Do I Have to Go to Church to Be Saved?

No. However, Christianity is not a solitary religion. We are a communal people, and the Bible tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (see Hebrews 10:25).

We need fellowship, we need encouragement from one another, and we need to have our views and concepts balanced and checked by other Christians. Jesus said that it takes two or more gathered together for Him to be in their midst (see Matthew 18:20). That means a family can have the Lord in their midst. But even there, one person acts as a counterbalance on another. You do not have some person who goes off and sits on a high mountain all by himself and comes up with a new religion.

You do not have to be in the church to be saved, but to continue effectively in the things of God, you must be in some type of fellowship with other Christian people, and churches meet that need.

Excerpt taken from Answers to 200 of Life's Most Probing Questions, Copyright 1984 by Pat Robertson.