Every missionary’s first year is tough, but mine was unusually rocky. Just after I arrived, my team leader returned home permanently for medical reasons. My team dissolved, and I found myself adrift. As a single with little fellowship, I was in a precarious place.
Thankfully, I found a church.
It was a North African church and wasn’t a comfortable fit for me culturally or theologically, but it was a church: God’s people, covenanting to follow Christ together under common leadership; God’s people, gathering for worship, teaching, fellowship, and the ordinances.
A few months later, a brand-new missions team took me in. And then something happened that I didn’t expect. I was asked to stop attending church because our new team needed to bond on Sundays. This struck me as odd. What about the church? I thought. But I was told that our team was already a church: “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them” (Matthew 18:20).
What was wrong with this suggestion? While any group of Christians are part of Christ’s global church, the apostles specifically expected Christians to assemble in local churches. These churches weren’t exclusive special-interest ministry groups within the body
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