And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." - Mark 1.17

In Ethics for Christian Ministry, Robert Creech of Truett Seminary observes, "Jesus never had only one disciple." Our teacher called his first apostles in pairs: Simon and Andrew, James and John. The disciples themselves caught on quickly: Jesus finds Philip, who immediately finds Nathaniel. The Christian walk is always personal; the Christian walk is never private.

We live in a world of intense - and false - personalization. Every commercial website or electronic publication invites me to create "my" version of their mass-marketed product. It is sad, but not surprising, that Christians have absorbed this ambient atmosphere of individualism. Rappers and commedians invade the Internet with snappy videos that discourage Christians from seeing the local church as an acceptable - let alone vital - component of living out the faith.

In such a time, we do well to realize that perhaps the most counter-cultural act a Christian can perform is to worship God in the presence of other believers. There's nothing new in this. In his Confessions, Augustine recounts the conversion of Victorinus, who claimed to be a convert but refused to receive baptism. His friend Simplicianus replied, "I will not believe, nor will I rank you among Christians, unless I see you in the church of Christ." Victorinus retorted, "Do walls then make Christians?" Walls, of course, don't, but visible confession does; Victorinus' real fear was losing the good will of his pagan colleagues. C. S. Lewis wrote to a friend who claimed to love Jesus but dislike Sunday services that, "The New Testament does not envisage solitary religion: some kind of regular assembly for worship and instruction is everywhere taken for granted in the Epistles. So we must be regular practising members of the Church."

Sure, the church consistently fails to fulfill her high calling; nothing new there, either. Jesus had a congregation of twelve: one betrayed him, one denied him, three fell asleep during prayer meeting, and nine abandoned him in his hour of need. But Jesus never had only one disciple.

Everyone wants to be a radical believer these days. Well, the term "radical" comes from the Latin word that means "root." At the root of discipleship lies community. Want to do something really radical? Go to church.