Free Agent Christians

I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named… —Romans 15:20

In professional sports, players become “free agents” when their contract runs out.  It means they are not tied to any team and are free “play the field” and join whatever team is willing to pay the player what he wants.

I see the same thing amongst many Christians today.  They don’t want to be tied to any particular local church.  They want to be free to attend (or not attend) whatever church they want on any given Sunday.  They want to remain “free agents” their whole life and never join any church. They don’t want to be accountable or loyal to anyone.  They are like those who date various people, but never want to get married and settle down to be responsible.

In the New Testament, there were no “free agent” Christians because there were no TV or radio ministries and most cities only had one local church to attend. They had no choice which church to belong to:  There was the church at Corinth… the church at Ephesus… the church at Philippi… the church at Colosse… the church at Thessalonica, etc.

Paul said, “I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation” (Rom. 15:20).  When the Lord lead me to start the Barton Baptist Church in Barton, Vermont, there were no other Bible believing churches in town. We were it.  We didn’t have a problem of church hoppers.

Find a good local church, join it, put your roots down and become accountable and responsible.  Do your best to make that church all it can be for the glory of God!