The Importance of the Gathering for Our Discipleship

Abstract: Joshua George points out the importance of the weekly gathering for the Christian’s discipleship. Jesus didn’t save us to live as isolated individuals, for he came to redeem a people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. This reality is reflected in the church’s weekly gathering, which itself points to the eternal, heavenly gathering that God’s people will enjoy forever as they worship him together.

Teams get together to sharpen one another and improve. Whether in sports, college groups, or even chess clubs, people meet regularly to train, to be strengthened, and to grow. So it is with Christians, but we don’t merely gather as a team. We gather as a family—the church. And this gathering is critical for our discipleship.

The Ancient Practice of the Gathering 

Since Jesus Christ established his church two thousand years ago, Christians have gathered weekly to worship God and to be strengthened, equipped, and built up in their faith. Christians have historically met on Sunday mornings to commemorate and celebrate the Sunday morning resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, calling this first day of the week “the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10).

When the apostle Paul went to Troas, he knew when and where to gather with the church there (Acts 20:7; see also 1 Cor. 16:2). This pattern continued in the decades and centuries that followed. In the second century, in his letter to Emperor Trajan, Roman governor Pliny the Younger wrote these words about the suspicious Christians living in his province:

[They are] accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn, and to sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god. . . . When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food—but ordinary and innocent food.^{11 .}Pliny the Younger (to Emperor Trajan), Letters 10.96–97, c. AD 112.

Clearly the church had a well-established pattern of gathering on the Lord’s Day.

The Purpose of the Gathering 

So why do Christians, two thousand years later, still commit to meeting together like this? First and foremost, we gather because we’re commanded to. As the author of Hebrews says,

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb. 10:24–25, emphasis added)

Yet notice that the command to gather isn’t arbitrary—it has a purpose. Of course, we ultimately gather to worship the Lord, but as the author of Hebrews reminds us, there’s a reason we do this together. That reason is so that Christians can “stir up one another to love and good works” and to “encourage one another” as the day of Christ’s coming draws near.

This corporate dimension of our discipleship is underscored when we notice who the New Testament letters were written to. They were not written to those attending Bible studies or small groups, nor were they written to isolated individual Christians.^{22 .}Even when the New Testament letters address individuals, those individuals are explicitly connected to churches. The pastoral letters, for example, are focused on the way Timothy and Titus are to provide leadership to churches, and the book that bears Philemon’s name mentions the church that met in his house (Phlm. 2).  Rather, the New Testament letters were written to gathered churches, telling them how to love one another (Rom. 13:8); care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25; Gal. 6:2); restore and admonish one another (Gal. 6:1; Col. 3:16); bear with one another (Eph. 4:2; Col. 3:13); serve one another (Gal. 5:13; 1 Pet. 4:10); and sing to one another (Eph. 5:19). And while obeying these commands extends beyond the gathering to the rest of the week, it’s only in the gathering that we sit under the preaching of God’s Word together, take the Lord’s Supper together, and witness the baptism of brothers and sisters in Christ together. For these reasons and more, the gathering should be a top priority in Christian discipleship.

The Gathering in God’s Overarching Plan 

To understand why the gathered church is so central to discipleship, we also need to see how the gathering fits into God’s overall redemptive purposes. The purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to glorify God by redeeming a people for himself. In Revelation 5, when John sees the heavenly worship of the Lamb, the angels declare that Jesus is worthy because he was slain and, by his blood, he redeemed a people from every tribe and nation, making them a kingdom of priests who will reign with him (vv. 9–10).

Then in Revelation 7, John is given a vision of the end, or goal, of God’s saving work. He beholds a vast, uncountable multitude from every nation, tribe, and language standing before the throne and the Lamb, united in worship and proclaiming that salvation belongs to God.

Jesus doesn’t merely save isolated individuals; he saves a people, the church, and this body of believers won’t only spend eternity with Jesus (the greatest reward), but they’ll also spend eternity with each other as they gather to worship the Lamb. Jesus didn’t intend for us to walk the Christian life alone; he saved us so that we would be joined with other believers in local churches where we prepare one another for that final, eternal gathering, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).

Our Ongoing Need for the Gathering 

The gathered church, then, isn’t just important at the start of the Christian life; it remains essential to our ongoing discipleship. Week by week, our earthly gatherings reflect the heavenly reality we’re being prepared for. Thus as disciples of Jesus Christ, we never graduate and move beyond the local church. We continue to gather, not merely as attendees but as members who are committed to one another.

Since gathering with God’s people will be our joy forever, it shouldn’t be a small thing to us now. This is a foretaste of heaven, and it’s one of God’s primary means of shaping us on our journey there.