Came across this article at Desiring God. All I can say is a big "Amen." We need the living fellowship that comes from being a part of the body of Christ.
Is Watching a Very Good Sermon the Same as Church?
When you read that question, your reaction may well be, “Are you kidding? What a ridiculous thought!” Perhaps the earliest (even before the days of personal computers) and most caustic response I recall hearing about people who rationalize doing “TV church” was an in-your-face, “See if your TV gives you a hug when you’re sick, lonely, or need advice.”
More recently, Johnathon Bowers, our South Site Coordinator, commented on this topic at a staff meeting, remarking about an article’s description of the age we live in.
For the first time in church history, our generation is able to watch and hear quality Christian preaching and music seven days a week, morning, noon, and night. And indulging in this wealth breeds in some a “consumer mentality,” such that they can simply change channels or turn off completely whatever they don’t like. In this, many people fall into a similar pattern with their actual church participation, i.e., to routinely “surf the Web of congregations” instead of hanging in there with all the other imperfect people in their church.
They, therefore, ignore the plain biblical instruction for their good—that God ordains struggles, conflicts, and outright orneriness within a church body so that he will get the glory of saved sinners like them growing in their faith, practicing his “one another” commands, and showing a clueless, alienating world his alternative community of reconciliation and grace. --David Livingston, DesiringGod.org
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