Can you be a Christian without church membership?

Can one be a Christian without having ties to a particular church or congregation?

Before answering the question, it should be determined what is meant by the word "church". There are two possible meanings. A church can be a building or structure. More importantly, the Church refers a particular group of Christian believers who profess the same creed, observe the same rites and acknowledge the same ecclesiastical authority.

A church building might burn down or be destroyed, as many have over past centuries. However, the Christian Church has lasted for over two thousand years, and Christ promised that it would endure until the end of time. (Mt 28:20)

Did Jesus intend His followers to form a community?

In the Bible, Jesus says to Peter: "...you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." (Mt 16:18). Jesus did not intend all His followers to go their separate ways after the resurrection. He knew they would need each other for safety, support and group decision-making just as Christians support and counsel each other today.

When Jesus taught the Apostles to pray, He instructed them to address God as "Our Father..."(Mt 6:9)  not "My father...". The prayer was to come from the Christian community, not from an individual. This was confirmed by later phrases: "Give us this day our daily bread...", and "forgive us our debts" (Mt 6:11-12). It is clear that the Church, gathered as God's family, was to ask the Father to fulfill its needs and forgive its sins.

The writer of the Epistle to the Romans explains that Christians are the body of Christ on earth. " For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." (1 Cor 12:12)

An eye or ear, going off by itself, would be useless. A body, missing a hand or foot, would be seriously disabled. So it is with the Church. Trying to be a good Christian without the support of a believing community, is almost impossible. Similarly, the community is weakened by the absence or non-participation of each and every member.

Advantages of Church membership

Church members belong to a community, similar to a second family. Within each congregation, there are like-minded people with whom to enjoy fellowship and to whom one may turn for support in time of trouble or difficulty.

Church members pray for one another and offer practical support to help surmount the rough spots everyone encounters in life. They are committed to doing their best to see that everyone in the community, young and old, reaches his or her eternal goal.

The priest or minister has been ordained to offer prayer and sacrifice to God, according to his particular faith tradition. He has been well-educated and can enlighten and guide the flock in puzzling matters related to faith or morality.

Then the community worships together, the combined prayer of the people of God is very powerful. Jesus promised, " For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them". Mt 18: 20

There were some early Christians, like the desert monks, who were able to become saints by living solitary lives in the wilderness, but for most contemporary Christians immersed in the secular world of selfishness and greed, that is impossible. Belonging to a Church community, worshiping, and living in fellowship with other like-minded Christians is the best and most certain way to please God and gain our eternal reward.