I don’t particularly like hearing ‘no one is irreplaceable in the church’. I understand what is trying to be conveyed. We should not become arrogant and think the church cannot operate without us or that we are more important than anyone else in the congregation. We also should not place others on a pedestal thinking the church can’t exist without them or become lazy in our Bible knowledge by relying on anyone person, including the pastor. Our focus as a church family is to worship and serve Christ TOGETHER in UNITY. We are all equally important to God.
Hearing that no one is irreplaceable is not a license to leave the church family (church body) that God placed you in. Doing so will cause the body to become weak. The only time we can leave the body of Christ that God placed us in, is in when He authorizes it. Be sure when or if you leave, it is God leading you and not because of your pride or feelings being hurt. No church is perfect, and God expects us to work out any grievances with each other, with each other. After all, we will be spending eternity together.
We will be held accountable for our responsibilities within the church body. In other words, God will judge us on how we fulfilled our responsibilities to and within the church family. Please take joining a church serious and important. Take your time joining and don’t join out of an emotional response. Pray about the decision and talk with the pastors prior to joining. Getting to know the church family before joining is always a good idea too. It won’t take long for God to let you know if you are where He wants you. You may not think your leaving a church hurts. Speaking from experiencing and having fellow church members leave, has greatly hurt me. You need to consider the people you are leaving behind as when you joined them, you made a commitment. Breaking that commitment can have a discouraging impact on the church family.
Always remember, we are ALL important and needed in the body of Christ, however not one part of the body is more significant than the other. The two most important aspects of unity are LOVE and ACCEPTANCE. We must have unity to be successful in our service to and for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
