People of God: The Christian Community

It is impossible to be a Christian and not be a member of the Christian church. Do you agree with this statement or not? Explain.

Whether or not I agree with this statement first depends on which meaning of church is being referred to. If it is referring to the church as "the universal community of believers," then I would agree with the statement. Using this definition a Christian is one who is by definition part of the Church.

Using the other ways of referring to the church, "the assembly of believers at the liturgy" or "the local parish community," the issue becomes a little more complicated. I would have a hard time saying it is impossible to be a Christian and not be part of a local church, there are always exceptions to the rule, the guy living in the middle of no where with no access to a church or other believers.

I would, however, fully agree that as a general rule, it would be very difficult to be a Christian without being part of a local community. God created us to need each other, we are communal. We need the encouragement and support of those around us. We need the people around us to challenge us to grow in our faith. We need the sacraments to grow in grace. And the sacraments require a priest and happen in the context of worship in the church. We need the local church