples aren't raised that way.