Why belong to a local church?

Romans 12:5 says, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

One of the first symptoms of spiritual decline is inconsistent attendance at worship services.Without a church home you're like a child without a family - you're a spiritual orphan.
Your church is a classroom for learning how to get along with God's family - for practising unselfish love. There you learn to care about others and share in their experience.
We belong to a local church because it helps you develop spiritual muscle. As each part does its own work, it helps all the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy.
Isolation breeds deceitfullness. It's easy to fool ourselves into thinking we're mature when there's no-one to challenge us. Real maturity only shows up in the give and take of relationships.

Belonging to a church can keep you from backsliding. no-one is immune to temptation. We're all capable of blowing it.
"Mind your own business" shouldn't be in our vocabulary. We're called to be involved in ech others lives. If we know someone who's wavering spiritually, it's our responcibility to go after them and bring them back into fellowship.
Whenever a child is born, it must become a member of a specific family in order to receive nurture and care and grow up healthy and strong.
The difference in being a church attendee and a church member is committment. Attendees are consumers; members are contributors. Attendees want the benefits without any responcibility or accountability.
Belonging to a church promotes honesty. Too many of us wear masks. We act as if everything in the garden is rosy when it's not. Such attitudes are the death of real fellowship.
Belonging to a church provides support. We are more consistent in our faith when others walk with us and encourage us.
When we belong to a local church we experience mercy. Fellowship is a place where mistakes are rubbed out not rubbed in. We all need mercy because we stumble and need help getting back on track. 

Michelle Cozins